Bernard B. Fall (November 19, 1926 – February 21, 1967) was a prominent
war correspondent,
historian, political scientist, and expert on
Indochina during the 1950s and 1960s. Born in Austria, he moved with his family to France as a child after the
Anschluss. He started fighting for the
French Resistance at the age of 16 and later for the French Army during World War II.
In 1950, he first came to the United States for graduate studies at
Syracuse University and
Johns Hopkins University, returning and making his residence there. He taught at
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...
for most of his career and made regular trips to Southeast Asia to learn about changes and their societies. He predicted the failures of France and the United States in their wars in Vietnam because of their tactics and lack of understanding of the societies. He was killed by a landmine in South Vietnam while he was accompanying US Marines on a patrol in 1967.
Early life
Bernard Fall was born in
Vienna,
Austria, to the Jewish parents Leo Fall and Anna Seligman. His family migrated in 1938, when he was 12, to live in France after the
Anschluss, the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany. After France fell to Germany in 1940, his father aided the French Resistance and was captured, tortured, and killed by the Gestapo. His mother was also captured and deported and was never heard from again.
In 1942, at the age of 16, Bernard Fall followed in his father's footsteps and joined the French Resistance after which he fought the Germans in the Alps. As France was being liberated in 1944, Fall joined the French Army in which he served until 1946.
For his service, he was awarded the
French Liberation Medal
The Medal of a liberated France (french: "Médaille de la France libérée") was a decoration of the French Republic created by decree on 12 September 1947 and originally named the "Medal of Gratitude of a Liberated France" (french: "Médaille d ...
. After World War II, Fall worked as an analyst for the
Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal in which capacity he investigated
Krupp Industries.
Academic career
Fall studied at the
University of Paris from 1948 to 1949 and attended from 1949 to 1950 the
University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
.
After completing his studies in Europe, Fall traveled to the United States in 1950 on a
Fulbright Scholarship. He studied at the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
for a time. In 1951, Fall enrolled at
Syracuse University, where he received a master's degree in political science in 1952 and a PhD in 1955.
Fall did postgraduate study at the
Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies, where he was encouraged by one of his professors, Amry Vandenbosch, to study
Indochina because of his French background.
Not content to study Indochina from afar, Fall traveled to
Vietnam
Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...
in 1953, while the
First Indochina War
The First Indochina War (generally known as the Indochina War in France, and as the Anti-French Resistance War in Vietnam) began in French Indochina from 19 December 1946 to 20 July 1954 between France and Việt Minh (Democratic Republic of Vi ...
was being waged between the
Viet Minh
The Việt Minh (; abbreviated from , chữ Nôm and Hán tự: ; french: Ligue pour l'indépendance du Viêt Nam, ) was a national independence coalition formed at Pác Bó by Hồ Chí Minh on 19 May 1941. Also known as the Việt Minh Fro ...
and the
French Union
The French Union () was a political entity created by the French Fourth Republic to replace the old French colonial empire system, colloquially known as the " French Empire" (). It was the formal end of the "indigenous" () status of French subj ...
forces. His French citizenship allowed Fall to accompany French soldiers and pilots into enemy territory. From his observations, Fall predicted that the French would fail in Vietnam. When the French were defeated at the critical
Battle of Dien Bien Phu, Fall claimed that the United States had been partly responsible for France's loss. Fall believed that the Americans had not sufficiently supported France during the war.
In 1954, Fall returned to the United States and married Dorothy Winer, a 1952 graduate of
Syracuse University, and submitted his dissertation, ''Viet-Minh Regime: Government and Administration in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam''.
In 1955, he became an assistant professor at
American University in
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
.
In 1956, he began teaching international relations courses at
Howard University
Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...
, also in Washington, DC. Fall became a full professor at Howard in 1962 and taught there intermittently until his death.
Never losing his interest in Indochina, Fall returned to the region five more times (in 1957, 1962, 1965, 1966, and 1967) to study developments firsthand. Fall was given a grant by the
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty, or Manila Pact, signed in September 1954 in Manila, the Philipp ...
to study the development of communism in Southeast Asia. He used documented the rise of communist activity in
Laos. Fall was particularly interested in the tensions between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. While teaching at the Royal Institute of Administration in
Cambodia
Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...
in 1962, Fall was invited to interview
Ho Chi Minh
(: ; born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), commonly known as (' Uncle Hồ'), also known as ('President Hồ'), (' Old father of the people') and by other aliases, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and statesman. He served as P ...
and
Phạm Văn Đồng
Phạm Văn Đồng (; 1 March 1906 – 29 April 2000) was a Vietnamese politician who served as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1955 to 1976. He later served as Prime Minister of Vietnam following reunification of North and South Vietnam ...
in
Hanoi
Hanoi or Ha Noi ( or ; vi, Hà Nội ) is the capital and second-largest city of Vietnam. It covers an area of . It consists of 12 urban districts, one district-leveled town and 17 rural districts. Located within the Red River Delta, Hanoi is ...
