War for Sale: The Black Market, Currency Manipulation and Corruption in the American War in Vietnam

Abstract

As American troops began pouring into South Vietnam in 1965 they brought with them a deluge of material, aid and money, all of which fed a growing black market and fomented an atmosphere of corruption. These circumstances helped set in motion a process that doomed the South Vietnamese economy to failure and undermined American hopes to stabilise politically its client state. Even though the black market in Vietnam predated the French Indochina War, it now flourished with renewed energy. American goods dominated storefronts and street vendors' stands in Saigon, Hue and Da Nang, putting a tight pinch on local manufacturing which could not compete. American soldiers and civilians, and the United States government, had money to spend. Vietnamese and internationals alike in Saigon and other cities quickly realised the potential wealth of the American presence. American servicemen, civilian personnel, contractors and other Americans in Vietnam realised with equal cleverness that there was money to be made. In a 'bonanza atmosphere', crime, corruption and greed undermined the American effort to stabilise the South Vietnamese government and economy against the North Vietnamese-supported communist insurgency.!