What do you think?
Rate this book
Drawn Swords in a Distant Land: South Vietnam's Shattered Dreams
Drawn Swords in a Distant Land tracks the rise and fall of South Vietnam. This book highlights the South Vietnamese effort to build and defend their country, while weaving in the policy decisions made in Washington and Hanoi that significantly influenced the course of the war. A huge historical gap exists in understanding the motivations and policies of the Saigon government, mainly due to ideological blinders,misinformation, and outright lies. By providing the South Vietnamese story and perspectives, Drawn Swords sets the record straight and offers the first detailed overview of their successes and failures inthe democratic experiment known as the Republic of Vietnam.
Many books have aptly chronicled the presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem, but few scholars have delved deeply into the years following the coup.This has left a tremendous historical void. Thus, this exploration of the presidency of Nguyen Van Thieu, the American withdrawal, and the eventual fall of the Second Republic of Vietnam. Equally important, Drawn Swords provides fascinating new evidence on how the Diem coup was almost halted,the backroom maneuvering that allowed Thieu to run for the president over Nguyen Cao Ky, and the true story behind the infamous “Anna Chennault Affair,” which shows that Richard Nixon was not the instigator of a plot to win the 1968 election.
Even more explosive, Drawn Swords provides the incredible details on the last, great, secret of the Vietnam War: a plot during the last days of the war by France, in conjunction with one of Hanoi’s allies, to prevent North Vietnam from conquering Saigon. This previously unknown scheme, along with many other fascinating new insights, sheds fresh light on the tumultuous struggle called the Vietnam War.
Many books have aptly chronicled the presidency of Ngo Dinh Diem, but few scholars have delved deeply into the years following the coup.This has left a tremendous historical void. Thus, this exploration of the presidency of Nguyen Van Thieu, the American withdrawal, and the eventual fall of the Second Republic of Vietnam. Equally important, Drawn Swords provides fascinating new evidence on how the Diem coup was almost halted,the backroom maneuvering that allowed Thieu to run for the president over Nguyen Cao Ky, and the true story behind the infamous “Anna Chennault Affair,” which shows that Richard Nixon was not the instigator of a plot to win the 1968 election.
Even more explosive, Drawn Swords provides the incredible details on the last, great, secret of the Vietnam War: a plot during the last days of the war by France, in conjunction with one of Hanoi’s allies, to prevent North Vietnam from conquering Saigon. This previously unknown scheme, along with many other fascinating new insights, sheds fresh light on the tumultuous struggle called the Vietnam War.
660 pages, Hardcover
First published March 23, 2021
22 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 21, 2022
A balanced and well-researched history of South Vietnam from Diem to Thieu.
Most of the book deals with Thieu, but Veith provides great portraits of South Vietnam’s statesmen and their struggle to build a modern state, government and economy all while fighting a war against communist guerrillas and conventional North Vietnamese forces. Veith disputes the idea that South Vietnam was an artificial creation of France or the US. The coverage of Catholic-Buddhist relations is solid, and Veith shows how neither side ever really dominated the other. Veith also argues that the South Vietnamese lost to the communists from a lack of resources, rather than a lack of resolve.
Much of the book deals with Thieu, who comes off as realistic and complex and unable to control a government plagued by corruption, and the book ably lays out his conviction that his people had nothing to gain from capitulating to the communists. Thieu is sometimes dismissed by contemporaries and historians as a corrupt, warmongering dictator or an obstacle to peace, but Veith’s portrait is much more nuanced. He covers in detail Thieu’s role in creating the republic and leading it through the US withdrawal, in seeking a lasting peace, and in promoting constitutional law to a skeptical elite, all while dealing with foreign skepticism, American pressure, and major enemy offensives.
A well-written and readable work.
Most of the book deals with Thieu, but Veith provides great portraits of South Vietnam’s statesmen and their struggle to build a modern state, government and economy all while fighting a war against communist guerrillas and conventional North Vietnamese forces. Veith disputes the idea that South Vietnam was an artificial creation of France or the US. The coverage of Catholic-Buddhist relations is solid, and Veith shows how neither side ever really dominated the other. Veith also argues that the South Vietnamese lost to the communists from a lack of resources, rather than a lack of resolve.
