American Exceptionalism In Vietnam War

Over thirty years ago the Vietnam War ended, and the U.S. came back home with their tails between their legs and nothing to show for other than a high number of casualties, and a huge pile of debt. The U.S. underestimated the North Vietnamese army, and it was costly. Many believe that the Vietnam War was none of the U.S. business, but on the contrary, many believe we should have tried to stop the spread of communism. The long-lasting Vietnam War was unnecessary for the U.S. to be a part of; it put many people through unneeded stress and hard times.

Relating to Appy’s claim, as escalation grew after the Tonkin Gulf, America began to wage an unmoral war that was not supported by the Americans and Vietnamese or understood by American soldiers. Agreeing with Appy’s claim, the prime issue of an immoral and unjust war is one that America must realize and understand the full consequences that this has had on the nation if it is to learn any lessons from Vietnam. Originally told that the war was fought to contain communism, bombing campaigns as Operation Rolling Thunder annihilated many villages and the countryside where it was believed that the Viet Cong were stationed. Proven more often than not to be unsuccessful, only to produce the numbers of unidentified Vietnamese bodies and remains that

Andrew J. Bacevich was born 1947 in Normal, Illinois. In 1969, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and served in the Vietnam War for a year from 1970 to 1971. He retired in the early 1990’s with the rank of Colonel after also holding posts in Germany, Persian Gulf, and the United States. He later earned his Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University. He is a professor at Boston University, currently teaching international relations. He is also a retired career officer of the U.S. Army and one of the former directors of Boston University’s Center for International Relations. In 2007, his son, First Lieutenant Andrew Bacevich Jr., who also served in the U.S. Army, was killed in action at the age of 27.

Regarded as one of the most controversial and polarizing military conflicts in U.S. history, the Vietnam War has left a deep and lasting impact on American culture, politics, and foreign policy. From 1964 to the present day, the Vietnam War redefined the scope of U.S. influence both at home and abroad, and caused a fundamental shift in American society that dramatically changed the way in which Americans viewed their government and the role of the United States as a world power. For an entire generation of Americans, who watched as the horrors of the war in Vietnam unfold before the spotlight of the national media, the Vietnam War directly challenged the superiority of the American way and the infallibility of U.S military dominance. In truth, the U.S government, U.S. military, and the American people as a whole struggled to accept the lessons of America’s greatest military failure and the sobering reality of the war’s consequences. To this day, the legacy of this so-called “American War” continues to resonate throughout the fabric of American society as a cautionary tale of U.S foreign intervention and blind acceptance of open-ended conflict.

There is no single fixed reason as to why the U.S. entered the Vietnam War. The United States became involved in the war step by step until it was completely committed, which was when Japan took over Indochina. There is, however, multiple reasons as to why stopping communism in Vietnam became a major U.S. priority. Presidents Eisenhower and Truman both advocated doing everything in their power to keep communism, which is a social system where all property is collectively owned instead of by individuals, from spreading throughout the world. Therefore, the domino theory is one of the major reasons it became a U.S. priority to prevent Vietnam from falling to communism. Another major reason for the action taken by the United States towards this dilemma would be that if the United States hadn’t taken part, the non-communist people of South Vietnam would have been persistently victimized and tortured. Lastly, it became a priority to the U.S. because the nation just generally felt responsible in helping Vietnam become independent and to be involved in the global fight against communism.

The U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War helped for the South Vietnamese for a while,

The Quebec Agreement was signed on August 19, 1943 between the United States and Great Britain and guaranteed that the two countries would share scientific information relating to the atomic bomb project, also known as interchange. From the beginning of the project they had agreed to share information in order for a bomb to be built during the war, but once it moved into the development stage James Conant suggested to President Roosevelt that their agreement was no longer viable. Conant argued that the bomb could not possibly be used by the British during the war and therefore the United States did not have to honor the interchange agreement. The United States was not ready to enter into a post-war alliance at that point and it was obvious that Britain did not have the resources necessary to build bombs that could be used during the war. However, the realities of the post-war situation eventually won the day and the United States and Great Britain resumed full

The United States involvement in Vietnam was the longest war the U.S. has ever took part in and was considered an extended military engagement due to the fact congress never formally declared war with Vietnam (FCNL). The Vietnam War began on November 1, 1955 and lasted for 20 years until April 30, 1975. The war was fought between the communist Northern Vietnamese and the anti-communist Southern Vietnamese after the country was temporarily divided by the Geneva Accords. Americas entering of the Vietnam War proved to be an extremely controversial decision due to citizens belief that the United States reasons for intervention were unnecessary nor justified, and young teens were mainly drafted under the Selective Service Act. The death toll of nearly 3,595,000 people from the war was the result of years of conflict in Vietnam prior to the war (Statistical). The policy of imperialism, division of Vietnam, and American Ideology created circumstances in which the Vietnam War was an inevitable outcome that would forever change the lives of millions of people.

