 The decision signaled the end of a bitter , decade @-@ long debate within the North Vietnamese Government between first two , and then three factions . The moderates believed that the economic viability of North Vietnam should come before support of a massive and conventional southern war and they generally followed the Soviet line of peaceful coexistence by reunifying Vietnam through political means . Heading this faction were party theoretician Trường Chinh and Minister of Defense Võ Nguyên Giáp . The militant faction , on the other hand , tended to follow the foreign policy line of the People 's Republic of China and called for the reunification of the nation by military means and that no negotiations should be undertaken with the Americans . This group was led by Communist Party First Secretary Lê Duẩn and Lê Đức Thọ ( no relation ) . From the early @-@ to @-@ mid @-@ 1960s , the militants had dictated the direction of the war in South Vietnam . 
