Richard A Hunt - Pacification: The American Struggle for Vietnams Hearts and Minds

The American Struggle for Vietnam's Hearts and Minds

Richard A. Hunt

First published 1995 by Westview Press

Published 2018 by Routledge
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hunt, Richard A., 1942
Pacification : the American struggle for Vietnam's hearts and minds / Richard A. Hunt.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8133-3459-4
1. Vietnamese Conflict, 19611975United States. 2. Vietnam Politics and government19451975. I. Title.
DS558.H86 1995
959.704'3dc20

9441893
CIP

ISBN 13:978-0-8133-3459-2 (pbk)

Over the course of a project that has taken many years to complete, I have amassed numerous obligations to persons and institutions. My colleagues, past and present, at the Army Center of Military History have helped in ways both substantial and subtle. Eric Bergerud and Raffi Gregorian deserve individual thanks for their encouragement and insights into pacification. Thomas Scoville needs to be acknowledged for his pioneering work Reorganizing for Pacification Support and also for his energetic, farsighted efforts to ensure that the papers of the CORDS organization were preserved as an entity. These records are indispensable for the study of pacification. I salute the staff of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library, particularly former archivist David Humphrey. Everyone at the library was unfailingly helpful and thoroughly professional. Their support made research there rewarding and pleasurable. At Westview Press, I am grateful to Peter Kracht, Mick Gusinde-Duffy, and Shena Redmond for shepherding this manuscript to publication and to Jan Kristiansson, my editor, for wielding her sharp pencil to bring consistency to my manuscript.

Numerous persons involved with the pacification program gave generously of their time. I greatly benefitted from the counsel of William Colby and Robert Komer, the first two chiefs of CORDS. Both patiently pointed out misperceptions and mistakes and helped clarify many issues. Komer proved especially helpful. He read chapter drafts with a sharp eye and improved their accuracy, providing in his inimitable style the insights of his experience. I appreciate the knowledge all those involved in pacification tried to impart and hope that, despite any interpretive differences, they will regard this book as a balanced account of the travails of an important and complex program. Errors of fact or judgment remain solely my responsibility, despite the valiant efforts of the many knowledgeable people who advised me. The interpretations expressed in this book are my own and do not represent those of any government agency, office, or department.

Finally, I am indebted to my wife, Nancy, my son, Ashley, and my daughter, Kathleen, who patiently bore my countless absences during the many weekends and nights I spent researching and writing this book. They endured a seemingly interminable process with grace, and their encouragement helped pull me through. For all these things, I am grateful to them and hope this book in some ways repays their sacrifice.

Richard A. Hunt