American Involvement in Vietnam
There were a number of reasons for America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and none of them are easy or give the entire picture of the situation. The War was so contentious and so costly to young American's fighting overseas that it continues to cause contention and argument even today. The remnants of Vietnam, the Vietnam Vets homeless and aged, are a constant reminder that sometimes intervention does not pay. That Vietnam was a mistake seems to be the common view now, but at the time it seemed as if it was inevitable that America become involved, or watch Southeast Asia turn into a long, wandering arm of Soviet influence.
Indeed, there were Soviet links in North Vietnam, so some of the worry was certainly founded. The Soviets were funding the North Koreans, and supplying them with most of their military might, from MIG fighters to weapons and ammunition. Americans and much of the world were deathly afraid of the spread of Communism, and felt it was worth anything to keep it from spreading, and so, the Vietnam War seemed justified to many.
Americans entered Vietnam solely as "advisors" as early as the 1950s, when South Vietnam was struggling to throw off the imperialistic French government, who still ruled the area. The South Vietnamese had good reason to want to crawl out from under French influence. They felt the French had corrupted their culture and their country, and the French did not understand their religious beliefs, their needs, and their wants. The ultimate motive was to keep Communism from spreading, but there were certainly other political motives. Initially, when advisors went to Vietnam to help the French in 1955, it was to serve an ally from World War II and to adhere to the NSC-68 that called for return aggression in the face of any aggression by Communist forces anywhere.
Domestic criticism was incredibly important in shaping the involvement and the eventual withdrawal of troops. As more soldiers died, more Americans began to feel the War was not winnable and unwanted. Millions of young people protested the war on city streets and college campuses. In fact, John Kerry was not an anomaly after he returned from the War and began to protest about what was going on in Vietnam. Many veterans who came home felt the War was wrong and the U.S. should get out of Southeast Asia. The voices got louder, and much of the media…
1. Explain why the Vietnam conflict was an episode of the cold war. The United States became involved in the Vietnam conflict due to fears that communism was going to spread throughout Asia, potentially upsetting the global balance of power. When Ho Chi Minh showed an interest in developing a communist form of government for the nation newly liberated from France, the United States became involved as one of the earliest
FDR and WWII involvement American involvement in armed conflict is a messy topic; since the Civil War the nation has a history of being divided about wars. Today, many Americans question our nation's involvement in the Middle East; in the 1960s and 70s, the Vietnam war created a huge schism in the country. What many do not realize, however, is that disputes over American involvement in overseas wars dates back much
Vietnam Diplomatic Negotiation: Since the end of World War II, the United States and some of the other western countries were agreed that Communism was the greatest scourge and danger to the free world that was currently in existence. Following the creation of the Truman Doctrine and the heightened fear of Communism in the 1950s and early 1960s, the United States made it clear that they would do whatever was necessary to
Given the prevailing view today, though, that the war was an error and achieved nothing except to destroy a lot of lives on both sides, Lind's belief that his view will one day prevail seems disingenuous at best. The biases of the time are not as strong today as they were 30 years ago, and yet no real change in how the war is viewed has taken place. The
South Vietnam, it believed, could be a base for the desired ability to mount military and economic operations throughout the globe and regardless of the insidious presence of communist influence, a premise which stood in direct contrast to Ho Chi Minh's dream. Indeed, as an official policy, leaders in Washington considered that the fall of South Vietnam to communism would be a pathway to the prevalence of communism in other
Vietnam and 20th Century History Turning Point in the History of the Vietnam War American indirect involvement in the Vietnam affairs began under the Administration of Harry Truman. Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy took a more direct role, politically and economically supporting the provisional South Vietnamese regime and sending American Special Forces as well as CIA agents to Vietnam. It was Lyndon Johnson who turned American involvement into a full-scale war. To understand
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