
The Declaration of Honolulu, 1966 was a
communiqué and diplomatic proclamation acceded by foreign
diplomat
A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...
s representing
South Vietnam
South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam (RVN; , VNCH), was a country in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975. It first garnered Diplomatic recognition, international recognition in 1949 as the State of Vietnam within the ...
and the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. The declaration asserted pro-democracy principles for South Vietnam while combating external aggression and
insurgency
An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric warfare, asymmetric nature: small irregular forces ...
by
North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...
. The goals outlined at the conference were a cornerstone to US policy in Vietnam until 1969 when the incoming Nixon administration changed policies towards Vietnam.
Hawaii Conference of February 1966
The conference was held from February 5, 1966 to February 8, 1966 on the
Hawaiian island of
Oahu
Oahu (, , sometimes written Oahu) is the third-largest and most populated island of the Hawaiian Islands and of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital, Honolulu, is on Oahu's southeast coast. The island of Oahu and the uninhabited Northwe ...
. The foreign dignitaries conducted the meeting at
Camp Smith.
The South Vietnam Chief of State
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu
Nguyễn Văn Thiệu (; 5 April 1923 – 29 September 2001) was a South Vietnam, South Vietnamese military officer and politician who was the Leaders of South Vietnam, president of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. He was a general in the Repub ...
, South Vietnam Prime Minister
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, and United States President
Lyndon Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...
exchanged concerns regarding United States sanctions for democracy in South Vietnam in conjunction with
joint warfare in South Vietnam establishing a
counter-insurgency
Counterinsurgency (COIN, or NATO spelling counter-insurgency) is "the totality of actions aimed at defeating irregular forces". The Oxford English Dictionary defines counterinsurgency as any "military or political action taken against the ac ...
for the
Viet Cong
The Viet Cong (VC) was an epithet and umbrella term to refer to the communist-driven armed movement and united front organization in South Vietnam. It was formally organized as and led by the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, and ...
insurgency. The unscheduled conference was hastily called by President Johnson in an attempt to upstage hearings by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Vietnam War. The chairman of the committee, Senator
J. William Fulbright, was an opponent of the war and he assembled a group of witnesses to testify who were all critical of the war, which led to Johnson to call for the conference in Honolulu in an attempt to distract public attention from the hearings in Washington. Because the conference had not been scheduled in advance, neither the American nor the South Vietnamese delegations had much time to prepare for the conference, and those who attended the conference described it as rather disorganized.
In order to shore up liberal American support for the war, which Johnson felt to be wavering, the main theme of the conference was that the war was to promote the social and economic development of South Vietnam. The war was presented as virtually an extension of Johnson's
Great Society
The Great Society was a series of domestic programs enacted by President Lyndon B. Johnson in the United States between 1964 and 1968, aimed at eliminating poverty, reducing racial injustice, and expanding social welfare in the country. Johnso ...
program to end poverty in the United States. Little of any substance was discussed and instead the conference was almost an infomercial for the Vietnam war. The conference had no agenda or even much preparation, and for the most part consisted of speeches designed to win over American public opinion. The key note speech was delivered by Kỳ in English, was written by his American advisers, where he called for a "
social revolution
Social revolutions are sudden changes in the structure and nature of society. These revolutions are usually recognized as having transformed society, economy, culture, philosophy, and technology along with but more than just the political system ...
" in South Vietnam that would ensure everyone in South Vietnam "respect and dignity, and a chance for himself and his children to live an atmosphere where all is not disappointment, despair and dejection". Afterwards, Johnson, who was unaware that the speech had been written by American officials, told Kỳ: "Boy, you speak just like an American". Johnson in his speech called for a relentless drive to eradicate the Viet Cong, saying in his Texas twang that he wanted "coonskins on the wall". Johnson's phrase "coonskins on the wall" confused the South Vietnamese and several South Vietnamese officials asked
Bùi Diễm, the ambassador in Washington: "''On ay noi cai gi the?''" ("Just what is the gentleman talking about?").
By contrast, the Defense Secretary
Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...
during an "off-the-record" chat with a group of journalists at the conference spoke about the war in very jaded terms. McNamara stated his view that
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was a gradual and sustained aerial bombardment campaign conducted by the United States (U.S.) 2nd Air Division (later Seventh Air Force), U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) against North Vietnam from 2 ...
(the American bombing offensive against North Vietnam), was a failure. McNamara commented that North Vietnam was a backward Third World country that did not have the same advanced industrial infrastructure of First World nations, making the bombing offensive useless as he expressed his view that North Vietnam would never be "bombed into submission". McNamara concluded that "No amount of bombing can end the war".
