document_title: First Indochina War

question_text: why did the united states support the french war effort in vietnam

question_tokens: why did the united states support the french war effort in vietnam

text: First Indochina War

text: Background[edit]

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text: Vietnam was absorbed into French Indochina in stages between 1858 and 1887. Nationalism grew until World War II provided a break in French control. Early Vietnamese resistance centered on the intellectual Phan Bội Châu. Châu looked to Japan, which had modernized and was one of the few Asian nations to successfully resist European colonization. With Prince Cường Để, Châu started two organizations in Japan, the Duy Tân hội (Modernistic Association) and Vietnam Cong Hien Hoi.

text: Due to French pressure, Japan deported Phan Bội Châu to China. Witnessing Sun Yat-sen's 1911 nationalist revolution, Châu was inspired to commence the Viet Nam Quang Phục Hội movement in Guangzhou. From 1914 to 1917, he was imprisoned by Yuan Shikai's counterrevolutionary government. In 1925, he was captured by French agents in Shanghai and spirited to Vietnam. Due to his popularity, Châu was spared from execution and placed under house arrest until his death in 1940.

text: In September 1940, shortly after Phan Bội Châu's death, Japan launched its invasion of French Indochina, mirroring its ally Germany's conquest of metropolitan France. Keeping the French colonial administration, the Japanese ruled from behind the scenes in a parallel of Vichy France. As far as Vietnamese nationalists were concerned, this was a double-puppet government. Emperor Bảo Đại collaborated with the Japanese, just as he had with the French, ensuring his lifestyle could continue.

text: From October 1940 to May 1941, during the Franco-Thai War, the Vichy French in Indochina were involved with defending their colony in a border conflict which saw the forces of Thailand invade, while the Japanese sat on the sidelines. Thai military successes were limited to the Cambodian border area, and in January 1941 Vichy France's modern naval forces soundly defeated the inferior Thai naval forces in the Battle of Ko Chang. The war ended in May, with the French agreeing to minor territorial revisions which restored formerly Thai areas to Thailand.

text: In 1941, Ho Chi Minh, seeing communist revolution as the path to freedom, returned to Vietnam and formed the Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi (League for the Independence of Vietnam), better known as the Viet Minh. Ho created the Viet Minh as an umbrella organization for all the nationalist resistance movements, de-emphasizing his communist social revolutionary background.[citation needed]

text: During the Vietnamese Famine of 1945, Ho Chi Minh blamed ruthless Japanese exploitation and poor weather for up to two million Vietnamese deaths. The Viet Minh arranged a relief effort in the north, winning wide support there as a result.[citation needed]

text: In March 1945, Japan launched the Second French Indochina Campaign and ousted the Vichy French and formally installed Emperor Bảo Đại as head of the nominally independent Empire of Vietnam. The Japanese arrested and imprisoned most of the French officials and military officers remaining in the country.

text: American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and General Joseph Stilwell privately made it clear that France was not to reacquire French Indochina after the war was over. Roosevelt suggested that Chiang Kai-shek place Indochina under Chinese rule; Chiang Kai-shek supposedly replied: "Under no circumstances!"[36] Following Roosevelt's death in April 1945, U.S. resistance to French rule weakened.[37]

text: After the surrender of Japan[edit]

text: An armistice was signed between Japan and the United States on August 20, 1945. The Provisional Government of the French Republic wanted to restore its colonial rule in French Indochina as the final step of the Liberation of France.

text: On August 22, 1945, OSS agents Archimedes Patti and Carleton B. Swift Jr. arrived in Hanoi on a mercy mission to liberate Allied POWs, and were accompanied by French government official Jean Sainteny.[38] The Imperial Japanese Army, being the only force capable of maintaining law and order, remained in power while keeping French colonial troops and Sainteny detained.[39]

text: Japanese forces allowed the Viet Minh and other nationalist groups to take over public buildings and weapons without resistance, which began the August Revolution. On August 25, Ho Chi Minh was able to persuade Emperor Bảo Đại to abdicate. Bảo Đại was appointed "supreme advisor" to the new Vietminh-led government in Hanoi.

text: On September 2, aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, CEFEO Expeditionary Corps leader General Leclerc signed the armistice with Japan on behalf of France.[citation needed] The same day, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence from France. Deliberately borrowing from the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed:

text: "We hold the truth that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."[40]

text: After their surrender, the Japanese Army gave weapons to the Viet Minh.[citation needed] In order to further help the nationalists, the Japanese kept Vichy French officials and military officers imprisoned for a month after the surrender. OSS officers met repeatedly with Ho Chi Minh and other Viet Minh officers during this period.[41] The Viet Minh had recruited more than 600 Japanese soldiers and given them roles to train or command Vietnamese soldiers.[42][43]

text: On September 13, 1945, a Franco-British task force landed in Java, main island of the Dutch East Indies (for which independence was being sought by Sukarno), and Saigon, capital of Cochinchina (southern part of French Indochina), both being occupied by the Japanese and ruled by Field Marshal Hisaichi Terauchi, Commander-in-Chief of Japan's Southern Expeditionary Army Group based in Saigon.[44] Allied troops in Saigon were an airborne detachment, two British companies of the Indian 20th Infantry Division and the French 5th Colonial Infantry Regiment, with British General Sir Douglas Gracey as supreme commander. The latter proclaimed martial law on September 21. The following night the Franco-British troops took control of Saigon.[45]

text: Almost immediately afterward, as agreed to at the Potsdam Conference (and under Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers' "General Order no. One".[46][47]), 200,000 troops of the Chinese 1st Army occupied Indochina as far south as the 16th parallel. They had been sent by Chiang Kai-shek under General Lu Han to accept the surrender of Japanese forces occupying that area, then to supervise the disarming and repatriation of the Japanese Army. This effectively ended Ho Chi Minh's nominal government in Hanoi.[citation needed] Initially, the Chinese kept the French Colonial soldiers interned, with the acquiescence of the Americans.[39] The Chinese used the VNQDĐ, the Vietnamese branch of the Chinese Kuomintang, to increase their influence in Indochina and put pressure on their opponents.[48]

text: On October 9, 1945, General Leclerc arrived in Saigon, accompanied by French Colonel Massu's March Group (Groupement de marche). Leclerc's primary objectives were to restore public order in south Vietnam and to militarize Tonkin (north Vietnam). Secondary objectives were to wait for French backup in view to take back Chinese-occupied Hanoi, then to negotiate with the Viet Minh officials.[45]

text: Chiang Kai-shek threatened the French with war in response to manoeuvering by the French and Ho Chi Minh against each other, forcing them to come to a peace agreement. In February 1946, he also forced the French to surrender and renounce all of their concessions and ports in China, such as Shanghai, in exchange for withdrawing from northern Indochina and allowing French troops to reoccupy the region starting in March 1946.[49][50][51][52] Following this agreement, VNQDĐ forces became vulnerable due to the withdrawal of Chinese forces and were attacked by Viet Minh and French troops. The Viet Minh massacred thousands of VNQDD members and other nationalists in a large scale purge.[53][54]

text: Rival sides[edit]

text: The British supported the French in fighting the Viet Minh, armed militias from the religious Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo sects and the Bình Xuyên organized crime groups, which were all individually seeking power in the country and fought the Viet Ming as well. The Viet Minh were militarily ineffective in the first few years of the war and could do little more than harass the French in remote areas of Indochina.

text: The French were backed by the Nung minority while Viet Minh were backed by the Tay minority.[55]

text: Timeline[edit]

text: In early 1946, the French landed a military force at Haiphong. Negotiations took place about the future for Vietnam as a state within the French Union.[citation needed]

text: Fighting broke out in Haiphong about a conflict of interest in import duty at the port between the Viet Minh government and the French.[56] On November 23, 1946, the French fleet began a naval bombardment of the Vietnamese sections of the city that killed over 6,000 Vietnamese civilians in one afternoon.[57][58][59] The Viet Minh quickly agreed to a cease-fire and left the cities. This is known as the Haiphong incident.

text: There was never any intention among the Vietnamese to give up, as General Võ Nguyên Giáp soon brought up 30,000 men to attack the city. Although the French were outnumbered, their superior weaponry and naval support made any Viet Minh attack unsuccessful. In December, hostilities between the Viet Minh and the French broke out in Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh was forced to evacuate the capital in favor of remote mountain areas. Guerrilla warfare ensued, with the French controlling most of the country except far-flung areas.

text: In 1947, General Võ Nguyên Giáp retreated his command to Tan Trao deep in the hills of Tuyên Quang Province. The French sent military expeditions to attack his bases, but Giap refused to meet them head-on in battle. Wherever the French troops went, the Viet Minh disappeared. Late in the year the French launched Operation Lea to take out the Viet Minh communications center at Bắc Kạn. They failed to capture Ho Chi Minh and his key lieutenants as intended. The French claimed 9,000 Viet Minh soldiers KIA during the campaign which, if true, would represent a major blow for the insurgency.

text: In 1948, France started looking for means of opposing the Viet Minh politically, with an alternative government in Saigon. They began negotiations with the former emperor Bảo Đại to lead an "autonomous" government within the French Union of nations, the State of Vietnam. Two years before, the French had refused Ho's proposal of a similar status, albeit with some restrictions on French power and the latter's eventual withdrawal from Vietnam.

text: However, they were willing to give it to Bảo Đại as he had freely collaborated with French rule of Vietnam in the past and was in no position to seriously negotiate or impose demands (Bảo Đại had no military of his own, but soon he would have one).

text: In 1949, France officially recognized the nominal "independence" of the State of Vietnam as an associated state within the French Union under Bảo Đại. However, France still controlled all foreign relations and every defense issue. The Viet Minh quickly denounced the government and stated that they wanted "real independence, not Bảo Đại independence". Within the framework of the French Union, France also granted independence to the other nations in Indochina, the Kingdoms of Laos and Cambodia.

text: Later, as a concession to the new government and a way to increase their numbers, France agreed to the formation of the Vietnamese National Army commanded by Vietnamese officers. These troops were used mostly to garrison quiet sectors, so French forces would be available for combat. Private armies from the Cao Đài and Hòa Hảo religious sects and the Bình Xuyên crime syndicate were used in the same way.

