The Impact of an Operational Void: The Strategic Hamlet Program, 1961- 1963
Abstract
The Vietnam conflict spread dissension into every corner of our political and cultural environment and shattered the foreign policy consensus that had guided US relations since World War II. The initial combined effort of the United States and South Vietnam to defeat the insurgency was the Strategic Hamlet Program failed due to the absence of an operational link between strategic concept and tactical execution. The monograph initially reviews the strategic context that existed in South Vietnam during the critical period of 1961-1963, that window in time in which the United States first became an active and full-fledged ally of the South Vietnamese. This review established that the two partners held very different perspectives on the conflict and had different objectives in mind when they entered into the Strategic Hamlet Program as a combined effort. (RRH)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 16, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA215569
Entities
People
- Gregory B. Conover
Organizations
- United States Army Command and General Staff College