Peter Francis Leahy

Why Did the Strategic Hamlet Program Fall? Peter Francis Leahy

Publisher Marketing: Over the period from 1961 to 1963 the Government of Vietnam Introduced the Strategic Hamlet Program which was designed to be the central part of a comprehensive plan to pacify South Vietnam. Pacification was to be achieved by isolating the rural population from the Viet Cong communist guerrillas. The aims of the Strategic Hamlet Program were expressed as security, economic development, social advancement, and political participation. By instituting reforms the Government of Vietnam believed that it could win the allegiance of the people and thus defeat the Viet Cong. The Strategic Hamlet Program eventually failed because of inadequate planning and coordination, inadequate resources and unrealistic timetable, problems with siting and construction, and inadequate and falsified evaluation procedures. In addition there was a lack of commitment to the program especially from President Diem. Another factor contributing to the failure of the program was the Impatience and Intolerance of the United States towards the government of President Diem. Above all, the peasants who had been identified as the focus in the war against the Insurgents, rejected the program because the promised reforms did not materialize amid the corruption and bureaucratic inefficiency associated with the implementation of the program.