text: With the triumph of the communists in China's civil war, the Vietnamese communists gained a major political ally on their northern border, supporting them with weapons and supplies. Giap re-organized his local irregular forces into five full conventional infantry divisions, the 304th, 308th, 312th, 316th and the 320th. The war began to intensify when Giap went on the offensive, attacking isolated French bases along the Chinese border.

text: The United States began to give military aid to France in the form of weaponry and military observers.

text: By January 1950, Ho's government gained recognition from China and the Soviet Union. In the same year, the government of Bao Dai gained recognition by the United States and the United Kingdom.

text: In February, Giap seized the vulnerable 150-strong French garrison at Lai Khê in Tonkin just south of the border with China.

text: In June, the Korean War broke out between communist North Korea (DPRK) supported by China and the Soviet Union, and South Korea (ROK) supported by the United States and its allies in the UN. The Cold War was turning 'hot' in East Asia, and the American government feared communist domination of the entire region would have deep implications for American interests. The US became strongly opposed to the government of Ho Chi Minh, in part, because it was supported and supplied by China.

text: Major general Thái attacked Đông Khê on September 15.[60] Đông Khê fell on September 18.

text: Cao Bằng garrison was then evacuated south, together with the relief force coming from That Khe, were attacked all the way by ambushing Viet Minh forces, which result in a stunning French defeat in the Battle of Route Coloniale 4. The French air-dropped a paratroop battalion south of Cao Bằng to act as diversion only to see it quickly surrounded and destroyed. After that, Lạng Sơn, is evacuted in panic while it wasn't menaced.

text: By the time the remains of the garrisons reached the safety of the Red River Delta, 4,800 French troops had been killed, captured or missing in action and 2,000 wounded out of a total garrison force of over 10,000. Also lost were 13 artillery pieces, 125 mortars, 450 trucks, 940 machine guns, 1,200 submachine guns and 8,000 rifles destroyed or captured during the fighting. China and the Soviet Union recognized Ho Chi Minh as the legitimate ruler of Vietnam and sent him more and more supplies and material aid. The year 1950 also marked the first time that napalm was ever used in Vietnam (this type of weapon was supplied by the U.S. for the use of the French Aéronavale at the time).

text: The military situation improved for France when its new commander, General Jean Marie de Lattre de Tassigny, built a fortified line from Hanoi to the Gulf of Tonkin, across the Red River Delta, to hold the Viet Minh in place and use his troops to smash them against this barricade, which became known as the De Lattre Line. This led to a period of success for the French.

text: On January 13, 1951, Giáp moved the 308th and 312th Divisions, made up of over 20,000 men, to attack Vĩnh Yên, 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Hanoi, which was manned by the 6,000-strong 9th Foreign Legion Brigade. The Viet Minh entered a trap. Caught for the first time in the open and actually forced to fight the French head-on, without the ability to quickly hide and retreat, they were mown down by concentrated French artillery and machine gun fire. By January 16, the Battle of Vĩnh Yên ended as Giáp was forced to withdraw, with over 6,000 of his troops killed, 8,000 wounded and 500 captured.[citation needed]

text: On March 23, Giáp tried again, launching an attack against Mạo Khê, 20 miles (32 km) north of Haiphong. The 316th Division, composed of 11,000 men, with the partly rebuilt 308th and 312th Divisions in reserve, went forward and were beaten in bitter hand-to-hand fighting against French troops. Giap, having lost over 3,000 (French estimation) / ~500 (Viet Minh information) dead and wounded by March 28, withdrew.

text: Giáp launched yet another attack, the Battle of the Day River, on May 29 with the 304th Division at Phủ Lý, the 308th Division at Ninh Bình, and the main attack delivered by the 320th Division at Phat Diem south of Hanoi. The attacks fared no better and the three divisions lost heavily. Taking advantage of this, de Lattre mounted his counteroffensive against the demoralized Viet Minh, driving them back into the jungle and eliminating the enemy pockets in the Red River Delta by June 18, costing the Viet Minh over 10,000 killed.[61]

text: Every effort by Võ Nguyên Giáp to break the De Lattre Line failed, and every attack he made was answered by a French counter-attack that destroyed his forces. Viet Minh casualties rose alarmingly during this period, leading some to question the leadership of the Communist government, even within the party. However, any benefit this may have reaped for France was negated by the increasing domestic opposition to the war in France.

text: On July 31, French General Charles Chanson was assassinated during a propaganda suicide attack at Sa Đéc in South Vietnam that was blamed on the Viet Minh although it was argued in some quarters that Cao Đài nationalist Trình Minh Thế could have been involved in its planning.

text: On November 14, 1951, the French seized Hòa Bình, 25 miles (40 km) west of the De Lattre Line, by a parachute drop and extended their perimeter.

text: In January, General de Lattre fell ill from cancer and had to return to France for treatment. He died there shortly thereafter and was replaced by General Raoul Salan as the overall commander of French forces in Indochina. Viet Minh launched attacks on Hòa Bình, forcing the French to withdraw back to their main positions on the De Lattre line by February 22, 1952. Each side lost nearly 5,000 men in this campaign, and it showed that the war was far from over.

text: Throughout the war theater, the Viet Minh cut French supply lines and began to seriously wear down the resolve of the French forces. There were continued raids, skirmishes and guerrilla attacks, but through most of the rest of the year each side withdrew to prepare itself for larger operations. Starting on October 2, the Battle of Nà Sản saw the first use of the French commanders’ "hedgehog" tactics, consisting in setting up well-defended outposts to get the Viet Minh out of the jungle and force them to fight conventional battles instead of using guerrilla tactics.

text: On October 17, 1952, Giáp launched attacks against the French garrisons along Nghĩa Lộ, northwest of Hanoi, and overran much of the Black River valley, except for the airfield of Nà Sản where a strong French garrison entrenched. Giáp by now had control over most of Tonkin beyond the De Lattre line. Raoul Salan, seeing the situation as critical, launched Operation Lorraine along the Clear River to force Giáp to relieve pressure on the Nghĩa Lộ outposts.

text: On October 29, 1952, in the largest operation in Indochina to date, 30,000 French Union soldiers moved out from the De Lattre line to attack the Viet Minh supply dumps at Phú Yên. Salan took Phú Thọ on November 5, and Phu Doan on November 9 by a parachute drop, and finally Phú Yên on November 13. Giáp at first did not react to the French offensive. He planned to wait until their supply lines were overextended and then cut them off from the Red River Delta.

text: Salan correctly guessed what the Viet Minh were up to and cancelled the operation on November 14, beginning to withdraw back to the De Lattre Line. The only major fighting during the operation came during the withdrawal, when the Viet Minh ambushed the French column at Chan Muong on November 17. The road was cleared after a bayonet charge by the Indochinese March Battalion, and the withdrawal could continue. The French lost around 1,200 men during the whole operation, most of them during the Chan Muong ambush. The operation was partially successful, proving that the French could strike out at targets outside the De Lattre Line. However, it failed to divert the Viet Minh offensive or seriously damage its logistical network.

text: On April 9, 1953, Giáp, after having failed repeatedly in direct attacks on French positions in Vietnam, changed strategy and began to pressure the French by invading Laos, surrounding and defeating several French outposts such as Muong Khoua. In May, General Henri Navarre replaced Salan as supreme commander of French forces in Indochina. He reported to the French government "... that there was no possibility of winning the war in Indo-China," saying that the best the French could hope for was a stalemate.

text: Navarre, in response to the Viet Minh attacking Laos, concluded that "hedgehog" centers of defense were the best plan. Looking at a map of the area, Navarre chose the small town of Điện Biên Phủ, located about 10 miles (16 km) north of the Lao border and 175 miles (282 km) west of Hanoi as a target to block the Viet Minh from invading Laos. Điện Biên Phủ had a number of advantages: it was on a Viet Minh supply route into Laos on the Nam Yum River, it had an old airstrip for supply, and it was situated in the Tai hills where the Tai tribesmen, still loyal to the French, operated.

text: Operation Castor was launched on November 20, 1953, with 1,800 men of the French 1st and 2nd Airborne Battalions dropping into the valley of Điện Biên Phủ and sweeping aside the local Viet Minh garrison. The paratroopers gained control of a heart-shaped valley 12 miles (19 km) long and 8 miles (13 km) wide surrounded by heavily wooded hills. Encountering little opposition, the French and Tai units operating from Lai Châu to the north patrolled the hills.

text: The operation was a tactical success for the French. However, Giáp, seeing the weakness of the French position, started moving most of his forces from the De Lattre line to Điện Biên Phủ. By mid-December, most of the French and Tai patrols in the hills around the town were wiped out by Viet Minh ambushes.[citation needed] The fight for control of this position would be the longest and hardest battle for the French Far East Expeditionary Corps and would be remembered by the veterans as "57 Days of Hell".

text: By 1954, despite official propaganda presenting the war as a "crusade against communism",[62][63] the war in Indochina was still growing unpopular with the French public. The political stagnation of the Fourth Republic meant that France was unable to extract itself from the conflict.

text: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu occurred in 1954 between Viet Minh forces under Võ Nguyên Giáp, supported by China and the Soviet Union, and the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps, supported by US financing and Indochinese allies. The battle was fought near the village of Điện Biên Phủ in northern Vietnam and became the last major battle between the French and the Vietnamese in the First Indochina War.

text: The battle began on March 13 when a preemptive Viet Minh attack surprised the French with heavy artillery. The artillery damaged both the main and secondary airfields that the French were using to fly in supplies. The only road into Điện Biên Phủ, already difficult to traverse, was also knocked out by Viet Minh forces.[citation needed] With French supply lines interrupted, the French position became untenable, particularly when the advent of the monsoon season made dropping supplies and reinforcements by parachute difficult. With defeat imminent, the French sought to hold on until the opening of the Geneva peace meeting on April 26. The last French offensive took place on May 4, but it was ineffective. The Viet Minh then began to hammer the outpost with newly supplied Soviet Katyusha rockets and other weaponry provided by communist allies.[citation needed]

text: The final fall took two days, May 6 and 7, during which the French fought on but were eventually overrun by a huge frontal assault. General Cogny, based in Hanoi, ordered General de Castries, who was commanding the outpost, to cease fire at 5:30 pm and to destroy all materiél (weapons, transmissions, etc.) to deny their use to the enemy. A formal order was given to not use the white flag so that the action would be considered a ceasefire instead of a surrender. Much of the fighting ended on May 7; however, the ceasefire was not respected on Isabelle, the isolated southern position, where the battle lasted until May 8, 1:00 am.[64]

text: At least 2,200 members of the 20,000-strong French forces died, and another 1,729 were reported missing after the battle, and 11,721 were captured. Of the 50,000 or so Vietnamese soldiers thought to be involved, there were an estimated 4,800 to 8,000 killed and another 9,000–15,000 wounded.[citation needed] The prisoners taken at Điện Biên Phủ were the greatest number the Viet Minh had ever captured: one-third of the total captured during the entire war.

