Effects Of The Domino Theory On The Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was first derived from the gradual oppression of the communist party of the north over the region of South Vietnam. The North Communist party was supported mainly by China and the Soviet Union whiles the Anti-Communist party of South Vietnam was supported by United States and France. The communist party group, as known as the Viet Cong, was recognized for their guerilla war strategies within the region of South Vietnam, intended to fully expand and unify Vietnam under Communist rule. U.S. involvement with the Vietnam War starting in November 1, 1955, develops from the theory of the domino effect, stating that if one country falls into communism, a threat that can develop into the encouragement and spread of communism throughout the world in the future. It is basically viewed as a potential harm to the welfare of the United Sates. Therefore, due to the conflicting forces of the historical, political, economic and cultural nature of the war itself, it is known to be the longest enduring war in United States history that altered many lives of the Vietnamese and American community, leading to suffrage and acts of courage.

The Vietnam War was, and continues to be, one of America's darkest moments, one that nearly tore the nation apart. In order to stop the spread of communism in Europe and Asia, the United States aided French imperialists and their reoccupation of Vietnam. At first, the U.S took a position of neutrality to both countries, but by early 1947, they began fighting in support of France. This war, lasting over 20 years, became the longest and most unpopular war in the 20th century. Overall, the Vietnam War was detrimental to the United States because it caused a massive debt from the 1960s to the 1990s, turned the American people against their government, and many troops were neglected and despised upon their return.

During the Vietnam War, United States involvement was for personal reasons and fear of communism. Neither the United States or the Soviet Union should have been involved. The War was just used as a cover up for the actual silent, passive aggressive war between the United States and the Soviet. The Vietnam war was started by the North “Viet Cong” and their desire to unify Vietnam under communist rule. The South was against communism, making tensions grow until eventually, a war broke out on November 1, 1955. Five years later in the 1960s, the war was escalated with the involvement of foreign countries. While the North was supported by its communist allies such as China and the Soviet Union. The South was supported by the United States of America. The Americans wanted to halt or prolong the spread of communism. The “domino theory” compelled the U.S. to get involved as soon as possible because if not, the rest of Asia would fall to communism like “dominoes”. The U.S. involvement only started with Eisenhower administration when Vietnam split in half. This action of the United States was only for their own well being and their main goal was not for the good of Vietnam. During this time period the Vietnamese had just united and established the state of Vietnam. The war ended up lasting 9 years with long periods of bitter guerrilla warfare in the rugged jungles of Vietnam which would eventually result in the victory of the North and longed unification of Vietnam

The Vietnam war brought many changes to the United States in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Some of the changes were for the better of the country, take the rediscovered Women’s Rights movements and the ever growing Free Speech movements inspired by New Left, while most of the other changes brought on tensions between government and their people. The Domino Theory pushed our leaders to the edge. In order to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam, the U.S. invaded. The war was useless for the American government to get involved with. Even Robert Kennedy described our presence in Vietnam as ‘... sending a lion to halt an epidemic of jungle rot.’ (Doc E) From new groups forming to rebel, to inflation and loss of trust in the Government, from 1960’s to

As communism began to spread steadily and gain more and more attention, Americans became immensely concerned in what most saw as a detrimental threat. President Eisenhower only added to the hysteria by outlining the Domino Theory: the theory that a political event, in this case referring to the spread communism, in one country will cause a similar turn of events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino that causes an entire row to fall down. Although the Vietnam War is seen by many as the only option to try to end the spread of communism, the specious outcome of the war was not effective enough to justify the amount of unethical decisions and situations that were allowed to take place. In 1961, under President Kennedy, 100 Special Forces troops were sent to South Vietnam and by 1963, just two years later, U.S military advisors and Special Forces had increased to 21,000 troops. We will soon see that this is just the beginning and in my paper I will outline the full record of events all the way to the end of the war, including the reasons for U.S involvement, unethical decisions that were made, America 's effort to end the war, and the lasting impact the war had on the United States.

Nixon agreed with the troop withdrawal from the Vietnam War. Nixon hoped his vietnamization policy, which involved gradually withdrawing American troops would permit the south vietnamese to take more responsibility for their own war against a communism and permit the U.S. to leave the battlefield. After, the U.S withdrew the American combat troops and declared the Vietnamization process complete, South Vietnam fell to Communism.

Since gaining independence in the American Revolution and navigating through the difficulties of forming a new republic, the United States has continuously undergone major changes to its economic, political, and social situations, each change evolving from an obstacle faced by the nation. Some of the greatest and most impactful changes have occurred due to war, as the United States was forced to adapt and modify itself to meet the demands of conflict. After years of remaining isolated from the world stage, the United States was forced to face the conflict that was spreading across the globe in the late 1940s, eventually leading to the United States joining World War II. American participation in this war brought drastic changes to the home front of the United States, lifting it out of its economic depression and providing new opportunities for different groups. In addition, World War II brought about a sense of patriotism and unity as citizens began helping in an array of ways, including, rationing and buying war bonds. In stark contrast to this, the Vietnam War did not have the same positive effects on the United States. Rather than unity, there was distrust in the government after many military and political failures, and the United States faced economic downturn rather upturn. In addition, many Americans did not understand why the United States was fighting in the war, leading to lessened support for the war and active protests. Though there were many negative effects,

A small country such as North Vietnam was able to win a war against a superpower like the United States of America, through, namely, tactics – such as Guerrilla Warfare -, the ignorance of their enemy, the attitude of the South Vietnamese, as well as a strong leader such as Ho Chi Minh. The Vietnam War was a major conflict (of the Cold War) which lasted from 1959 to 1975 , with US involvement from 1964 to 1973 . US reasons for their involvement in the war was their fear of “The Domino Effect” - or – the US fear that communism would spread to Vietnam and Southeast Asia, making them a major threat to national security. The Fall of Saigon marked the end of the war in 1975.

The Cold War era proxy war known as the Vietnam War wrecked global havoc during 1955-1975. Although the destruction on the ground occurred in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, the bloodshed of the war was just one part of a much larger worldwide communism versus capitalism battle headed by the United States and the Soviet Union. For the U.S., diplomatic and military policies had never before been so tightly intertwined with domestic policies. The war in Vietnam had such an impact on the home front in America that the term, “The Vietnam Syndrome” is still repeated to this day. The war, which is sometimes seen as a part of the larger anti-communist policy of ‘containment’, is largely to blame for the near destruction of three presidencies, as well as causing numerous political and social divides, a detrimental effect on the U.S. economy, and a credibility gap that caused distrust between government and the people. The focus on the war meant that many domestic issues such as the civil rights movement, the war on poverty, and Johnson’s ideology of the ‘Great Society’, were neglected by the government and therefore limited in their progress. The overall domestic impact of the war in Vietnam was largely negative and extremely divisive.

The Vietnam War had discredited the United States’ stereotype of being the strongest world power for being “undefeatable” in war by trapping the most powerful foreign nations into a merely undefeatable war, and by destroying any hope that the United States had for institutional change in Vietnam. The United States’ involvement in domestic affairs had again proved that the nation felt confident enough to present itself as the “problem solver” in issues regarding foreign policy. The main intention of Americans was to bring forth an established democracy to Vietnam that would overpower

The Vietnam War was fought between South and North Vietnam over the reunification of Vietnam. The North fought a more conventional warfare and it was supported by the Soviets and other communist countries while the South fought more of a guerilla war and was supported by the US and other anti-communist countries. Of course the US got involved and supported the South because of the Truman Doctrine in which aided any country who felt threatened by communism and prevented the spread of communism, the US got involved and supported them by going into war and using military tactics such as airstrikes and large stratgetic bombings. One major thing the US had going on was the Domino theory which applied to most US foreign policies, this justified their support for non-communist regimes. North Vietnam saw this war as something small while the US saw it as a way to prevent communism taking over another country and eventually the US got involved in the long run. Although the North Vietnamese won and unified Vietnam under communism, and the US had no success in preventing this, communism failed to spread through the rest of Southeast Asia.

The Vietnam War was a result of the United States’ involvement in the Cold War against the USSR. The main goal of the United States during the Cold War was to contain communism and prevent the USSR from affecting other countries with their communist government. One of the concerns for President Dwight D. Eisenhower was that if communism spread to Vietnam, then other countries in Southeast Asia would become more susceptible to adopting communism. As a result, The United States entered a war in Vietnam, where they supported South Vietnam against the communist government of North Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a failed attempt by the United States to contain communism and support South Vietnam, because after decades of combat, the United States

Today, our World is a lot safer than 1960s. With emerge of civil rights; The United States was at its own War in 1960s. Despite, the differences and political crisis inside the Country, American politicians denied the fact that Americans were at their own War. Chronically, the Government threatened most of Civil rights Movement leaders to death, but they fought for people’s rights against discrimination. Meanwhile, the United States was unrest with emerging Vietnamese War. With the help from Soviet Union, the Communist Government of Vietnam was trying to destroy Southern Vietnamese. To stop spreading out the Communism in Vietnam, the United States intervention required. In this essay I will talk about how American Government

Cold war ideological and geopolitical conflicts shaped U.S. policy in Vietnam through a determination by U.S. government to not allow Communism to have any influence whatsoever no matter the cost. There was a strong desire by the United States government to show the world that it still had prestige in terms of reestablishing its credibility throughout the planet. As Isserman and Kazin stated, “The use of credibility as a rationale for American involvement became a self-fulfilling

America entered the Vietnam War on December 11, 1961 when U.S troops arrived in the capital of Saigon. Vietnam soldiers retaliated and the first battle of the infamous Vietnam war commenced. The war ended in 1976 when President Nixon called for the withdrawal of American troops in Vietnam. Losing the war completely changed American political and social life. The U.S paid an extreme political cost for the Vietnam War. The war weakened public faith in government and promoted a cynicism and a high degree of distrust toward politicians. Another major impact of the Vietnam War that greatly affects the U.S till this day was the anti-war movement. The anti-war movement was a campaign against U.S engagement in war. Anti-war marches and other protests attracted a widening base of support. Even political leaders supported the anti-war movement. Congress took extreme measures to prevent further violence in the U.S. Congress repealed the draft and Congress attacked the "imperial" presidency through the War Powers Act, restricting a president's ability to send American forces into combat without explicit Congressional approval. The Vietnam War left a scar on U.S and taught Americans a valuable lesson, that war and violence should avoided at all