The United States Embassy in Saigon was first established in June 1952, and moved into a new building in 1967 and eventually closed in 1975. The embassy was the scene of a number of significant events of the Vietnam War, most notably the Viet Cong attack during the Tet Offensive which helped turn American public opinion against the war, and the helicopter evacuation during the Fall of Saigon after which the embassy closed permanently.
In 1995, the U.S. and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam formally established relations and the embassy grounds and building were handed back to the United States. The former embassy was subsequently demolished in 1998 and is currently a park inside of the U.S. Consulate General's compound in what is now called Ho Chi Minh City.
First embassy
The U.S. diplomatic presence in Saigon was established on 9 December 1907, as a consulate. It acted as a representative to French Indochina succeeding an American commercial agent that had been established in Saigon in 1889. The United States granted recognition to the State of Vietnam led by the Bảo Đại government in 1950, and on 17 February, the Consulate-General in Saigon was elevated to Legation status with Edmund A. Gullion as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim. Following the Geneva Accords of 1954 and the subsequent partitioning into North Vietnam and South Vietnam, the United States did not extend diplomatic recognition to North Vietnam. On 24 June 1952, after the U.S. Senate confirmed Donald R. Heath as the U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam, the Legation in Saigon's status was raised and the embassy was formally established. The first embassy was located at 39 Hàm Nghi Boulevard and the original building remains there today.
1965 embassy bombing
On 30 March 1965, the Viet Cong detonated a car-bomb outside the embassy. The attack occurred when a Vietnamese policeman began arguing with the driver of a car parked in front of the embassy but the driver refused to leave and then another Viet Cong member drove up alongside the car and fired on the policeman. Quickly following the brief exchange of fire, the car, which contained 300 pounds of plastic explosives, detonated in front of the embassy killing two Americans, one female CIA employee, Barbara Robbins, and another American, as well as 19 Vietnamese and one Filipino serving in the U.S. Navy along with injuring 183 others. The U.S. Congress appropriated $1 million to reconstruct the embassy in a new location following the attack and although retaliatory raids on North Vietnam were suggested, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson refused. Following the attack, South Vietnamese Foreign Minister Tran Van Do posthumously decorated Barbara Robbins and the Filipino navy serviceman with the Medal of Honor First Class.
Second chancery Embassy compound
Due to security concerns following the 1965 bombing, it was decided that a new embassy with greater protection would be constructed. The site selected was a site known as the Norodom Compound at No 4 Thong Nhut (now Le Duan) Boulevard at the corner of Thong Nhut and Mac Dinh Chi Street, near to where the Bến Nghé Channel enters the Saigon River. The embassy was next to the French embassy, opposite the British embassy, and located near the Presidential Palace.
Although originally designed in early 1965 by the firm Curtis and Davis, their design had only called for three stories and due to the increased U.S. commitment in Vietnam, a larger building was needed. As such in November 1965 the firm Adrian Wilson and Associates were selected to redesign the building. The new design originally called for four stories but was then raised to six, and was built between 1965 and 1967 by the American construction company RMK-BRJ under the direction of the U.S. Navy Officer in Charge of Construction RVN. RMK-BRJ employed a workforce of 500 Vietnamese, primarily using materials from the U.S. due to the scarcity of commodities in South Vietnam at the time. Despite that the sand and gravel used in the concrete mix, along with the walkway tiles, and the bricks used in all the interior walls were sourced from Vietnam. The embassy was opened on September 29, 1967, after more than two years of construction and cost a total of 2.6 million dollars.
The embassy comprised two separate compounds, a consular compound sealed off by a separate wall and steel gate and the embassy compound with the chancery, behind it was a parking lot, a two-story villa used as a residence by the mission coordinator (a civilian assistant to the United States Ambassador to South Vietnam), a motor pool and other facilities. There were two entry gates, a pedestrian entrance on Thong Nhut Boulevard and a vehicle entrance on Mac Dinh Chi Street. The new chancery was a distinctive six-story white concrete building, with a concrete lattice facade that served to both cool the building and deflect rockets and other projectiles. Due to both aesthetics and security, the chancery was set back from the street. The chancery was a rectangular building, by , and was enclosed in a walled compound that is by (3.18 acres). It was located inside the compound, protected from both streets by an wall with a -thick mixture of cement and marble chips. The lattice facade extends from the first story to the roof, covering the entire building in a protective white terrazzo sunscreen. It was separated from the concrete walls and the shatterproof plexiglass windows of the chancery by five feet of space.
The chancery was designed for a staff of 200, with 49,670 square feet of office space comprising 140 offices. There were also executive offices on the third floor for the Ambassador's office and other high-ranking members of the Mission. It was also air conditioned, had its own water filtration system, and at the rear of the compound, had a power plant consisting of four 350 kilowatt generators. The chancery also had small helipad (75x49-feet) on the roof. A concrete awning extended from the chancery out over the pedestrian entrance on Thong Nhut Boulevard.
