Thomas W Scoville

Reorganizing for Pacification Support Thomas W Scoville

Publisher Marketing: As Communist insurgency swept the Republic of Vietnam, one of the South Vietnamese government's key responses was a "pacification" program. Along with the military effort to suppress the insurgency, the United States provided advice and support for the pacification effort, but for over ten years that assistance was provided by a number of agencies without central coordination. To remedy this situation, President Lyndon B. Johnson on 9 May 1967 directed formation of an organization, to be composed of both civilian and military members, to provide American advice and support to the South Vietnamese pacification program. The organization's title, Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support-CORDS-combined the names of two separate staffs then providing support for pacification: a civilian Office of Civil Operations and a military Revolutionary Development Support Directorate. This study is an account of how President Johnson reached the decision that brought unity to American support of pacification and how he carried it out. As such, it is a study in organization and management, decisions and implementation and describes the background and implementation of CORDS, the civilian-military organization that managed U. S. advice and support to the South Vietnamese pacification program.