. Ho Chi Minh told Fall of his belief that communism would prevail in South Vietnam in about a decade's time.
Fall was a political scientist but had been a soldier and so spoke the soldier's language and shared soldiers' lives at the frontline. He obtained his data on the war while he slogged through the mud of Vietnam with French colonial troops, American infantrymen, and
ARVN
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; french: Armée de la république du Viêt Nam) composed the ground forces of the South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon in April 1975. It is estimated to have suffe ...
soldiers. He combined academic analysis of Indochina with a infantry, grunt's perspective of the war.
Vietnam War
Fall supported the American military presence in South Vietnam, believing it could stop the country from falling to communism, but he strongly criticized
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm ( or ; ; 3 January 1901 – 2 November 1963) was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam (1954–1955), and then served as the first president of South Vietnam (Republic o ...
's American-backed
regime
In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...
and the tactics used by the United States military in Vietnam. As the conflict between the American forces and the communists in Vietnam escalated throughout the 1960s, Fall became increasingly pessimistic about the Americans' chances of success. He predicted that if it did not learn from France's mistakes, it too would fail in Vietnam. Fall wrote extensive articles detailing his analysis of the situation in Vietnam and lectured a great deal about his ideas on the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
. Fall's research was considered invaluable by many American diplomats and military officials, but his negative opinions were often not taken seriously.
By 1964, Fall concluded that the American forces in Vietnam were losing. Fall's dire predictions caught the attention of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI), which began to monitor his activities.
Many have noted Fall's accuracy and comprehension in his writing about the Vietnam War. In
Colin Powell's 1995 autobiography, ''My American Journey'', he wrote:
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky i ...
has called Fall "the most respected analyst and commentator on the Vietnam War."
Death
![USMC 09-7973-80](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/USMC_09-7973-80.jpg)
Towards the end of his life, Fall suffered from
retroperitoneal fibrosis
Retroperitoneal fibrosis or Ormond's disease is a disease featuring the proliferation of fibrous tissue in the retroperitoneum, the compartment of the body containing the kidneys, aorta, renal tract, and various other structures. It may present wi ...
, which resulted in the loss of a kidney and a colon blockage. According to his wife, his condition engendered a sense of fatalism as he departed for what turned out to be his final trip to Vietnam.
On 21 February 1967, while accompanying a company of the
1st Battalion 9th Marines
The 1st Battalion 9th Marines (1/9) was an infantry battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Formed during World War I, it served until the mid-2000s when it was deactivated to make room for one of three light armor reconnaissance battalions ...
on
Operation Chinook II in the
Street Without Joy,
Thừa Thiên Province, Fall stepped on a
Bouncing Betty landmine, which killed both him and Gunnery Sergeant
Byron G. Highland, a US Marine Corps combat photographer.
He was dictating notes into a tape recorder, which captured his last words: "We've reached one of our
phase lines after the firefight and it smells bad—meaning it's a little bit suspicious... Could be an amb—." Fall was survived by his wife and three daughters.
Legacy and honors
The medical library at the main civilian hospital in
Da Nang was named The Bernard B. Fall Memorial Medical Library in his honor.
*
French Liberation Medal
The Medal of a liberated France (french: "Médaille de la France libérée") was a decoration of the French Republic created by decree on 12 September 1947 and originally named the "Medal of Gratitude of a Liberated France" (french: "Médaille d ...
(1945)
*
Fulbright Scholar (1950)
*
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national sec ...
Certificate of Appreciation (1961)
*
George Polk Award
The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...
in Journalism (1966)
*
Guggenheim Fellowship for further research in Vietnam (1966)
Books by Bernard Fall
*
*
*
*
* ''Viet-Nam Witness, 1953-66'' (1966)
*
* ''The Viet-Minh Regime'' (1954)
* ''Ho Chi Minh on Revolution; Selected Writings 1920-66.'' Editor. Prager, 1967.
Books about Bernard Fall
*
Research on Bernard Fall
*
*
*Moir, Nathaniel L. (2022). ''Number One Realist: Bernard Fall and Vietnamese Revolutionary Warfare''. Oxford University Press.
See also
*
List of journalists killed and missing in the Vietnam War
*
Autrefois, Maison Privée
References
External links
Website for biography, ''Bernard Fall: Memories of a Soldier-Scholar'' includes first chapter ("The Last Departure") and 48 photographs
*
*https://web.archive.org/web/20061028050540/http://www.truthdig.com/interview/item/200601003_the_un_quiet_frenchman/ "The unquiet Frenchman"], an interview with Dorothy Winer Fall by Sarah Stillman, October 6, 2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fall, Bernard
1926 births
1967 deaths
20th-century Austrian Jews
French Army personnel of World War II
People of the First Indochina War
People of the Vietnam War
Journalists killed while covering the Vietnam War
American University faculty and staff
French war correspondents
Landmine victims
French military historians
Historians of the Vietnam War
Jewish American historians
American male non-fiction writers
20th-century American historians
French male writers
French Resistance members