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WHY DID THE STRATEGIC HAMLET PROGRAM FAIL? A thesis
presented to the Faculty of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College in
partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF MILITARY ART
AND SCIENCE PETER
FRANCIS LEAHY, LTCOL Australian Army B.A. University of New South Wales 1974
Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas, 1990 Approved for public
release; distribution is unlimited. TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter
Page 1.
INTRODUCTION................................... 1 Definitions............................... 2 Failure................................... 5 Assessing Pacification In
The Republic of Vietnam. 6
2. THE REPUBLIC OF
VIETNAM........................ 9 Geography and
Climate..................... 9 Demography............................... 10 Society.................................. 11 History.................................. 13 The Government of
Vietnam................ 15 President Ngo Dinh
Diem.................. 22 The Viet
Cong............................ 25 Previous Efforts at
Pacification......... 28
3. TOWARDS STRATEGIC
HAMLETS........ 35 The Government of
Vietnam................ 35 Adv1ce................................... 37 The United States of
America............. 40 The United
Kingdom....................... 56 U.S. Reaction to the
Thompson Plan....... 59 President Diem's Reaction
to the Thompson
Plan............................ 61 Whose
Idea?.............................. 63 Aims of the Government of
Vietnam........ 65 Strategic Hamlets
Begin.................. 69
4. BUILDING THE STRATEGIC
HAMLETS...... 76 Construction
Goals....................... 76 Organization to Build
Hamlets............ 81 U.S. Aid and
Advice...................... 86 A Typical Strategic
Hamlet............... 89 Hamlet
Organizations..................... 91 Self-Sufficiency......................... 96 Coordinated
Efforts...................... 99 Complementary
Measures.................. 104 What Made a Hamlet a
Strategic Hamlet... 106 ii
5.
ASSESSMENT................................... 112 Evaluation Procedures of
the Time....... 113 Official Progress
Reports............... 116 Security
Measures....................... 121 Economic
Program,....................... 125 Social
Reform........................... 131 Political
Participation................. 135 Coordinating the Total
Revolution....... 139 Viet Cong
Response...................... 140 Success: Was There
Any?................. 144 The Hamlets Fall
Apart.................. 145
6. WHY THE STRATEGIC HAMLET
PROGRAM FAILED...... 153 Reasons for
Failure..................... 153 Conclusion.............................. 170 Postscript........................................ 174 Selected
Bibliography............................. 177 Distribution
List................................. 184 MAPS AND TABLES Map of
Indochina...................................vi Administrative Structure of
South Vietnam.......... 16 Table. Control of Rural
Population................ 124 iii Source: Marvin E Gettleman
and others, Vietnam And America: A Documented History (New
York: Grove Press Inc. 1985), Title Page. vi
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