Editing Edward Lansdale (section)

==Vietnam and Counterinsurgency==
(1954–1968)  In 1954, Lansdale was assigned to Saigon, Vietnam, as part of the Saigon Military Mission, a CIA-led effort to bolster South Vietnam against communist North Vietnam after the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu. Promoted to lieutenant colonel, he advised Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem, replicating his Philippine model. Lansdale’s team, including Lucien Conei and Rufus Phillips, orchestrated propaganda, civic programs, and paramilitary operations to stabilize Diem’s regime. He spread disinformation about Viet Minh atrocities, resettled northern Catholics to bolster Diem’s base, and trained the South Vietnamese Army in counterinsurgency. His efforts helped Diem consolidate power, notably during the 1955 Battle of Saigon against the Binh Xuyen crime syndicate, though Lansdale exaggerated his role in *In the Midst of Wars*.

Lansdale returned to Washington in 1957, joining the Pentagon as deputy director of the Office of Special Operations, advising on counterinsurgency. Promoted to brigadier general in 1960, he became a key figure in the Kennedy administration’s counterinsurgency push. In 1961, he returned to Vietnam as a senior advisor, advocating “hearts and minds” strategies to counter the Viet Cong. Lansdale proposed civic action and rural development, but his influence waned as U.S. policy shifted to conventional warfare under Robert McNamara. He clashed with military brass, who dismissed his unconventional tactics, and was sidelined after Diem’s 1963 assassination, which Lansdale opposed. From 1965 to 1968, he served as a civilian advisor in Vietnam, working on pacification programs like the Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS), but retired in 1968, frustrated by the war’s escalation.