text: One month after Điện Biên Phủ, the composite Groupe Mobile 100 (GM100) of the French Union forces evacuated the An Khê outpost and was ambushed by a larger Viet Minh force at the Battle of Mang Yang Pass from June 24 to July 17. At the same time, Giap launched some offensives against the delta, but they all failed.[citation needed] The Viet Minh victory at Điện Biên Phủ heavily influenced the outcome of the 1954 Geneva accords that took place on July 21. In August Operation Passage to Freedom began, consisting of the evacuation of Catholic and loyalist Vietnamese civilians from communist North Vietnamese persecution.

text: Geneva Conference and Partition[edit]

text: Negotiations between France and the Viet Minh started in Geneva in April 1954 at the Geneva Conference, during which time the French Union and the Viet Minh were fighting a battle at Điện Biên Phủ. In France, Pierre Mendès France, opponent of the war since 1950, had been invested as Prime Minister on June 17, 1954, on a promise to put an end to the war, reaching a ceasefire in four months:

text: "Today it seems we can be reunited in a will for peace that may express the aspirations of our country ... Since already several years, a compromise peace, a peace negotiated with the opponent seemed to me commanded by the facts, while it commanded, in return, to put back in order our finances, the recovery of our economy and its expansion. Because this war placed on our country an unbearable burden. And here appears today a new and formidable threat: if the Indochina conflict is not resolved — and settled very fast — it is the risk of war, of international war and maybe atomic, that we must foresee. It is because I wanted a better peace that I wanted it earlier, when we had more assets. But even now there is some renouncings or abandons that the situation does not comprise. France does not have to accept and will not accept settlement which would be incompatible with its more vital interests [applauding on certain seats of the Assembly on the left and at the extreme right]. France will remain present in Far-Orient. Neither our allies, nor our opponents must conserve the least doubt on the signification of our determination. A negotiation has been engaged in Geneva ... I have longly studied the report ... consulted the most qualified military and diplomatic experts. My conviction that a pacific settlement of the conflict is possible has been confirmed. A "cease-fire" must henceforth intervene quickly. The government which I will form will fix itself — and will fix to its opponents — a delay of 4 weeks to reach it. We are today on 17th of June. I will present myself before you before the 20th of July ... If no satisfying solution has been reached at this date, you will be freed from the contract which would have tied us together, and my government will give its dismissal to the President of the Republic."[65]

text: The Geneva Conference on July 21, 1954, recognized the 17th parallel north as a "provisional military demarcation line," temporarily dividing the country into two zones, communist North Vietnam and pro-Western South Vietnam.

text: The Geneva Accords promised elections in 1956 to determine a national government for a united Vietnam. Neither the United States government nor Ngo Dinh Diem's State of Vietnam signed anything at the 1954 Geneva Conference. With respect to the question of reunification, the non-communist Vietnamese delegation objected strenuously to any division of Vietnam, but lost out when the French accepted the proposal of Viet Minh delegate Pham Van Dong,[66] who proposed that Vietnam eventually be united by elections under the supervision of "local commissions".[67] The United States countered with what became known as the "American Plan", with the support of South Vietnam and the United Kingdom.[68] It provided for unification elections under the supervision of the United Nations, but was rejected by the Soviet delegation.[68] From his home in France, Emperor Bảo Đại appointed Ngô Đình Diệm as Prime Minister of South Vietnam. With American support, in 1955 Diem used a referendum to remove the former Emperor and declare himself the president of the Republic of Vietnam.

text: When the elections failed to occur, Viet Minh cadres who stayed behind in South Vietnam were activated and started to fight the government. North Vietnam also invaded and occupied portions of Laos to assist in supplying the National Liberation Front guerillas fighting in South Vietnam. The war gradually escalated into the Second Indochina War, more commonly known as the Vietnam War in the West and the American War in Vietnam.

text: French domestic situation[edit]

text: The 1946 Constitution creating the Fourth Republic (1946–1958) made France a Parliamentary republic. Because of the political context, it could find stability only by an alliance between the three dominant parties: the Christian Democratic Popular Republican Movement (MRP), the French Communist Party (PCF) and the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO). Known as tripartisme, this alliance briefly lasted until the May 1947 crisis, with the expulsion from Paul Ramadier's SFIO government of the PCF ministers, marking the official start of the Cold War in France. This had the effect of weakening the regime, with the two most significant movements of this period, Communism and Gaullism, in opposition.

text: Unlikely alliances had to be made between left- and right-wing parties in order to form a government invested by the National Assembly, resulting in parliamentary instability, with fourteen prime ministers in succession between 1947 and 1954's Battle of Dien Bien Phu. The rapid turnover of governments (there were 17 different governments during the war) left France unable to prosecute the war with any consistent policy, according to veteran General René de Biré (who was a lieutenant at Dien Bien Phu).[69] France was increasingly unable to afford the costly conflict in Indochina and, by 1954, the United States was paying 80% of France's war effort, which was $3,000,000 per day in 1952.[70][71]

text: A strong anti-war movement came into existence in France driven mostly by the then-powerful French Communist Party (outpowering the socialists) and its young militant associations, major trade unions such as the General Confederation of Labour, and notable leftist intellectuals.[72][73] The first occurrence was probably at the National Assembly on March 21, 1947, when the communist deputees refused to back the military credits for Indochina. The following year a pacifist event was organized, the "1st Worldwide Congress of Peace Partisans" (1er Congrès Mondial des Partisans de la Paix, the World Peace Council's predecessor), which took place March 25–28, 1948, in Paris, with the French communist Nobel laureate atomic physicist Frédéric Joliot-Curie as president. Later, on April 28, 1950, Joliot-Curie would be dismissed from the military and civilian Atomic Energy Commission for political reasons.[74]

text: Young communist militants (UJRF) were also accused of sabotage actions like the famous Henri Martin affair and the case of Raymonde Dien, who was jailed one year for having blocked an ammunition train, with the help of other militants, in order to prevent the supply of French forces in Indochina in February 1950.[69][72] Similar actions against trains occurred in Roanne, Charleville, Marseille, and Paris. Even ammunition sabotage by PCF agents has been reported, such as grenades exploding in the hands of legionaries.[69] These actions became such a cause for concern by 1950 that the French Assembly voted a law against sabotage between March 2–8. At this session tension was so high between politicians that fighting ensued in the assembly following communist deputees’ speeches against the Indochinese policy.[74] This month saw the French navy mariner and communist militant Henri Martin arrested by military police and jailed for five years for sabotage and propaganda operations in Toulon's arsenal. On May 5 communist Ministers were dismissed from the government, marking the end of Tripartism.[74] A few months later on November 11, 1950, the French Communist Party leader Maurice Thorez went to Moscow.

text: Some military officers involved in the Revers Report scandal (Rapport Revers) such as Salan were pessimistic about the way the war was being conducted,[75] with multiple political-military scandals all happening during the war, starting with the Generals' Affair (Affaire des Généraux) from September 1949 to November 1950. As a result, General Georges Revers was dismissed in December 1949 and socialist Defense Ministry Jules Moch (SFIO) was brought on court by the National Assembly on November 28, 1950. Emerging media played their role.[clarification needed] The scandal started the commercial success of the first French news magazine, L'Express, created in 1953.[76] The third scandal was financial-political, concerning military corruption, money and arms trading involving both the French Union army and the Viet Minh, known as the Piastres affair. The war ended in 1954 but its sequel started in French Algeria where the French Communist Party played an even stronger role by supplying the National Liberation Front (FLN) rebels with intelligence documents and financial aid. They were called "the suitcase carriers" (les porteurs de valises).

text: In the French news, the Indochina War was presented as a direct continuation of the Korean War, where France had fought: a UN French battalion, incorporated in a U.S. unit in Korea, was later involved in the Battle of Mang Yang Pass of June and July 1954.[62] In an interview taped in May 2004, General Marcel Bigeard (6th BPC) argues that "one of the deepest mistakes done by the French during the war was the propaganda telling you are fighting for Freedom, you are fighting against Communism",[63] hence the sacrifice of volunteers during the climactic battle of Dien Bien Phu. In the latest days of the siege, 652 non-paratrooper soldiers from all army corps from cavalry to infantry to artillery dropped for the first and last time of their life to support their comrades. The Cold War excuse was later used by General Maurice Challe through his famous "Do you want Mers El Kébir and Algiers to become Soviet bases as soon as tomorrow?", during the Generals' putsch (Algerian War) of 1961, with limited effect though.[77]

text: A few hours after the French Union defeat at Dien Bien Phu in May 1954, United States Secretary of State John Foster Dulles made an official speech depicting the "tragic event" and "its defense for fifty seven days and nights will remain in History as one of the most heroic of all time." Later on, he denounced Chinese aid to the Viet Minh, explained that the United States could not act openly because of international pressure, and concluded with the call to "all concerned nations" concerning the necessity of "a collective defense" against "the communist aggression".[4]

text: War crimes and re-education camps[edit]

