Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
TOP SECRET – Sensitive
In February, Viet Cong guerrillas successfully attacked a GVN outpost near Trang Sup, in Tay Ninh, and Diem told a French correspondent that "at the present time Vietnam is a nation at war." George Carver has recorded that in late 1958 or early 1959, Le Duan journeyed to South Vietnam for an on-the-spot appraisal of affairs there, and that his report lead to a DRV decision to step up support of the insurgency.
"Consolidation of the North" proceeded apace during 1958. Societal discipline advanced to the point that by early 1959 the land reform campaign -- under a different name -- was re-initiated without difficulty. 187/ Crops were good, and economic prospects in both the agricultural and industrial sectors were excellent. 188/ In January, 1959, the DRV contracted with the Soviet Union for a 50% increase in trade, and in February another large loan was negotiated with the CPR. 189/ Against this background of domestic success -- progress and plenty within North Vietnam -- and of interna tional finesse -- cooperation with both the great communist powers without domination by either -- the DRV implemented the next step in its strategy.
4. Taking the Offensive: Spring, 1959 - Fall, 1960.
a. Surfacing the Strategy, 1959
However the DRV privately viewed the war in South Vietnam during 1959 and 1960, the public statements of its leaders were aggressive. If the numbers of infiltrators and the amount of supplies dispatched to the South were insignificant or unimpressive to the beleaguered insurgents, the pose adopted by the Lao Dong principals must have greatly enheartened insurgents in South Vietnam.
On 4 April 1959, President Eisenhower, in an address at Gettysburg, declared that South Vietnam could not, without U.S . aid, meet the dual threat of aggression from without and subversion within its borders." He stated that U.S. national interests compelled the U.S. to help South Vietnam sustain its morale, economic progress, and military strength. 190/ On 30 April 1959, Pham Van Dong applauded Khrushchev’s rejoinder to President Eisenhower as follows:
"Comrade Khrushchev’s strong statement was a powerful blow to the US imperialists aggressive bloc. The Vietnamese people are very grateful to the Soviet Union, head of the socialist camp, for its constant sympathy for and support to their righteous struggle for national reunification. Comrade Khrushchev!s statement powerfully encourages our people to enthusiastically build North Viet-Nam and advance gradually toward socialism and to struggle for national reunification..."Just as observed by Comrade Khrushchev, the intervention by US imperialism in South Viet-Nam is the cause of the continued partition of Viet-Nam ... The struggle for the reunification
