Why didn't the US invade North Vietnam in the 1960s?

Before public opinion turned against the war by the late 1960s, why didn't the US ever just invade North Vietnam?

Since the NVA was never a match for the US military (unlike the Red Army) it would have to be due to the lack of political will by the Johnson administration. My question is why wasn't the will there when the solution to winning the war was obvious (invade/occupy the North, depose their government and destroy the NVA entirely)?
 

CalBear

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Two reasons.

1. A basic misunderstanding of the incredibly complex relationship between the USSR and PRC (with the DRV being the tether-ball between them) that led many in the DoD to see an alliance where there were actually fairly bitter rivals.

2. An utter lack of strategic planning and goal definition related to the American effort in SEA. No one, and I mean NO ONE, in DC could have told you what the goal was for Vietnam and had the guy in the next office come up with the same response. worse, the nebulous goal itself was always shifting.

Vietnam was FUBAR writ large.
 
Before public opinion turned against the war by the late 1960s, why didn't the US ever just invade North Vietnam?

Since the NVA was never a match for the US military (unlike the Red Army) it would have to be due to the lack of political will by the Johnson administration. My question is why wasn't the will there when the solution to winning the war was obvious (invade/occupy the North, depose their government and destroy the NVA entirely)?

All political considerations aside, the invasion of North Vietnam was logistically and operationally impossible in 1964. It took four years for the United States to build up the necessary infrastructure just to be able to operate in the nominally friendly and allied Republic of Vietnam. Four years. And the creation of all that infrastructure did not include the capacity to operate a field army north of the DMZ. That would have required hundreds of thousands of more troops, untold billions and even more time, time measured in additional years. Probably the only president who ever really understood that side of things was former general Dwight Eisenhower, and it was a MAJOR consideration in why he declined to intervene in Vietnam in 1954 during the collapse of the French military effort there. Every scheme to invade Laos or Cambodia also foundered on this basic reality. Operation don't happen unless you have the necessary support structure in place. The US never achieved such in ten years.
 
FWIW, Martin Van Creveld's verdict: "From beginning to end it [Rolling Thunder] was a pure air campign--though the possibility of supplementing it by a ground invasion was often discussed in Washington, D.C., nothing ever came of the idea. Had it been realized, then almost certainly the outcome would have been an even larger and less controllable insurgency." Martin Van Creveld, *The Age of Airpower*, p. 187 https://books.google.com/books?id=WlaeRJJvsDwC&pg=PT332
 

CaliGuy

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FWIW, Martin Van Creveld's verdict: "From beginning to end it [Rolling Thunder] was a pure air campign--though the possibility of supplementing it by a ground invasion was often discussed in Washington, D.C., nothing ever came of the idea. Had it been realized, then almost certainly the outcome would have been an even larger and less controllable insurgency." Martin Van Creveld, *The Age of Airpower*, p. 187 https://books.google.com/books?id=WlaeRJJvsDwC&pg=PT332
There would have also probably been Chinese military intervention in Vietnam in such a scenario:

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/articl...ntially-to-vietnam-war-victory-claims-scholar

"This time, Johnson and his advisers paid close attention to the Chinese role. They were afraid that if the United States pushed too hard or attacked North Vietnam without restraint, they would have a replay of the Korean War. Johnson's critics later said that China was just bluffing, that the Chinese weren't serious about intervening. Harry Summers and other military writers criticized Johnson for allowing his fear of Chinese intervention to undermine his bombing campaign.

However, the new evidence from China suggests that Mao was seriously prepared to intervene. There was a secret agreement between Hanoi and Beijing that if the Americans launched a ground invasion of North Vietnam (at that time, the United States had restricted itself to a bombing campaign), China would send ground troops into North Vietnam and would not allow the United States to defeat Hanoi. If the Americans bombed North Vietnam, China would match the American military action by taking measures to protect North Vietnamese cities and to rebuild roads and bridges. They would also send anti-aircraft artillery units and army engineers to support North Vietnamese troops and help them deal with the air bombing pressure."
 
Chinese troops were already in the North, in logistics roles to free up NVA regulars for actions south of the DMZ, Laos and Cambodia
 
No one, and I mean NO ONE, in DC could have told you what the goal was for Vietnam

I thought that the goal was very clear: stop Communism in SEA by preventing Communist takeover of South Vietnam, thus protecting other Asian countries like Laos, Cambodia or Thailand from Communist forces?
 
A basic misunderstanding of the incredibly complex relationship between the USSR and PRC (with the DRV being the tether-ball between them) that led many in the DoD to see an alliance where there were actually fairly bitter rivals.
Are you saying the US was in fear of Chinese/Soviet reprisal if they invaded North Vietnam?
 

CalBear

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Are you saying the US was in fear of Chinese/Soviet reprisal if they invaded North Vietnam?
In the 1960s every move internationally had to be made while considering exactly how close you could push things before falling into the abyss. There was considerable concern in DC that the Soviets might react to an invasion of the North with a similar move elsewhere, perhaps Berlin or Greece, maybe Taiwan. The Korean Peninsula was, then as now, a hot spot (Nixon actually ordered the Joint Chiefs to prepare a series of NUCLEAR attack options against the DPRK after the Pueblo Incident, fortunately Kissinger told the Chiefs to hold off presenting the options until the next morning after Nixon "slept it off".

The U.S. had gotten the prisoners back about three weeks before Nixon took office, but they kept the ship.

That sort of pissed Dick off.
 

CalBear

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I thought that the goal was very clear: stop Communism in SEA by preventing Communist takeover of South Vietnam, thus protecting other Asian countries like Laos, Cambodia or Thailand from Communist forces?
That was a slogan. It wasn't the goal. A goal has positive steps that can be taken to achieve it, a slogan is just something you say to get the crowds to cheer.
 
There would have also probably been Chinese military intervention in Vietnam in such a scenario:

https://www.wilsoncenter.org/articl...ntially-to-vietnam-war-victory-claims-scholar

"This time, Johnson and his advisers paid close attention to the Chinese role. They were afraid that if the United States pushed too hard or attacked North Vietnam without restraint, they would have a replay of the Korean War. Johnson's critics later said that China was just bluffing, that the Chinese weren't serious about intervening. Harry Summers and other military writers criticized Johnson for allowing his fear of Chinese intervention to undermine his bombing campaign.

However, the new evidence from China suggests that Mao was seriously prepared to intervene. There was a secret agreement between Hanoi and Beijing that if the Americans launched a ground invasion of North Vietnam (at that time, the United States had restricted itself to a bombing campaign), China would send ground troops into North Vietnam and would not allow the United States to defeat Hanoi. If the Americans bombed North Vietnam, China would match the American military action by taking measures to protect North Vietnamese cities and to rebuild roads and bridges. They would also send anti-aircraft artillery units and army engineers to support North Vietnamese troops and help them deal with the air bombing pressure."

I would not mind seeing a TL base around US invading North Vietnam, and China go full on Korean War on the Union.
 
One big problem is the fact that any planned invasion would require mobilization of reserve units (including National Guard Units) to build the necessary infrastructure and provide support services. Such an act would also require a President to ask Congress for a Declaration of War on North Vietnam. Needless to say, the political consequences would be severe.

This book on the US Army in Vietnam goes into detail as to the challenges the US Army faced in building infrastructure necessary for US Troops and the decision not to call up reserves.
 
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