text:
The Boudarel Affair. Georges Boudarel was a French communist militant who used brainwashing and torture against French Union POWs in Viet Minh reeducation camps.[78] The French national association of POWs brought Boudarel to court for a war crime charge. Most of the French Union prisoners died in the Viet Minh camps and many POWs from the Vietnamese National Army were missing.
Passage to Freedom was a Franco-American operation to evacuate refugees. Loyal Indochinese evacuated to metropolitan France were kept in detention camps.[79]
In 1957, the French Chief of Staff with Raoul Salan would use the POWs’ experience with the Viet Minh reeducation camps to create two "Instruction Center for Pacification and Counter-Insurgency" (Centre d'Instruction à la Pacification et à la Contre-Guérilla aka CIPCG) and train thousands of officers during the Algerian War.
According to Arthur J. Dommen, the Viet Minh assassinated between 100,000 and 150,000 civilians during the war; total civilian deaths are estimated at 400,000.[31][80]
The French Army tortured Viet Minh prisoners[81]
Cat Bay Massacre, 311 Vietnamese civilians were killed by the French Army[82]
Cau Hoa Massacre, 286 Vietnamese civilians were killed by the French Army[83]

text: French Union involvement[edit]

text: By 1946, France headed the French Union. As successive governments had forbidden the sending of metropolitan troops, the French Far East Expeditionary Corps (CEFEO) was created in March 1945. The Union gathered combatants from almost all French territories made of colonies, protectorates and associated states (Madagascar, Senegal, Tunisia, etc.) to fight in French Indochina, which was then occupied by the Japanese. About 325,000 of the 500,000 French troops were Indochinese, almost all of whom were used in conventional units.[84]

text: French West Africa (Afrique Occidentale Française, AOF) was a federation of African colonies. Senegalese and other African troops were sent to fight in Indochina. Some African alumni were trained in the Infantry Instruction Center no.2 (Centre d'Instruction de l'Infanterie no.2) located in southern Vietnam. Senegalese of the Colonial Artillery fought at the siege of Dien Bien Phu. As a French colony (later a full province), French Algeria sent local troops to Indochina including several RTA (Régiment de Tirailleurs Algériens) light infantry battalions. Morocco was a French protectorate and sent troops to support the French effort in Indochina. Moroccan troops were part of light infantry RTMs (Régiment de Tirailleurs Marocains) for the "Moroccan Sharpshooters Regiment".

text: As a French protectorate, Bizerte, Tunisia, was a major French base. Tunisian troops, mostly RTT (Régiment de Tirailleurs Tunisiens), were sent to Indochina. Part of French Indochina, then part of the French Union and later an associated state, Laos fought the communists along with French forces. The role played by Laotian troops in the conflict was depicted by veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer's famous 317th Platoon released in 1964.[85] The French Indochina state of Cambodia played a significant role during the Indochina War through its infantrymen and paratroopers.[citation needed]

text: While Bảo Đại's State of Vietnam (formerly Annam, Tonkin, Cochinchina) had the Vietnamese National Army supporting the French forces, some minorities were trained and organized as regular battalions (mostly infantry tirailleurs) that fought with French forces against the Viet Minh. The Tai Battalion 2 (BT2, 2e Bataillon Thai) is infamous for its desertion during the siege of Dien Bien Phu. Propaganda leaflets written in Tai and French sent by the Viet Minh were found in the deserted positions and trenches. Such deserters were called the Nam Yum rats by Bigeard during the siege, as they hid close to the Nam Yum river during the day and searched at night for supply drops.[86] Another allied minority was the Muong people (Mường). The 1st Muong Battalion (1er Bataillon Muong) was awarded the Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures after the victorious Battle of Vinh Yen in 1951.[87]

text: In the 1950s, the French established secret commando groups based on loyal Montagnard ethnic minorities referred to as "partisans" or "maquisards", called the Groupement de Commandos Mixtes Aéroportés (Composite Airborne Commando Group or GCMA), later renamed Groupement Mixte d'Intervention (GMI, or Mixed Intervention Group), directed by the SDECE counter-intelligence service. The SDECE's "Service Action" GCMA used both commando and guerrilla techniques and operated in intelligence and secret missions from 1950 to 1955.[88][89] Declassified information about the GCMA includes the name of its commander, famous Colonel Roger Trinquier, and a mission on April 30, 1954, when Jedburgh veteran Captain Sassi led the Meo partisans of the GCMA Malo-Servan in Operation Condor during the siege of Dien Bien Phu.[90]

text: In 1951, Adjutant-Chief Vandenberghe from the 6th Colonial Infantry Regiment (6e RIC) created the "Commando Vanden" (aka "Black Tigers", aka "North Vietnam Commando #24") based in Nam Định. Recruits were volunteers from the Thổ people, Nùng people and Miao people. This commando unit wore Viet Minh black uniforms to confuse the enemy and used techniques of the experienced Bo doi (Bộ đội, regular army) and Du Kich (guerrilla unit). Viet Minh prisoners were recruited in POW camps. The commando was awarded the Croix de guerre des TOE with palm in July 1951; however, Vandenberghe was betrayed by a Viet Minh recruit, commander Nguien Tinh Khoi (308th Division's 56th Regiment), who assassinated him (and his Vietnamese fiancée) with external help on the night of January 5, 1952.[91][92][93] Coolies and POWs known as PIM (Prisonniers Internés Militaires, which is basically the same as POW) were civilians used by the army as logistical support personnel. During the battle of Dien Bien Phu, coolies were in charge of burying the corpses—during the first days only, after they were abandoned, hence giving off a terrible smell, according to veterans—and they had the dangerous job of gathering supply packets delivered in drop zones while the Viet Minh artillery was firing hard to destroy the crates. The Viet Minh also used thousands of coolies to carry the Chu-Luc (regional units) supplies and ammunition during assaults. The PIM were civilian males old enough to join Bảo Đại's army. They were captured in enemy-controlled villages, and those who refused to join the State of Vietnam's army were considered prisoners or used as coolies to support a given regiment.[94]

text: Foreign involvement[edit]

text: Japanese volunteers[edit]

text: Many former Imperial Japanese Army soldiers fought with the Viet Minh - perhaps as many as 5,000 volunteered their services throughout the war. These Japanese stayed behind in Indochina soon after World War II concluded in 1945 out of a peak number of 50,000 - the majority of which were repatriated to Japan by the then occupying British.[95] For those that stayed behind, fighting with the Viet Minh became a more attractive idea than returning to a defeated and occupied homeland. In addition the Viet Minh had very little experience in warfare or government so the advice of the Japanese was welcome. Some of the Japanese were ex-Kenpeitai who were wanted for questioning by Allied authorities. Giap arranged for them all to receive Vietnamese citizenship and false identification papers.[95] Some Japanese were captured by the Viet Minh during the last months of the war and were recruited in to their ranks.

text: Most of the Japanese officers who stayed served as military instructors for the Viet Minh forces, most notably at the Quang Ngai Army Academy.[96] There were necessary conventional military knowledge such as how to conduct assaults, night attacks, company/battalion level exercises, commanding, tactics, navigation, communications and movements. A few, however, actively led Vietnamese forces into combat.[96] The French also identified eleven Japanese nurses and two doctors working for the Viet Minh in northern Vietnam in 1951. A number of Japanese are remembered at the Yasukuni Shrine as a result of the First Indochina War.[97]

text: China[edit]

text: One point that the French had a major problem with was the concept of sanctuary. As long as the revolutionaries who are fighting a guerilla war have a sanctuary, in which they can hide out, recoup after losses, and store supplies, it is almost impossible for any foreign enemy to ever destroy them.[citation needed] In the early 1950s, southern China was used as a sanctuary by Viet Minh guerrillas. Several hit and run ambushes were successfully operated against French Union convoys along the neighboring Route Coloniale 4 (RC 4), which was a major supply way in Tonkin (northern Vietnam). One of the most famous attacks of this kind was the battle of Cao Bằng.

text: China supplied the Viet Minh guerrillas with food (thousands of tons of rice), money, medics, arms, ammunition, artillery (24 guns were used at Dien Bien Phu) and other military equipment, including a large part of materials captured from Chiang Kai-shek's National Revolutionary Army during the Chinese Civil War. Evidences of the Chinese secret aid were found in caves during Operation Hirondelle in July 1953.[98][99] 2,000 Chinese and Soviet Union military advisors trained the Viet Minh guerrilla force to turn it into a full range army.[69] On top of this China, sent two artillery battalions at the siege of Dien Bien Phu on May 6, 1954. One operated 12 x 6 Katyusha rockets[100]

text: China and the Soviet Union were the first nations to recognize Ho Chi Minh government.

text: Soviet Union[edit]

text: The Soviet Union was the other ally of the Viet Minh, supplying GAZ trucks, truck engines, fuel, tires, arms (thousands of Skoda light machine guns), all kind of ammunitions, anti-aircraft guns (4 x 37 mm type) and cigarettes. During Operation Hirondelle, the French Union paratroopers captured and destroyed tons of Soviet supplies in the Ky Lua area.[98][101] According to General Giap, the Viet Minh used 400 GAZ-51 soviet-built trucks at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. Because the trucks were using highly effective camouflage, the French Union reconnaissance planes were not able to notice them. On May 6, 1954, during the siege, Katyusha were successfully used against the outpost. Together with China, the Soviet Union sent 2,000 military advisors to train the Viet Minh and turn it into a fully organized army.[69]

text: United States[edit]

text: Mutual Defense Assistance Act (1950–1954)[edit]

text: At the beginning of the war, the U.S. was neutral in the conflict because of opposition to European colonialism, because the Viet Minh had recently been their allies, and because most of its attention was focused on Europe where Winston Churchill argued an Iron Curtain had fallen.

text: Then the U.S. government gradually began supporting the French in their war effort, primarily through the Mutual Defense Assistance Act, as a means of stabilizing the French Fourth Republic in which the French Communist Party was a significant political force. A dramatic shift occurred in American policy after the victory of Mao Zedong's Communist Party of China in the Chinese Civil War. By 1949, however, the United States became concerned about the spread of communism in Asia, particularly following the end of the Chinese Civil War, and began to strongly support the French as the two countries were bound by the Cold War Mutual Defense Programme.[102]

text: After the Moch–Marshall meeting of September 23, 1950, in Washington, the United States started to support the French Union effort politically, logistically and financially. Officially, US involvement did not include use of armed force. However, recently it has been discovered that undercover (CAT)—or not—US Air Force pilots flew to support the French during Operation Castor in November 1953. Two US pilots were killed in action during the siege at Dien Bien Phu the following year. These facts were declassified and made public more than 50 years after the events, in 2005 during the Légion d'honneur award ceremony by the French ambassador in Washington.[103]

text: In May 1950, after the capture of Hainan island by Chinese communist forces, U.S. President Harry S. Truman began covertly authorizing direct financial assistance to the French, and on June 27, 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean War, announced publicly that the U.S. was doing so. It was feared in Washington that if Ho were to win the war, with his ties to the Soviet Union, he would establish a puppet state with Moscow with the Soviets ultimately controlling Vietnamese affairs. The prospect of a communist-dominated Southeast Asia was enough to spur the U.S. to support France, so that the spread of Soviet-allied communism could be contained.