The conference with its emphasis on ending poverty and building infrastructure in South Vietnam gave a misleading picture of American strategy. In the early 1960s, the strategy in South Vietnam was at least nominally one of "
rural pacification" where the United States would fund development projects in the countryside in order to "
win the hearts and minds" of the South Vietnamese people as the prelude to defeating the Viet Cong. In 1965, the order of priorities was reversed with deployment of American ground forces to South Vietnam as the American forces under command of General
William Westmoreland
William Childs Westmoreland (26 March 1914 – 18 July 2005) was a United States Army general, most notably the commander of United States forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968.
He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army f ...
were focused on a military solution on defeating the Viet Cong as the prelude for "rural pacification". As one American officer told the journalist
Stanley Karnow at the time: "Grab 'em by the balls, and their hearts and minds will follow".
Johnson summoned Ky, saying "Come into my bedroom for a moment". Johnson enjoyed bullying his Vice President,
Hubert Humphrey
Hubert Horatio Humphrey Jr. (May 27, 1911 – January 13, 1978) was an American politician who served from 1965 to 1969 as the 38th vice president of the United States. He twice served in the United States Senate, representing Minnesota from 19 ...
, taking a sadistic pleasure out of humiliating him. The purpose of Ky's nocturnal visit to the presidential bedroom was to watch Johnson call up Humphrey as he was sleeping in Washington and ordered him in a brusque manner to go to South Vietnam at once. Going along with Humphrey on his sudden trip to South Vietnam was one of Johnson's aides,
Jack Valenti
Jack Joseph Valenti (September 5, 1921 – April 26, 2007) was an American political advisor and lobbyist who served as a Special Assistant to U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson. He was also the longtime president of the Motion Picture Association ...
, whom Humphrey learned from reading a misplaced cable had been ordered by Johnson to watch his move and report back to the president.
Pledge of the Declaration
United States President Lyndon Johnson disclosed the declaration in a public statement on February 8, 1966. The document content was authored as four parts proposing the intents of the joint governments and their common diplomatic commitment.
:Part I: ''Joint Declaration by Republic of Vietnam and United States''
:Part II: ''Purposes of Vietnam Government''
:Part III: ''Purposes of United States Government''
:Part IV: ''Common Commitment''
The Declaration
The United States acknowledged South Vietnam opposing two conflicting fronts.
*
Guerrilla
Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...
and
jungle warfare
Jungle warfare or woodland warfare is warfare in forests, jungles, or similar environments. The term encompasses military operations affected by the terrain, climate, vegetation, and wildlife of densely-wooded areas, as well as the strategies a ...
pursued by the North Vietnamese
communist state
A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...
* Social injustice against disease, hunger, ignorance, and
political apathy
In political science, political apathy is a lack of interest or apathy towards politics. This includes voter apathy, information apathy and lack of interest in elections, political events, public meetings, and voting.
Voter apathy is a lack of ...
The declaration established several economic and social terms for promoting
peace
Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...
and
social justice
Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...
in South Vietnam.
* Agricultural education for new species of corn, rice, and vegetable seeds
* Construction projects for rural Vietnam
* Control economic
inflation
In economics, inflation is an increase in the average price of goods and services in terms of money. This increase is measured using a price index, typically a consumer price index (CPI). When the general price level rises, each unit of curre ...
* Enhance education and health programs
* Safeguard
refugee
A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...
s from
communist
Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...
aggressors by providing care and education for South Vietnamese children and families
1966 Honolulu Conference
Image:Honolulu Conference, Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky and Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thieu and President Lyndon B. Johnson - A1889-18.jpg, Honolulu Conference: Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky (South Vietnam) and Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thieu (South Vietnam)
Image:Honolulu Conference, Secretary of State Dean Rusk and President Lyndon B. Johnson at the table - NARA - 192495.tif, Honolulu Conference: Secretary of State Dean Rusk
David Dean Rusk (February 9, 1909December 20, 1994) was the United States secretary of state from 1961 to 1969 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, the second-longest serving secretary of state after Cordell Hull from the ...
and President Lyndon B. Johnson at the table
Image:Honolulu Conference, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky (South Vietnam), President... - NARA - 192497.tif, Honolulu Conference: Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara
Robert Strange McNamara (; June 9, 1916 – July 6, 2009) was an American businessman and government official who served as the eighth United States secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson ...
, Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky (South Vietnam), President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thieu (South Vietnam)
Image:Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky (South Vietnam) and President Lyndon B. Johnson - NARA - 192504.tif, Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky (South Vietnam) and President Lyndon B. Johnson
Image:Wheeler and Johnson at Hawaii Conference.jpg, General Earle Wheeler
Earle Gilmore Wheeler (13 January 1908 – 18 December 1975), nicknamed Bus, was a United States Army general who served as the chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1962 to 1964 and then as the sixth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of St ...
holding up a model of a U.S. Army helicopter as Ambassador Vu Van Thai and President Lyndon B. Johnson look on.
Image:General William Westmoreland and President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Honolulu Conference - NARA - 192559.tif, General William Westmoreland
William Childs Westmoreland (26 March 1914 – 18 July 2005) was a United States Army general, most notably the commander of United States forces during the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1968.
He served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army f ...
and President Lyndon B. Johnson at the Honolulu Conference
Results
The main result of the conference was very far from what Johnson wanted. South Vietnam by 1965 devolved into almost
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...
state, becoming an alliance of warlords as each corps commander ruled his own area as his own
fief
A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...
dom. Johnson's remarks to Kỳ praising him as a strong leader at the conference persuaded the latter that he now had the support of the United States to assert the authority of the national government over the warlords. In particular, Kỳ wanted to bring down General
Nguyễn Chánh Thi, the commander of
I Corps, who ruled northern South Vietnam as his fiefdom. The attempt to dismiss Thi led to the
Buddhist Uprising of 1966, which left American officials stunned by "the civil war within the civil war" as the South Vietnamese troops loyal to Thi fought against South Vietnamese troops loyal to Kỳ.
North Vietnam Negotiation Proposal of 1967
United States President Lyndon Johnson presented a personal letter to North Vietnam through the
Embassy of Vietnam in Moscow
The Embassy of Vietnam in Moscow is the diplomatic mission of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to the Russian Federation. The Chancery (building), chancery is located at 13 Bolshaya Pirogovskaya Street () in the Khamovniki District of Moscow.
T ...
on February 8, 1967. President Johnson petitioned the
North Vietnamese leadership to discuss a Tet cease-fire for the upcoming 1968 new year observance and a bilateral conference to encourage a resolve for the Vietnam civil conflict.
Democratic Republic of Vietnam President
Ho Chi Minh
(born ; 19 May 1890 – 2 September 1969), colloquially known as Uncle Ho () among other aliases and sobriquets, was a Vietnamese revolutionary and politician who served as the founder and first President of Vietnam, president of the ...
rejected President Johnson's sit-down proposal on February 15, 1967. The North Vietnam President Minh stated, ''the Vietnamese people would never accept conversation under the clear threat of
bombs
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-tra ...
''.
Honolulu Conference of 1968
U.S. President Lyndon Johnson and South Vietnam President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu convened a diplomatic conference in Honolulu on July 19 through July 20, 1968. President Johnson arrived on July 18, 1968 at
Hickam Air Force Base
Hickam Air Force Base is a United States Air Force (USAF) United States Air Force installation, installation, named in honor of aviation pioneer Lieutenant Colonel (United States), Lieutenant Colonel Horace Meek Hickam. The installation merged ...
where a welcome statement was presented to President Thiệu of South Vietnam. The
foreign affairs
''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...
meeting was held by suggestion of the South Vietnamese President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu to discuss recent events South of the
Seventeenth parallel and the imminent
Paris Peace Accords
The Paris Peace Accords (), officially the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam (), was a peace agreement signed on January 27, 1973, to establish peace in Vietnam and end the Vietnam War. It took effect at 8:00 the follo ...
. The international leaders discussed the current North Vietnamese coordinated military maneuvers during the
Vietnamese Lunar New Year in early 1968. President Johnson emphasized the United States apprehension about the
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN; ; ) composed the ground forces of the Republic of Vietnam Military Forces, South Vietnamese military from its inception in 1955 to the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. Its predecessor was the ground forc ...
troop levels,
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. The Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched a surprise attack on 30 January 1968 against the forces of ...
, and the infiltration efforts escalated by the
People's Army of Vietnam
The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN), officially the Vietnam People's Army (VPA; , , ), also recognized as the Vietnamese Army (), the People's Army () or colloquially the Troops ( ), is the national Military, military force of the Vietnam, S ...
.
See also
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{{Vietnam War
Vietnam War
Presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
Vietnamese-American history
1966 in Hawaii