The Vietnam War was a grousing, costly battle that drained our nation morally and psychologically. The war lives infamously with the unpopularity received by America and its people. Many believed that we had no business joining arms with South Vietnam to try and defeat a communist regime of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. With the war begining in 1954 due to the rise of the North Vietnamese and their leader Ho Chi Minh, an advocate for communism, which put a target on North Vietnam due to America’s pursuit to end communism around the world. By 1969 and the Wars 15th year of existence, more than half a million American soldiers had been involved. Many returning veterans and a large portion of the American public felt bitter about our involvement

The Montagnard had suffer the same consequent as the Native American, the conquer of the land, according to the Degar Foundation “In this way, we have suffered a fate similar to the Native Americans, Australian aboriginals, African Bushmen and other original inhabitants subjected to invasion and exploitation by outsiders.” The same way as the Vietnamese is taking over the land, but the solution in taking back the land is far too risky, due to the fact that; the Montagnard population is dropping. It was once over 3 million during French colonialism, today the race has dwindle to only a few thousand. As the tension between the Montagnard and Vietnam grow the safer place to be is in Cambodia and the neighbor countries.

America's involvement in Vietnam was rooted in the containment policies of the Cold War. President Eisenhower and Truman believed that if Southern Vietnam fell to the Communists that all Southeast Asia would be next (The Domino Theory). Starting with the fall of China in 1949, which turned a local nationalist struggle against the French rule in Indochina into a world wide strategic battleground. As far back as World War II, FDR had supported the Vietnamese forces led by Ho Chi Minh a communist, and had called for an end to French Colonial rule. However after Jiang’s Failure, American policy changed. Fears of a communist victory in Indochina caused the United States to abandon its position of neutrality and openly endorse French policy

The Vietnam War was a very intensified war among multiple countries. It was know as the Second IndoChina War and took place in South/North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. It was also known to other counties as the only for America lost. The war was against the Vietnam Cong and the Viet Minh and was the third war in Vietnam between the north and south. The United States played a big role in the war and so did many other counties that were involved in the war. It is very important to know about this war and how it effected many people of not only our country but others as well.

The U.S. involvement in Vietnam was a failure and should not have been a war the US fought. The United States main objective was to stop communism within Vietnam, considering that Vietnam is still a communist country shows that the involvement did not help to stop communism in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was not only a disaster in Vietnam, the United States was getting a lot of backlash from its citizens. The US was split with pro-war and anti-war opinions that created a lot of protest amongst the citizens. The covering up and lying about the war by president Johnson also caused a lot of distrust between the US citizens and the US government grew. The United States involvement in Vietnam did not only not fail in its main objective, it came at a huge cost in casualties to American and Vietnamese citizens.

“Why? Why was America involved in such brutal war to stop a brand new country from forming? Shouldn 't we support that because that 's what happened to us.” That was my very first question when my grandfather first told me about the most brutal and longest wars America has ever been in, the Vietnam War. America’s involvement in the conflict was to stop the evil and corrupt system of Communism. French forces were dead meat unless America teamed up with them. Unfortunately, this didn 't stop the nonmoral army under Ho Chi Minh. The United Sates did not win the Vietnam War due to strong motivation, Guerrilla warfare, and the political factors in the United States.

Lyndon B. Johnson inherited the war from Kennedy in 1963 and it was his responsibility to lead America through the Vietnam war and stop communism, he planned was to escalate the war. The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was what really involved the US in the war and made them a big part of it. The alleged attacks of North Vietnam on the USS Maddox angered America and it was a way for Johnson to organise attacks on North Vietnam. He now had an excuse and his main view on the war was to escalate it. Although he had a lot of support from US citizens, there were some people protesting against his approach towards the war later on.