Much of the book deals with Thieu, who comes off as realistic and complex and unable to control a government plagued by corruption, and the book ably lays out his conviction that his people had nothing to gain from capitulating to the communists. Thieu is sometimes dismissed by contemporaries and historians as a corrupt, warmongering dictator or an obstacle to peace, but Veith’s portrait is much more nuanced. He covers in detail Thieu’s role in creating the republic and leading it through the US withdrawal, in seeking a lasting peace, and in promoting constitutional law to a skeptical elite, all while dealing with foreign skepticism, American pressure, and major enemy offensives.
A well-written and readable work.
March 8, 2025
Deeply researched and compelling right-wing hagiography, but right-wing hagiography nevertheless.
March 16, 2025
Drawn Swords is a fascinating and extraordinarily detailed look into Vietnamese politics and the Second Republic of Vietnam under Nguyen Van Thieu. Although this is no short story, the author's ability to uncover previously hidden information and weave it into the big picture is perhaps only exceeded by his excellent writing skills and the ability to make the story flow in a captivating and easy to read format. This is a fantastic story, full of backroom political machinations and interesting anecdotes to being these colorful characters during this tragic and turbulent period to life. Highly recommended for all readers who want to understand the human and political side of the Vietnam War. Fascinating research told through and entertaining and engaging narrative.
March 21, 2022
Best book available on the Second Republic of Vietnam. It provides a close look at Nguyen Van Thieu and all other major players in the Second Republic. The author examines the decisions made and actions of the Second Republic with balance. It points out mistakes, errors in judgment, corruption, successes, and accomplishments. The actions of the US, North Vietnam, China, USSR and France are also examined. All of these governments tended to act within their own interests and ignore those of the Second Republic. The Americans pressured the Second Republic to do things and adopt policies that were not in Vietnam's own interest. Very good, very balanced.
Read
August 6, 2024The back of this book has the following endorsement: "Agree with it or not, this is an important book that makes bold arguments using never-before-seen documentation and interviews regarding Saigon's war. It treats the Second Republic under Nguyen Van Thieu on its own terms and in doing so, challenges the reader to question previous explanations for the fall of Saigon." -Lien-Hang T. Nguyen, author of Hanoi's War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam.
I agree wholeheartedly with the quote. Nearly 15 years ago when I did a school report on Vietnam I was very disappointed of how US-centric all the English accounts were. After reading this book, my takeaways are:
- While strongly influenced by the US, the Second Republic was not merely a US puppet state, and did have a significant amount of support.
- The North Vietnamese were not necessarily altruistic liberators who had no choice but turn to Communism to free their southern brethren (well, this should have been somewhat obvious even with no background, but the Viet Cong flag waving in the US at the time and some of the books that I had previously read would make you believe that).
- South Vietnam had many, many, bickering factions, and at times democracy had to be set aside temporarily to move swiftly to restore order.
- Had there not been the combat threat of North Vietnam, South Vietnam might have been able to set up a stable, democratic government.
However, I also had several big issues with the book:
- it presents President Thieu as a completely valiant and well-intentioned leader. And while the book mentions several of his mistakes, it presents him as larger than life, the sole person who could unite the country, and excuses a lot of his actions as for the sake of necessity. As I stated above, I acknowledge that sometimes a perfectly democratic solution is not practical in turmoil. Any single or several instances I could believe is a necessary evil for the greater good. But the number of times Thieu censures the press after they voice opposing views, the number of times he supposedly appoints a good cabinet only to need to clean house a couple years later to root out corruption, or the number of times he limits opposing presidential candidates on the grounds that an opponent with weak support will just fracture the country more is too many to make me think he is anything but a dictator. Especially on the election where he was the only name on the ballot, even if he was just trying to consolidate candidates to a strong support base, when it came down to him being his own name of election he could have advocated to redo the election process or something. I wouldn't be surprised if Thieu did mean to step down after his third term, and again some of his strongarm moves probably were necessary, but granting democracy (including for mild opposition) except when the opposition grows too strong and you shut them down completely is no democracy at all. What I gleaned from the book is I suspect a portrayal of Thieu which would have been more accurate was that he was a complex figure who was leading his country to the right place despite his flaws, rather than the way this book portrayed him as a hero who had a nearly unwinnable situation that was also unintentionally sabotaged by his dissidents. I'm not historian, and so maybe I am completely off base, which is why I didn't rate the book to hedge against that being the case.
