S2 Ep6: The Path to the Second Indochina War (Part Three): Agent Orange, Kennedy and the Buddhist Crisis

On June 11th, 1963, a Buddhist monk named Thich Quang Duc sat down at a Saigon intersection, was doused in petrol, and set himself alight without moving or making a sound. The photograph went around the world. Five months later Ngo Dinh Diem was dead, and three weeks after that, so was John F. Kennedy.Time Period Covered: 1961 to 1963What is Agent Orange, and why did the Kennedy Administration decide to use it? How did Diem's regime collapse? What was the Buddhist Crisis?In the final part of our exploration into the beginnings of the 'Vietnam War', we look at the circumstances surrounding the early Kennedy years and how a 'prudent' approach to South Vietnam resulted in a number of problems, both immediate and in the future. We look in depth at Operation Ranch Hand, the decision to use defoliants in South Vietnam, and how the Diem regime becomes a no longer viable partner for the US and their wider strategic interests. We explain the Buddhist Crisis and the self-immolation of Quang Duc, and the competing visions of a new South Vietnam. Finally the coup against Diem, Kennedy's assassination, and the return of Pol Pot to the jungles of Vietnam represent a new chapter in the coming historical hurricane.SourcesChristopher Goscha Vietnam: A New HistoryFredrick Logevall The Embers of WarEdward Miller The Vietnam War & Reinterpreting the Buddhist Crisis (Modern Asian Studies November 2015)Neil Sheehan The Pentagon PapersGeoffrey Warner The United States and Vietnam 1945-1965 (International Affairs October 1972)William Buckingham The US Air Force and Herbicides in Southeast AsiaShow Contenthttps://www.shadowsofutopia.com/dramatis-personae.htmlSupporthttps://www.shadowsofutopia.com/support.html