Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS)

March 1, 1967 - March 31, 1967

1967-03-20_March_1967_CORDS_-_Guam_Conference

Overview

During a conference in Guam, President Johnson reveals his decision to reorganize rural pacification programs under the new Office of Civil Operations and Revolutionary Development Support (CORDS). Like earlier pacification efforts, CORDS aims to gain the trust of South Vietnam’s rural population through social and economic development in order to deprive the Viet Cong of its support in the countryside.

CORDS represents a unique integration of civilian and military personnel into one organization. It is directed by MACV civilian deputy commander Robert W. Komer, who reports to MACV commander General Westmoreland. The United States formally announces CORDS on May 11, and it assumes pacification responsibilities from several organizations, including DoD, CIA, USAID, and others.¹

¹Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Escalation, 1962–1967, United States Army in Vietnam (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 357–364; Thomas W. Scoville, Reorganizing for Pacification Support (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 1999), 43, 49, 53–54, 62, 67; Spencer C. Tucker, ed. The Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War: A Political, Social, and Military History, (2nd edition; Santa Barbara, CA: ABC CLIO, 2011), 209–10; Frank Leith Jones, Blowtorch: Robert Komer, Vietnam, and American Cold War Strategy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2013).