The old embassy on Hàm Nghi Boulevard remained in use as an embassy annex.
Tet offensive
On the early morning of 31 January 1968, as part of the Tet Offensive, 19 Viet Cong sappers from the elite C-10 Sapper Battalion attacked the embassy. The VC were engaged by two military policemen from the 716th Military Police Battalionpart of the 18th Military Police Brigadeat the vehicle entrance on Mac Dinh Chi Street who raised the alarm. Inside the chancery building U.S. Marines of the Marine Security Guard sealed the building.
Minutes later at 02:47, the VC blew a small hole in the perimeter wall on Thong Nhut Boulevard and gained access to the embassy compound. The first two VC that crawled through the hole and into the grounds were shot and killed by the two MPs in their guard post at the Mac Dinh Chi Street entrance. The MPs radioed for help before being killed by VC fire. An MP Jeep patrol responded to the calls for help from the embassy but as they approached the embassy they were met by automatic weapons fire from the VC that were outside the wall, killing both MPs.
In addition to three marines, there were two Vietnamese and six American civilians inside the chancery building at the time of the attack. The Americans armed themselves with .38 revolvers, Beretta M12 submachine guns and a shotgun and waited for the VC to come inside. Outside in the embassy grounds, the VC were unsure of their next move as both their leaders had both been killed after they entered the embassy grounds. The VC could easily have blasted their way into the chancery had they been ordered to do so; instead they took positions in or near the circular planters around the chancery and returned fire at the growing numbers of Americans shooting at them.
The remaining marines of the Marine Security Guard detachment were organised into quick reaction teams and headed to the embassy where they laid fire on the embassy gardens.
At 04:20, General William Westmoreland ordered the 716th MP Battalion to clear the embassy as their first priority. Lacking armored vehicles and helicopters, the MPs moved in more troops to cordon off the embassy. The tactical situation was confused by darkness and the poor communications within the chancery and between the chancery and the MPs and marines outside the embassy compound.
As dawn broke on the morning of 31 January, MPs and marines entered the embassy grounds and within a few minutes, they easily killed all of the few surviving VC for most of them by then were already dead or dying in the embassy garden from the prolonged firefight. At the same time, a helicopter carrying troops from the 101st Airborne Division landed on the roof and proceeded to sweep the chancery building, finding no VC inside.
By 09:00, the embassy was declared secure. Of the 19 VC that attacked the building, 18 had been killed and one wounded VC was captured. U.S. losses were 4 MPs and 1 marine killed.
The first news reports of the embassy attack were sent by the Associated Press at 03:15 based on fragmentary information, a later report stated that three VC had entered the embassy grounds. The news reports from the embassy reflected the confused tactical situation. At 07:25, the Associated Press carried a story stating that the VC had seized part of the first floor of the embassy building and that U.S. forces were being held back by fire from the embassy building. This report was picked up by NBC news who, on the 18:30 EST (06:30 ICT) Huntley–Brinkley Report, broadcast that the VC occupied the first floor of the embassy building and that U.S. forces were in the embassy grounds exchanging fire with them. Later news reports corrected the facts of the attack, but the initial reports had shocked the American public.
While the embassy attack (like much of the Tet Offensive) was tactically insignificant, it had a profound political and psychological impact. The United States had been fighting in Vietnam for over two-and-a-half years, 20,000 Americans had been killed and despite the presence of nearly 500,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, the VC had managed to penetrate the U.S. Embassy.
Post-Tet offensive On 4 November 1968, Ambassador Bunker presented a scroll of appreciation to LTC Tyler H. Fletcher, commanding officer of the 716th Military Police Battalion for their role in defending the embassy. Ambassador Bunker also dedicated a plaque in the chancery lobby commemorating the four MPs and one marine who died defending the embassy.
A fire-bomb attack on the embassy took place on 18 February 1971.
Fall of Saigon and Operation Frequent Wind
On 12 April 1975, the 9th Marine Amphibious Brigade (9th MAB), which was to supply helicopters and a security force for the evacuation, sent a delegation to consult with Ambassador Graham Martin on current plans. Ambassador Martin told them that he would not tolerate any outward signs that the United States intended to abandon South Vietnam. All planning would have to be conducted with the utmost discretion. Brigadier General Richard E. Carey, commander of the 9th MAB, flew to Saigon the next day to see Ambassador Martin, he later said that ‘The visit was cold, non-productive and appeared to be an irritant to the Ambassador’.
On 25 April, 40 marines from the 9th MAB on the were flown in by Air America helicopters in civilian clothes to the DAO Compound to augment the 18 Marine Security Guards assigned to defend the embassy, an additional 6 marines were assigned to protect Ambassador Martin.