- The portrayal of protestors and the press. Both are in presented in a very negative light in this book. I do think the book provided good insight in highlighting that protestors or the press often mischaracterized events or overreacted. But the treating of people self-immolating as an annoyance definitely rubbed me the wrong way. And I didn't like the book's lack of recognition that overreacting or mischaracterizing or not protests represent the voice of a significant portion of the people. To a lesser extent, I also didn't like the seldom acknowledgement that public image management is something necessary for a politician rather than misinformation being completely the fault of the press/protestor (although that partially was undermined by the Communist agents).
- The way the book is structured. Once we get to Thieu's presidency, the book feels more like a biography about him, rather on South Vietnam itself. Additionally, the book dangles a lot of things that seem important but doesn't elaborate on them. Some the book mentions there is a lot of literature already on, but other aspects the book leaves no explanation for glossing things over. I'm not sure how much of that is the other aspects are covered in other sources and it is tedious to mention that every chapter or so, as well as how much is due to limitations of the available sources.
I agree wholeheartedly with the quote. Nearly 15 years ago when I did a school report on Vietnam I was very disappointed of how US-centric all the English accounts were. After reading this book, my takeaways are:
- While strongly influenced by the US, the Second Republic was not merely a US puppet state, and did have a significant amount of support.
- The North Vietnamese were not necessarily altruistic liberators who had no choice but turn to Communism to free their southern brethren (well, this should have been somewhat obvious even with no background, but the Viet Cong flag waving in the US at the time and some of the books that I had previously read would make you believe that).
- South Vietnam had many, many, bickering factions, and at times democracy had to be set aside temporarily to move swiftly to restore order.
- Had there not been the combat threat of North Vietnam, South Vietnam might have been able to set up a stable, democratic government.
However, I also had several big issues with the book:
- it presents President Thieu as a completely valiant and well-intentioned leader. And while the book mentions several of his mistakes, it presents him as larger than life, the sole person who could unite the country, and excuses a lot of his actions as for the sake of necessity. As I stated above, I acknowledge that sometimes a perfectly democratic solution is not practical in turmoil. Any single or several instances I could believe is a necessary evil for the greater good. But the number of times Thieu censures the press after they voice opposing views, the number of times he supposedly appoints a good cabinet only to need to clean house a couple years later to root out corruption, or the number of times he limits opposing presidential candidates on the grounds that an opponent with weak support will just fracture the country more is too many to make me think he is anything but a dictator. Especially on the election where he was the only name on the ballot, even if he was just trying to consolidate candidates to a strong support base, when it came down to him being his own name of election he could have advocated to redo the election process or something. I wouldn't be surprised if Thieu did mean to step down after his third term, and again some of his strongarm moves probably were necessary, but granting democracy (including for mild opposition) except when the opposition grows too strong and you shut them down completely is no democracy at all. What I gleaned from the book is I suspect a portrayal of Thieu which would have been more accurate was that he was a complex figure who was leading his country to the right place despite his flaws, rather than the way this book portrayed him as a hero who had a nearly unwinnable situation that was also unintentionally sabotaged by his dissidents. I'm not historian, and so maybe I am completely off base, which is why I didn't rate the book to hedge against that being the case.
- The portrayal of protestors and the press. Both are in presented in a very negative light in this book. I do think the book provided good insight in highlighting that protestors or the press often mischaracterized events or overreacted. But the treating of people self-immolating as an annoyance definitely rubbed me the wrong way. And I didn't like the book's lack of recognition that overreacting or mischaracterizing or not protests represent the voice of a significant portion of the people. To a lesser extent, I also didn't like the seldom acknowledgement that public image management is something necessary for a politician rather than misinformation being completely the fault of the press/protestor (although that partially was undermined by the Communist agents).
- The way the book is structured. Once we get to Thieu's presidency, the book feels more like a biography about him, rather on South Vietnam itself. Additionally, the book dangles a lot of things that seem important but doesn't elaborate on them. Some the book mentions there is a lot of literature already on, but other aspects the book leaves no explanation for glossing things over. I'm not sure how much of that is the other aspects are covered in other sources and it is tedious to mention that every chapter or so, as well as how much is due to limitations of the available sources.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews