Word: arvn
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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When handed a plan to increase the South Vietnamese army's (ARVN) handout by $42 million a year, above the $225 million already slated for the ARVN, Kennedy wrote "Why so little?" in the margins. Bundy told the State Department that his President was "really very eager that [Vietnam] should have the highest priority for rapid and energetic action...
...Kennedy authorized the use of U.S. helicopters in Vietnam, which began to use their superior mobility, devastating firepower and napalm to help the flagging ARVN. Enormous American armored personnel carriers called M-113s, impenetrable to Vietcong weapons and armed with terrifyingly powerful machine guns, began hauling ARVN troops around. There were no American ground troops, and Kennedy steadfastly refused to commit any, but Americans were piloting helicopters, fighter bombers and APCs, and serving in that most ambiguous of roles, as military advisors. Beyond hardware, the Kennedy Administration never came to grips with the true politics...