text: On June 30, 1950, the first U.S. supplies for Indochina were delivered. In September, Truman sent the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) to Indochina to assist the French. Later, in 1954, U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower explained the escalation risk, introducing what he referred to as the "domino principle", which eventually became the concept of domino theory. During the Korean War, the conflict in Vietnam was also seen as part of a broader proxy war with China and the USSR in Asia.

text: US Navy assistance (1951–1954)[edit]

text: The USS Windham Bay delivered Grumman F8F Bearcat fighter aircraft to Saigon on January 26, 1951.[104]

text: On March 2 of that year, the United States Navy transferred the USS Agenor (ARL-3) (LST 490) to the French Navy in Indochina in accordance with the MAAG-led MAP. Renamed RFS Vulcain (A-656), she was used in Operation Hirondelle in 1953. The USS Sitkoh Bay carrier delivered Grumman F8F Bearcat aircraft to Saigon on March 26, 1951. During September 1953, the USS Belleau Wood (renamed Bois Belleau) was lent to France and sent to French Indochina to replace the Arromanches. She was used to support delta defenders in the Hạ Long Bay operation in May 1954. In August, she joined the Franco-American evacuation operation called "Passage to Freedom".

text: The same month, the United States delivered additional aircraft, again using the USS Windham Bay.[105] On April 18, 1954, during the siege of Dien Bien Phu, the USS Saipan delivered 25 Korean War AU-1 Corsair aircraft for use by the French Aeronavale in supporting the besieged garrison.

text: US Air Force assistance (1952–1954)[edit]

text: A total of 94 F4U-7s were built for the Aéronavale in 1952, with the last of the batch, the final Corsair built, rolled out in December 1952. The F4U-7s were actually purchased by the U.S. Navy and passed on to the Aéronavale through the U.S. Military Assistance Program (MAP). They were supplemented by 25 ex-U.S.MC AU-1s (previously used in the Korean War) and moved from Yokosuka, Japan, to Tourane Air Base (Da Nang), Vietnam, in April 1952. US Air Force assistance followed in November 1953 when the French commander in Indochina, General Henri Navarre, asked General Chester E. McCarty, commander of the Combat Cargo Division, for 12 Fairchild C-119s for Operation Castor at Dien Bien Phu. The USAF also provided C-124 Globemasters to transport French paratroop reinforcements to Indochina.

text: Under the codename Project Swivel Chair,[106] on March 3, 1954, twelve C-119s of the 483rd Troop Carrier Wing ("Packet Rats") based at Ashiya, Japan, were painted with France's insignia and loaned to France with 24 CIA pilots for short-term use. Maintenance was carried out by the US Air Force and airlift operations were commanded by McCarty.[103]

text: Central Intelligence Agency covert operations (1954)[edit]

text: Twenty four Central Intelligence Agency (Civil Air Transport) pilots supplied the French Union garrison during the siege of Dien Bien Phu by airlifting paratroopers, ammunition, artillery pieces, tons of barbed wire, medics and other military materiel. With the reducing Drop zone areas, night operations and anti-aircraft artillery assaults, many of the "packets" fell into Viet Minh hands. The 37 CIA pilots completed 682 airdrops under anti-aircraft fire between March 13 and May 6. Two CAT pilots, Wallace Bufford and James B. McGovern, Jr. were killed in action when their Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar was shot down on May 6, 1954.[103] On February 25, 2005, the French ambassador to the United States, Jean-David Levitte, awarded the seven remaining CIA pilots the Légion d'honneur.[103]

text: Operation Passage to Freedom (1954)[edit]

text: In August 1954, in support to the French navy and the merchant navy, the U.S. Navy launched Operation Passage to Freedom and sent hundreds of ships, including USS Montague, in order to evacuate non-communist—especially Catholic—Vietnamese refugees from North Vietnam following the July 20, 1954, armistice and partition of Vietnam. Up to 1 million Vietnamese civilians were transported from North to South during this period,[107] with around one tenth of that number moving in the opposite direction.

text: Popular culture[edit]

text: Although a kind of taboo in France, "the dirty war" has been featured in various films, books and songs. Since its declassification in the 2000s, television documentaries have been released using new perspectives about the U.S. covert involvement and open critics about the French propaganda used during wartime.

text: The famous Communist propagandist Roman Karmen was in charge of the media exploitation of the battle of Dien Bien Phu. In his documentary, Vietnam (Вьетнам, 1955), he staged the famous scene with the raising of the Viet Minh flag over de Castries' bunker which is similar to the one he staged over the Berlin Reichstag roof during World War II (Берлин, 1945) and the "S"-shaped POW column marching after the battle, where he used the same optical technique he experimented with before when he staged the German prisoners after the Siege of Leningrad (Ленинград в борьбе, 1942) and the Battle of Moscow (Разгром немецких войск под Москвой, 1942).[108][109]

text: Hollywood made a film about Dien Bien Phu in 1955, Jump into Hell, directed by David Butler and scripted by Irving Wallace, before his fame as a bestselling novelist. Hollywood also made several films about the war, Robert Florey's Rogues' Regiment (1948). Samuel Fuller's China Gate (1957). and James Clavell's Five Gates to Hell (1959).

text: The first French movie about the war, Shock Patrol (Patrouille de Choc) aka Patrol Without Hope (Patrouille Sans Espoir) by Claude Bernard-Aubert, came out in 1956. The French censor cut some violent scenes and made the director change the end of his movie which was seen as "too pessismistic".[110] Léo Joannon's film Fort du Fou (Fort of the Mad) /Outpost in Indochina was released in 1963. Another film was The 317th Platoon (La 317ème Section) was released in 1964, it was directed by Indochina War (and siege of Dien Bien Phu) veteran Pierre Schoendoerffer. Schoendoerffer has since become a media specialist about the Indochina War and has focused his production on realistic war movies. He was cameraman for the army ("Cinematographic Service of the Armies", SCA) during his duty time; moreover, as he had covered the Vietnam War he released The Anderson Platoon, which won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

text: Graham Greene's novel The Quiet American takes place during this war.

text: A Vietnamese software developer made a videogame called 7554 after the date of Battle of Dien Bien Phu to commemorate the First Indochina War from the Vietnamese point of view.


document_title: Lucy Goes to the Hospital

question_text: i love lucy episode where she has the baby

root

text: Lucy Goes to the Hospital

text:
"Lucy Goes to the Hospital"

I Love Lucy episode

Episode no.
Season 2
Episode 16

Directed by
William Asher

Written by
Bob Carroll, Jr.
Madelyn Davis
Jess Oppenheimer

Produced by
Desi Arnaz
Jess Oppenheimer

Featured music
Eliot Daniel

Cinematography by
Karl Freund

Original air date
January 19, 1953 (1953-01-19)

Running time
30 minutes

Guest appearance(s)

Charles Lane as Mr. Stanley

Episode chronology

← Previous
"Lucy Becomes a Sculptress"
Next →
"Sales Resistance"

List of I Love Lucy episodes

tag: table

text: "Lucy Goes to the Hospital" is an episode of the 1950s American television show I Love Lucy in which the title character, Lucy Ricardo, gives birth to her son, "Little Ricky," after a "predictably chaotic" sequence of events. Twelve hours before the broadcast, the actress who played Lucy Ricardo, Lucille Ball, had given birth to Desi Arnaz, Jr. by cesarean section. The episode had actually been filmed on November 14, 1952.

tag: p

text: The episode was the culmination of an unprecedented pairing of the fictional pregnancy of Lucy with the real-life pregnancy of Lucille Ball; "real-time pregnancy was fictively narrated for the first time on American television."[1]

text: When the episode premiered on January 19, 1953, 71.9% of all American homes with television sets tuned in, amounting to 44 million viewers watching the episode.[2] It received higher ratings than the inauguration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, which received 29 million viewers, the day afterward.[3] According to the Indian newspaper The Telegraph, scripts for the episode were reviewed by a rabbi, a minister, and a priest in order to make sure it would not be offensive.

text: The cover story of Newsweek on January 19, 1953 was about the episode (which had not yet been aired when the issue went to press). The first issue of TV Guide, dated April 3, 1953, featured a cover photo of newborn Desi Arnaz, Jr., captioned as "Lucy's $50,000,000 Baby".[4]

text: Numerous stories were published about the sex of the baby, which was kept secret until the episode aired; when Ball actually had a boy as Lucy did in the script, headlines proclaimed "Lucy sticks to script: a boy it is!" (New York Daily Mirror), "TV was right: a boy for Lucille" (New York Daily News), and "What the Script Ordered" (Life Magazine).[2]


document_title: NHL outdoor games

question_text: who has played in the most outdoor nhl games

text: NHL outdoor games

text: History[edit]

text: The first outdoor game on record to feature an NHL team was attempted on February 2, 1954.[1] The Detroit Red Wings played an exhibition game on an outdoor ice surface, in 21 °F (−6 °C) degree weather, against the Marquette Pirates, an athletic club composed of inmates at Michigan's Marquette Branch Prison. The game, and the Pirates club, was allegedly organized as a way for Red Wings manager Jack Adams to make good with two convicted mafia members incarcerated at the prison. By the end of the first period alone, the Red Wings had amassed an 18–0 score against the prisoners; score keeping was abandoned after that point and the rest of the game effectively became an informal scrimmage.[2]

text: Two years after the 1954 prison match, the Boston Bruins went on a postseason barnstorm of Atlantic Canada in April 1956, which included a stop in Bay Roberts, Newfoundland. On April 9, 1956 the Bruins played an exhibition game against teams from the Conception Bay North Hockey League on an outdoor artificial ice surface, under similar rules to those of the 1954 prison match. Four teams each played one period against the Bruins who dominated the game. Only one goal was scored on Terry Sawchuk by the local teams.[3]

text: During their time at the Civic Arena, the Pittsburgh Penguins could have theoretically hosted an outdoor NHL game due to the arena having a retractable roof. (The arena was originally built for the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, who only stayed at the arena until 1973.) However, the roof was always closed during hockey games with both the Penguins and their AHL predecessors, the Pittsburgh Hornets, whom the Penguins replaced upon the 1967 NHL expansion. The roof was permanently closed after 1994 when the Penguins replaced the center scoreboard.[4]

text: The first outdoor game between two NHL teams (and the first played to completion) was an official pre-season match-up on September 27, 1991. The game took place in the parking lot of Caesars Palace[5] in Las Vegas, Nevada, and featured the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers.[6] The process of keeping the ice cool in the desert heat required three times as much coolant as a standard NHL rink.[7] There were few problems despite temperatures that reached 95 °F (35 °C) during the day and a game time temperature of 80 °F (27 °C).[7] During the contest grasshoppers began to jump onto the ice, where they would freeze or drown in water used to maintain the ice, and by the end of the second period the ice was littered with the bugs.[6] Nearly 14,000 fans watched the Kings defeat the Rangers 5–2.[8] Since 1997, the Los Angeles Kings have returned to Las Vegas to play an annual indoors preseason game as part of the Frozen Fury series. As of the 2017-2018 season Las Vegas has its own NHL franchise. Interesting fact, future recording artist, a young Usher, sang The National Anthem for this match.

text: The first regular-season outdoor game in the history of the NHL took place on November 22, 2003, at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, when the Edmonton Oilers played the Montreal Canadiens in the 2003 Heritage Classic.[9] The Oilers had suggested the idea of hosting an outdoor game as early as the mid 1980s,[10] but the genesis of the 2003 event was the "Cold War" outdoor game played two years prior between Michigan State University and the University of Michigan.[11]

text: In 2005, NBC Sports Executive VP Jon Miller then pitched the concept an annual outdoor game as a television event to the NHL, "but they didn't find the concept workable."[12] In December 2006, Miller found an ally in then-league Executive VP/Business & Media John Collins, who embraced the idea.[13][14] This led to the inaugural Winter Classic game on January 1, 2008, with the Pittsburgh Penguins visiting the Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium.[9]

text: On May 1, 2013, the NHL announced that the Chicago Blackhawks would host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Soldier Field in Chicago on March 1, 2014, as part of a new series of outdoor games called the NHL Stadium Series.[15] By the end of May 2013, the NHL had scheduled a record six outdoor NHL games for the 2013–14 season: one Winter Classic, one Heritage Classic, and four Stadium Series games.

text: In scheduling outdoor games in the New York metropolitan area that feature the New York Rangers (first occurring during two of the four 2014 Stadium Series games, and subsequently the 2018 Winter Classic), the team has always been designated as the "away" team. This is to maintain the property tax-exempt status of the Rangers' home arena, Madison Square Garden (MSG). The tax exemption stipulates that it only applies if the Rangers do not "cease playing" home games at MSG, generally interpreted as playing any "home" game outside of MSG.[16][17] By designating the Rangers as the "away" team and Buffalo as the "home" team in the 2018 Winter Classic at Citi Field in New York City, it would save MSG from paying more than $40 million in property taxes.[18]

text: In 2016, the Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers worked out an agreement to play a home-and-home series of outdoors games.[19] The two archrivals played the 2017 Stadium Series game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, and will follow with the 2019 Stadium Series game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. The two teams had also discussed playing a neutral site game at Beaver Stadium at State College, Pennsylvania, but this did not materialize, due mainly to concerns about Beaver Stadium's plumbing being unable to withstand an event in winter[20][19] On March 6, 2016, the NHL officially announced that the Jets will host the Oilers in the 2016 Heritage Classic during the 2016–17 NHL season, held in October.[21]

text: To celebrate the NHL's 100th year in 2017, the league is having two special outdoor games. The first, branded as the Centennial Classic, between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, was held on January 1 (during the 2016–17 NHL season) to kick off the year.[22] The second, branded as the NHL 100 Classic, was held on December 16 (during the 2017–18 season) between the Montreal Canadiens and the Ottawa Senators.[23]

text: Hosting statistics[edit]

text: As of the conclusion of the end of the 2017-18 season:

text:
23 of the NHL's 31 teams will have participated in an outdoor regular-season game. The eight that have not are Arizona, Carolina, Columbus, Dallas, Florida, Nashville, Tampa Bay and Vegas.
12 teams will have played more than one game.
Chicago will have made the most appearances (5).
19 metropolitan areas (out of 28 represented among the league's 31 teams) will have hosted the 25 outdoor regulation games. In addition to the eight metropolitan areas represented by teams that have not played in any outdoor games, Montreal has played in outdoor games but has yet to host any themselves (although New Jersey has also not yet hosted a home game in its home state, its home city of Newark is still part of the New York metropolitan area.)
New York City will have hosted three times. Chicago, Massachusetts, Maryland–DC, and Pittsburgh will have each hosted twice.
Yankee Stadium and Heinz Field will have each hosted two games.
No non-NHL (neutral site) market has yet hosted a regular season outdoor game. Notre Dame, Indiana will be the first non-NHL market to host an outdoor game when it hosts the 2019 Winter Classic.[citation needed]

tag: ul

text: Cancelled games[edit]

text: The Dallas Stars had originally been scheduled to play a stadium game at Houston's Reliant Stadium during their 2011 pre-season, but this game was ultimately cancelled.[24][25][26]

text: The 2013 NHL Winter Classic was originally scheduled to be contested at Michigan Stadium between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs. Due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout resulting in an abbreviated 2012–13 season, this Winter Classic matchup at Michigan Stadium was postponed and held during the following season instead.[27][28][29][30][31]

text: The Winnipeg Jets announced in 2013 that they had reached an agreement with the NHL to host a fourth Heritage Classic at Investors Group Field, the home of the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, which they hoped to hold during the team's fifth anniversary in 2015–16.[32] However, a disagreement occurred between the NHL and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers over the game's exact date: the league wanted it held in December 2015 while the football team became concerned that this date was too close to the 103rd Grey Cup being held at the stadium on November 29.[33] In January 2015, the Jets announced that they could not reach an agreement to finalize a date for the Heritage Classic during the 2015–16 season and that they were now looking for a new date during the 2016–2017 season.[34] On March 6, 2016, the NHL officially announced that the Jets will host the Oilers in the 2016 Heritage Classic during the 2016–17 NHL season, held in October.[21]

text: List of NHL outdoor games[edit]

text: Bolded teams denote winners

text:
Date
Event
Site
Away team
Home team
Score
Attendance

February 2, 1954
exhibition game
Marquette Branch Prison,
Marquette, Michigan
Detroit Red Wings
Marquette Prison Pirates[35]
N/A
0

April 9, 1956
Conception Bay Sports Arena,
Bay Roberts, Newfoundland
Boston Bruins
Bay Roberts, Brigus,
Shearstown, Coley's Point
(1 period each) [36]
N/A
N/A

September 27, 1991
Caesars Palace,
Las Vegas, Nevada
New York Rangers
Los Angeles Kings
5–2
13,007

November 22, 2003
Heritage Classic
Commonwealth Stadium,
Edmonton, Alberta
Montreal Canadiens
Edmonton Oilers
4–3
57,167

January 1, 2008
Winter Classic
Ralph Wilson Stadium,
Orchard Park, New York
Pittsburgh Penguins
Buffalo Sabres
2–1 (SO)
71,217

January 1, 2009
Wrigley Field,
Chicago, Illinois
Detroit Red Wings
Chicago Blackhawks
6–4
40,818

January 1, 2010
Fenway Park,
Boston, Massachusetts
Philadelphia Flyers
Boston Bruins
2–1 (OT)
38,112

January 1, 2011
Heinz Field,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Washington Capitals
Pittsburgh Penguins
3–1
68,111

February 20, 2011
Heritage Classic
McMahon Stadium,
Calgary, Alberta
Montreal Canadiens
Calgary Flames
4–0
41,022

January 2, 2012
Winter Classic
Citizens Bank Park,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
New York Rangers
Philadelphia Flyers
3–2
46,967

January 1, 2014
Michigan Stadium,
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Toronto Maple Leafs
Detroit Red Wings
3–2 (SO)
105,491

January 25, 2014[37]
Stadium Series
Dodger Stadium,
Los Angeles, California
Anaheim Ducks
Los Angeles Kings
3–0
54,099

January 26, 2014[38]
Yankee Stadium,
New York, New York
New York Rangers
New Jersey Devils
7–3
50,105

January 29, 2014[38]
New York Islanders
2–1
50,027

March 1, 2014[39]
Soldier Field,
Chicago, Illinois
Pittsburgh Penguins
Chicago Blackhawks
5–1
62,921[40]

March 2, 2014[39]
Heritage Classic
BC Place,
Vancouver, British Columbia
Ottawa Senators
Vancouver Canucks
4–2
54,194

January 1, 2015[39]
Winter Classic
Nationals Park,
Washington, D.C.
Chicago Blackhawks
Washington Capitals
3–2
42,832

February 21, 2015
Stadium Series
Levi's Stadium,
Santa Clara, California
Los Angeles Kings
San Jose Sharks
2–1
70,205

January 1, 2016
Winter Classic
Gillette Stadium,
Foxborough, Massachusetts
Montreal Canadiens
Boston Bruins
5–1
67,246

February 21, 2016
Stadium Series
TCF Bank Stadium,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Chicago Blackhawks
Minnesota Wild
6–1
50,426

February 27, 2016
Coors Field,
Denver, Colorado
Detroit Red Wings
Colorado Avalanche
5–3
50,095

October 23, 2016
Heritage Classic
Investors Group Field,
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Edmonton Oilers
Winnipeg Jets
3–0
33,240

January 1, 2017
Centennial Classic
BMO Field,
Toronto, Ontario
Detroit Red Wings
Toronto Maple Leafs
5–4 (OT)
40,818[41]

January 2, 2017
Winter Classic
Busch Stadium,
St. Louis, Missouri
Chicago Blackhawks
St. Louis Blues
4–1
46,556

February 25, 2017
Stadium Series
Heinz Field,
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia Flyers
Pittsburgh Penguins
4–2
67,318

December 16, 2017
NHL 100 Classic
TD Place Stadium,
Ottawa, Ontario
Montreal Canadiens
Ottawa Senators
0–3
33,959

January 1, 2018
Winter Classic
Citi Field,
New York, New York
New York Rangers
Buffalo Sabres
3–2 (OT)
41,821

March 3, 2018
Stadium Series
Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium,
Annapolis, Maryland
Toronto Maple Leafs
Washington Capitals
2–5
29,516

January 1, 2019
Winter Classic
Notre Dame Stadium,
Notre Dame, Indiana
Boston Bruins
Chicago Blackhawks

February 23, 2019
Stadium Series
Lincoln Financial Field,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh Penguins
Philadelphia Flyers

text: Outdoor games by team[edit]

text:
Team
Number of
appearances
'Home'
appearances
'Visitor'
appearances
Appearances
Wins
Losses

Anaheim Ducks
1
0
1
2014
1
0

Boston Bruins
3
2
1
2010, 2016, 2019
1
1

Buffalo Sabres
2
2
0
2008, 2018
0
2

Calgary Flames
1
1
0
2011
1
0

Chicago Blackhawks
6
3
3
2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019
1
4

Colorado Avalanche
1
1
0
2016
0
1

Detroit Red Wings
4
1
3
2009, 2014, 2016, 2017
2
2

Edmonton Oilers
2
1
1
2003, 2016
1
1

Los Angeles Kings
2
1
1
2014, 2015
1
1

Minnesota Wild
1
1
0
2016
1
0

Montreal Canadiens
4
0
4
2003, 2011, 2016, 2017
2
2

New Jersey Devils
1
1
0
2014
0
1

New York Islanders
1
1
0
2014
0
1

New York Rangers
4
N/A*
4
2012, 2014 (2 games), 2018
4
0

Ottawa Senators
2
1
1
2014, 2017
2
0

Philadelphia Flyers
4
2
2
2010, 2012, 2017, 2019
0
3

Pittsburgh Penguins
5
2
3
2008, 2011, 2014, 2017, 2019
2
2

San Jose Sharks
1
1
0
2015
0
1

St. Louis Blues
1
1
0
2017
1
0

Toronto Maple Leafs
3
1
2
2014, 2017, 2018
2
1

Vancouver Canucks
1
1
0
2014
0
1

Washington Capitals
3
2
1
2011, 2015, 2018
3
0

Winnipeg Jets
1
1
0
2016
0
1

text: Note: This table excludes exhibition games with non-NHL opponents (such as those in 1954 and 1956) and pre-season games (such as the one in 1991).

text: (*) The Rangers have officially been designated as the away team for the three games held in New York City to comply with a property tax exemption for Madison Square Garden that requires the Rangers to play all of their home games at the arena.

text: Italics indicate a future outdoor game.


document_title: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

question_text: where is the bar in it's always sunny in philadelphia

question_tokens: where is the bar in it 's always sunny in philadelphia

text: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

text: Premise[edit]

text: The series follows "The Gang", a group of five depraved underachievers: twins Dennis Reynolds (Glenn Howerton) and Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds (Kaitlin Olson), their friends Charlie Kelly (Charlie Day) and Ronald "Mac" McDonald (Rob McElhenney), and (from season 2 onward) Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito), Dennis' and Dee's legal father. The Gang runs the dilapidated Paddy's Pub, an Irish bar in South Philadelphia.

text: Each member of the gang shows varying degrees of dishonesty, egotism, selfishness, greed, pettiness, ignorance, laziness, and unethical behavior; they are often engaged in controversial activities. Episodes usually find them hatching elaborate schemes and conspiring against one another and others for personal gain, vengeance, or simply the entertainment of watching another's downfall. They habitually inflict mental, emotional, and physical pain on each other and anyone who crosses their path. They also regularly use blackmail to manipulate one another and others outside of the group.

text: The Gang's unity is never solid, and any of them would quickly dump any of the others for quick profit or personal gain, regardless of the consequences. Everything they do results in contention among themselves, and much of the show's dialogue involves the characters arguing or yelling at one another. Despite their lack of success or achievements, they maintain high opinions of themselves and display an obsessive interest in their own reputations and public images.

text: The Gang has no sense of shame when attempting to get what they want and often engage in activities that others would find humiliating, disgusting, or shocking. These include smoking crack cocaine and pretending to be mentally challenged in order to qualify for welfare, attempted cannibalism, kidnapping, blackface, hiding naked inside a leather couch in order to eavesdrop on someone, threatening people into sleeping with them, tricking a man into giving his daughter a lap dance, forcing each other to eat inedible items, huffing paint, foraging in the sewers for valuables, sleeping with each other's romantic interests, seducing a priest, secretly feeding someone their dead pet, plugging their open wounds with trash, fantasizing about killing each other, setting a room full of people on fire and locking the door to avoid an uncomfortable Thanksgiving meal, pretending to have AIDS in order to get priority access to amusement park rides, taking out life insurance on a suicidal person, threatening to release anthrax unless they are given a Valentine's card, sleeping with elderly men for a craft beer recipe, orally siphoning gasoline, and stalking their crushes.

text: During the Season 7 episode "The Gang Gets Trapped", in which The Gang breaks into a family's home and has to hide from them when they return, an angry monologue by Dennis captures the essence of The Gang's modus operandi:

text:
“
We immediately escalate everything to a ten... somebody comes in with some preposterous plan or idea, then all of a sudden everyone's on the gas, nobody's on the brakes, nobody's thinking, everyone's just talking over each other with one idiotic idea after another! Until, finally, we find ourselves in a situation where we've broken into somebody's house – and the homeowner is home!
”

text: Cast and characters[edit]

text:
Charlie Day as Charlie Kelly – Charlie was the co-owner at Paddy's Pub, but traded his capital investment for "goods and services", half a sandwich, and other undisclosed compensation. He is a childhood friend of Mac, and high school friend of Dennis and Dee. He is also the roommate of Frank, who may be his biological father. Charlie does most of the actual work and maintenance (referred to as "Charlie Work") at the pub. He is unable to properly read or write, and is an alcoholic substance abuser who is often seen huffing glue or paint. He lives in squalor with Frank in a run-down, vermin-infested apartment and suffers from deep-seated psychological problems, believing his dreams to be haunted by a figure known as "The Nightman", who breaks into his home and rapes him. Charlie has unresolved anger issues, often screaming as a means of getting his point across. He also has an unhealthy obsession with "The Waitress", a recurring character who finds Charlie repulsive and shows no interest in him. Despite his character flaws, he is typically the most compassionate and moral member of the gang.
Glenn Howerton as Dennis Reynolds – Dennis is a co-owner of Paddy's Pub and is Dee's twin brother. Easily the most sociopathic of the characters, Dennis is abrasive, narcissistic, selfish, histrionic, and vain. To justify his inflated ego he frequently references a very brief stint at the University of Pennsylvania, where he minored in psychology but dropped out after one semester. It is at times hinted that Dennis may be a psychopathic serial killer, but this remains ambiguous.
Rob McElhenney as Ronald "Mac" McDonald – Mac is a co-owner of Paddy's Pub. He is Charlie Kelly's childhood friend and Dennis's high school friend and later roommate. The son of a convicted felon who has been in prison for much of Mac's life, he frequently attempts to demonstrate his toughness and refers to himself as the "sheriff of Paddy's". He also often brags about his hand-to-hand combat skills, although he typically flees from physical confrontation. Mac is a Roman Catholic and often espouses strong Christian fundamentalist opinions, despite his often amoral behavior, such as engaging in casual sex with numerous women, including Dee and Dennis' mother, and a trans woman. Though it is frequently insinuated Mac harbors homosexual feelings, he maintained an adamant denial of any such proclivity, much to the annoyance of the gang. In the season 12 episode "Hero or Hate Crime?", Mac finally comes out.
Kaitlin Olson as Deandra "Sweet Dee" Reynolds – Dee is Dennis's twin sister and is the bartender at Paddy's Pub. Dee dreams of becoming an actress, although she lacks any apparent talent and suffers from debilitating stage fright. She wore a back brace in high school, leaving her with the nickname of "The Aluminum Monster", and she is constantly referred to by the gang as a bird, due to their perception of her as a giant, awkward, avian-like creature. She majored in psychology at the University of Pennsylvania, but failed her classes and, like her brother, did not graduate. Dee lives alone in an apartment. Her comments and ideas are usually disregarded by the others, though they will often repeat what she has said word-for-word and pretend it was their idea, at which point it will be hailed as a great idea. She is often left to deal with the negative consequences of the gang's activities. Though often the butt of the gang's jokes, she is frequently involved in their schemes. She is portrayed as the angriest and most physically violent of the group and has a history of assault, including setting her roommate on fire in college.
Danny DeVito as Frank Reynolds – Frank is the legal father of twins Dennis and Dee, and may be the biological father of his roommate Charlie. He used to be a successful businessman with a long history of illegal operations and dealings with sordid characters, but chose to abandon that life and redeem himself after leaving his "whore wife". He has since embraced his "feral" nature and describes himself as "fringe class". Despite having substantial financial resources, he chooses to share a decrepit studio apartment with Charlie, where they live in squalor and sleep together on a pullout couch. The two also share similar interests, such as playing the inexplicable game of 'Night Crawlers' and foraging naked in sewers for valuables. He is also a severe compulsive gambler, seen betting on everything from grade school basketball to Russian roulette, usually with his chain smoking, and high-stakes betting ring of Vietnamese friends. He styles himself a master manipulator and frequently takes the lead in the group's schemes. He is frequently armed with a handgun and often snorts cocaine as part of his daily routine.

text: Episodes[edit]

text:
Season
Episodes
Originally aired

First aired
Last aired
Network

1
7
August 4, 2005 (2005-08-04)
September 15, 2005 (2005-09-15)
FX

2
10
June 29, 2006 (2006-06-29)
August 17, 2006 (2006-08-17)

3
15
September 13, 2007 (2007-09-13)
November 15, 2007 (2007-11-15)

4
13
September 18, 2008 (2008-09-18)
November 20, 2008 (2008-11-20)

5
12
September 17, 2009 (2009-09-17)
December 10, 2009 (2009-12-10)

6
14
September 16, 2010 (2010-09-16)
December 16, 2010 (2010-12-16)

7
13
September 15, 2011 (2011-09-15)
December 15, 2011 (2011-12-15)

8
10
October 11, 2012 (2012-10-11)
December 20, 2012 (2012-12-20)

9
10
September 4, 2013 (2013-09-04)
November 6, 2013 (2013-11-06)
FXX

10
10
January 14, 2015 (2015-01-14)
March 18, 2015 (2015-03-18)

11
10
January 6, 2016 (2016-01-06)
March 9, 2016 (2016-03-09)

12
10
January 4, 2017 (2017-01-04)
March 8, 2017 (2017-03-08)

text: Production[edit]

text: The show began as a short film idea written by Rob McElhenney and Glenn Howerton about a man telling his friend he might have cancer, while the friend is only intent on trying to borrow a cup of sugar for the "shitload of coffee" he has made. This was then developed into a pilot called It's Always Sunny on TV and was shot on a digital camcorder by Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, and Rob McElhenney. It is believed the pilot was shot with a budget of just $200, but Day would later comment, "We shot it for nothing...I don't know where this $200 came from...We were a bunch of kids with cameras running around shooting each other and [the] next thing you know, we're eleven years in and we're still doing the show."[5] This pilot was shopped by the actors around various studios, their pitch being simply showing the DVD of the pilot to executives. After viewing the pilot, FX Network ordered the first season. Although it is often stated publicly that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was one of the first shows to be shot in 24p standard-definition video, using Panasonic's DVX100 MiniDV prosumer video camera, from the sixth season forward, the show was shot in 24p using high-definition video cameras.

text: Danny DeVito joined the cast in the first episode of the second season, playing the father of Dennis (played by Glenn Howerton) and Dee (played by Kaitlin Olson).

text: In March 2017, after the conclusion of the twelfth season, Glenn Howerton revealed he might not return to the series, due to working on other projects.[6] In an August 2017 interview, Charlie Day said that he believes Howerton will be back, and that he would not feel right continuing without him.[7]

text: Broadcast and syndication[edit]

text: The first season ran for seven episodes with the finale airing September 13, 2005. According to McElhenney,[8] word of mouth on the show was good enough for FX to renew it for a second season, which ran from June 29 to August 17, 2006. Reruns of edited first-season episodes began airing on FX's parent network, Fox, in June 2006, for a planned three-episode run—"The Gang Finds a Dead Guy",[9] "Gun Fever" (which was renamed as "Gun Control")[10] and "Charlie Gets Molested"[11] were shown. The show would not be shown on broadcast television again until 2011, when FX began offering the show for syndication.

text: The third season ran from September 13, 2007 to November 15, 2007. On March 5, 2008, FX renewed It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia for a fourth season.[12] On July 15, 2008, it was reported that FX had ordered 39 additional episodes of the series, consisting of the fifth and sixth seasons. All five main cast members were secured for the entire scheduled run.[13] The fifth season ran from September 17, 2009 to December 10, 2009.[14] On May 31, 2010, Comedy Central began airing reruns of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.[15] WGN America also began broadcasting the show as part of its fall 2011 schedule.[16]

text: The sixth season ran from September 16, 2010 until December 9, 2010, running twelve episodes, plus the Christmas special. The seventh season ran from September 15, 2011 until December 15, 2011, running 13 episodes. On August 6, 2011, FX announced it had picked up the show for an additional two seasons (the show's eighth and ninth) running through 2013.[17] On March 28, 2013, FX renewed the show for a tenth season, along with the announcement that the series would move to its new sister network, FXX.[18]

text: In April 2017, it was announced by Kaitlin Olson that It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia would go on an extended hiatus. In an interview with TV Guide Olson stated, "We ended up pushing our next season a year because we were all busy with separate projects this year. So at the end of this coming shooting season of The Mick I'll step right into Sunny after that." The show is currently under contract for two more seasons and is expected to return in 2019.[19]

text: Music[edit]

text: The theme song is a piece of production music called "Temptation Sensation" by German composer Heinz Kiessling. Additionally, Kiessling's work ("On Your Bike" and "Blue Blood") can also be heard during various scene transitions throughout the show, along with other composers and pieces such as Werner Tautz ("Off Broadway"), Joe Brook ("Moonbeam Kiss") and Karl Grell ("Honey Bunch"). Many of the tracks heard in the series have been taken from Cafe Romantique, an album of easy listening production music collected by Extreme Music, the production music library unit of Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Independent record label Fervor Records has also contributed music to the show. Songs from The Jack Gray Orchestra's album, Easy Listening Symph-O-Nette ("Take A Letter Miss Jones", "Golly Gee Whiz", and "Not a Care in the World") and the John Costello III release Giants of Jazz ("Birdcage", "Cotton Club" and "Quintessential") are heard in several episodes. The soundtrack, featuring most of the music heard on the show, was released in 2010.[20]

text: Soundtrack track listing[edit]

text:
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Music from the Original TV Series)

No.
Title
Music
Artist
Length

1.
"Temptation Sensation (Main Title Theme)"
Heinz Kiessling
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:53

2.
"Derby Day"
Werner Tautz
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:39

3.
"Blue Blood"
Heinz Kiessling
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:54

4.
"On Your Bike"
Heinz Kiessling
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:15

5.
"Take the Plunge"
Heinz Kiessling
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
3:10

6.
"Hotsy-Totsy"
Heinz Kiessling
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:18

7.
"Off Broadway"
Werner Tautz
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:31

8.
"Coconut Shy"
Heinz Kiessling
The Diamontinos
2:25

9.
"Honey Bunch"
Karl Grell
The Ralph Manning Orchestra
2:44

10.
"Glitterati Party"
Werner Tautz
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:51

11.
"Singles Soiree"
Richard Faecks
The Rüdiger Piesker Orchestra
2:09

12.
"Pink Deville"
Paul Rothman
The Ole Olafsen Band
2:34

13.
"Captain's Table"
Heinz Kiessling
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:44

14.
"Starlet Express"
Werner Tautz
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:31

15.
"Final Fling"
Heinz Kiessling
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:29

16.
"Sweetheart Serenade"
Werner Tautz
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:54

17.
"Tea at Tiffani's"
Werner Tautz
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
2:28

18.
"Moonbeam Kiss"
Joe Brook
The Rüdiger Piesker Orchestra
2:21

19.
"Grand Central"
Werner Tautz
The Heinz Kiessling Orchestra
3:15

Total length:
50:05

text: Reception[edit]

text: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has received critical acclaim. Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker praised the show, calling it "not merely the best sitcom on television but one of the most arresting and ambitious current TV series, period".[21] Gillian Flynn of Entertainment Weekly reviewed the first season negatively, commenting "it is smug enough to think it's breaking ground, but not smart enough to know it isn't".[22] Brian Lowry of Variety gave the first season a positive review, saying it was "invariably clever and occasionally a laugh-out-loud riot, all while lampooning taboo topics".[23] Later seasons of the show have received favorable ratings on review aggregator Metacritic, receiving 70/100, 78/100 and 85/100 for seasons 4, 5 and 6 respectively.[24] The show has become a cult hit with viewers and is often compared in style to Seinfeld—particularly due to the self-centered nature of its main characters. The Philadelphia Inquirer reviewer Jonathan Storm wrote "It's like Seinfeld on crack," a quote that became widely used to describe the series,[25] to the point that FX attached the tagline, "It's Seinfeld on crack."[26]

text: In 2014, Entertainment Weekly listed the show at #7 in the "26 Best Cult TV Shows Ever", with the comment that "it's a great underdog story ... If it sounds too dark for you, consider that there's an episode about making mittens for kittens, and it's adorable."[27] In 2016, a New York Times study of the 50 TV shows with the most Facebook Likes found that Sunny was "more popular in college towns (and most popular in Philadelphia)".[28]

text: In 2015, Rolling Stone rated the top 20 greatest and funniest It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia episodes, stating "for 10 seasons, the series had mined comic gold from the execrable behavior of the owners of Paddy's Pub." They claimed the two-part season 4 episode, "Mac and Charlie Die" is the sitcom's greatest episode yet.[29]

text:
Year
Award
Category
Winner/nominee
Result[30]

2008
Satellite Award
Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical
Danny DeVito
Nominated

Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Nominated

2011
Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical
Charlie Day
Nominated

Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Won

2012
People's Choice Award
Favorite Cable TV Comedy
Nominated

2013
Nominated

Primetime Emmy Award
Outstanding Stunt Coordination for a Comedy Series or a Variety Program
Marc Scizak
Nominated

2014
Nominated

2015
Nominated

2016
People's Choice Award
Favorite Cable TV Comedy
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Won

text: Other media[edit]

text: The Nightman Cometh live[edit]

text: In September 2009, the cast took their show live. The "Gang" performed the musical The Nightman Cometh in New York City, Boston, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.[31] Mary Elizabeth Ellis and Artemis Pebdani also appeared in the performance as The Waitress and Artemis. Actress Rhea Perlman (wife of Danny DeVito) assumed the role of Gladys.[32]

text: Creator Rob McElhenney said that Live Nation originally approached the cast about doing the show at 30 cities, but in the end the cast settled on 6.[33] Co-developer Glenn Howerton described the show as "essentially an expanded version of the actual episode of "The Nightman Cometh", which was the final episode for season four. There are some added moments, added scenes, added songs, and extended versions of songs that already existed."[34] Two new songs were included in the performance and a longer running time allowed for greater improvisation by the actors. The performance was also preceded by a preview screening of a season five episode.

text: The Los Angeles performance, filmed at The Troubadour, was included as a bonus feature on the season four DVD box set.

text: Russian adaptation[edit]

text: A Russian adaptation of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia premiered in Russia on the television channel TNT on May 12, 2014. This version is titled В Москве всегда солнечно (V Moskve vsegda solnechno, It's Always Sunny in Moscow) and like the original, centers around four friends, who own a bar called "Philadelphia" in Moscow.[35]

text: Book[edit]

text: A book based upon It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia was released on January 6, 2015, titled The Gang Writes a Self-Help Book: The 7 Secrets of Awakening the Highly Effective Four-Hour Giant, Today.[36]