The Soviet Union During The Cold War

The US has been known to diverge from its once-isolationist state, engaging in international affairs like World War I and several other events alike. It’s therefore no surprise that the US intervened in the Vietnam War during the 1960’s. At the time, President Lyndon B. Johnson put forth new ideas, plans and tactics to help and protect the South Vietnamese and surrounding countries from communist influence. However, the United States’ initial goals and plans didn’t always go the way they had expected. Indeed, Johnson’s Vietnam policies failed because of his unreasonable military strategies and his inefficient political actions.

Before the war: Before the U.S. entered to war, President Truman decided to aid the French with economical and military support. Truman had sent a MAAG which is a Military Assistance Advisory Group to observe how the French were going to use the military equipment, total being a worth of $10 million. The Domino Theory: The Domino Theory is the belief that if one country falls to communism, the neighboring countries will follow and go under communism too. President Eisenhower said that if Vietnam fell to communism, it would lead to other countries falling under the influence as well, thus making the situation worse because the entire goal is to discontinue the spreading of communism.

During the period of both wars, the U.S. committed to preventing further growth of communism. During the Korean War, the South gained backing and assistance of the U.S., reasoning that the government of North Korea were wanting to pursue the expansion of their communism towards the south of Korea. With the increasing growth of American troops, air and naval forces, and strategic combat, the intervention of the U.S. slowed the North Koreans from advancing south. American involvement in Vietnam was an implementation of the Containment Policy, which was a the obligation of U.S. foreign approach makers to terminate the expansion of communism (Vietnam War). With the participation of the U.S., the South was provided financial assistance and military hardware. This permitted North Vietnamese troops to retain their militia in the south.

In 1960s, the US was faced with another crisis of communist expansion in the war between North and South Vietnam. The Kennedy Administration decided to further pursue their containment strategy out of fear being seen by the international community as weak towards communism. During the Johnson Administration, an attack against American vessels that happened in the Gulf of Tonkin led to President Johnson being granted the ability to conduct broad military operations without congressional approval. The American public began to largely oppose American intervention in Vietnam because the optimistic statements made by the government ran contradictory to the reports of the violent fighting by American news outlets. During the Nixon administration, the US switched to a policy, later known as Vietnamization, where the main goal was to strengthen the South Vietnamese forces and provide them with better armaments so they can better defend themselves. Vietnamization proved to be ineffective as the South Vietnamese forces were unable to hold their own against the North without US air support as proven during Operation Lam Son 719 and the Easter Offensive. The signing of the Paris Peace Accords officially ended US involvement in the Vietnam War. The US followed containment policies during beginning of the war due to the underlying fear of the spread of communism and since the policies were inherited from previous

However despite this the Vietminh relentlessly used every resource at their disposal to conquer the hill. This was such a humiliating defeat for the French that it persuaded them to pull out of the war. The Geneva Agreement proposed that Vietnam would be split in two, and elections would be held every 2 years to determine who would run the country. But America failed to agree and refused to sign as it believed it was to the benefit of communism. Ngo Dinh Diem was the southern Vietnamese Prime minister, he and his government were supported by the Americans despite being extremely corrupt.

The United States began aiding the French in its claim to Indochina at the beginning of the 1950’s, regions which occupy Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. However, a humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu prompted the French to seek a peace settlement in the region. By 1954 the Geneva accord was signed which stipulated that the French would withdraw and the nation of Vietnam would be divided temporarily into a north and south. At this point, American Cold War foreign policies began to influence Vietnam, such as the Domino Theory which was the belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would follow. In an attempt to contain communism, the US began to back up the unpopular leader Ngo Dinh Diem.

During the Cold War, American political leadership was determined to slow the spread of communism wherever it could be slowed. The policy that American leadership followed (The Domino Theory) was that if the communists took over one country, the countries around that nation would soon fall to the communists, like dominos. Hence, communism needed to be stopped. President Dwight Eisenhower initially sent some advisors (an estimated group of 700 military personnel) to help train the South Vietnamese troops to be able to defend themselves against aggression from the North Vietnamese communists. President John F. Kennedy continued sending "advisors" and other military personnel to South Vietnam (John Kennedy Presidential Library).

Throughout the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War the main problem was communism. Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies in World War Two, during the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were known as enemies. The Soviet leaders bragged to other nations that communism would “scrape apart” free-enterprise systems around the world. This attitude angered the capitalists which led into the fifty year Cold War. The United States tried creating many tactics and strategies to contain the “bleeding” of communism, but during the cold war, communism spread faster then it could be restrained. The United States used the Marshall Plan , the Trueman Doctrine, and the Berlin Airlift to help lead people to a

Following the Geneva Accords in 1954 Vietnam split into two different countries, the North and South, with two different rulers, Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem. Ho Chi Minh consolidated his power up North after the Vietminh, the revolutionary group defeated the French in the first Indochina War. Diem was the South nationalist leader and had been elected by the French with much US support for he was

From the beginning, the people of America had a distrust in the government when they first began to involve themselves in the Vietnam War. The United States feared that communism would overtake the world, and, unlike the majority of its citizens, the government of America felt it their responsibility to prevent this from happening. An opportunity presented itself in which America could aid in the prevention of the overtaking of Vietnam by a communist government. South Vietnam and North Vietnam were separated at the seventeenth parallel, and South Vietnam wanted it to remain that way and to become its own independent country and democracy. However, North Vietnam and its leader, Ho Chi Minh, wanted to unite both North and South Vietnam under communist rule. In 1954, President Eisenhower put into effect America’s plan to halt the spread of communism. Eisenhower sent a letter to Ngo Dinh Diem, the Prime Minister of South Vietnam, with America’s plans and motives in efforts to gain the trust of a possible new American ally. The citizens of America saw this, not as an opportunity, but as a danger to their precious country. The American government viewed South Vietnam’s situation as a cry for

America 's first substantial involvement in Vietnam began during Eisenhower 's Presidency, with military advisers, equipment and aid being provided to the South Vietnamese government. With the Korean War still clearly imprinted in the minds of most Americans, the option of using ground troops in Vietnam was unbearable. Eisenhower stated in 1955 "I cannot conceive of a greater tragedy for America than to get heavily involved now in an all-out war in the [Indochina] region.  However, he did believe strongly in the importance of victory in the Cold War and the number of military advisers in Vietnam grew to 700 during his presidency and the United States trained, equipped, and paid the South Vietnamese Army. At this time, President Eisenhower was very positive in his attitude towards winning in Vietnam.

Yet, historians across the globe collectively agree that the primary reason why United States entered the Vietnam War was to thwart spread of communism to South Vietnam. Thus, Vietnam War was the perfect avenue where America could further its new acquired modus operandi of containment (Schulzinger 408). America had to act fast especially in reminisced of the recent defeat of French armada. Defeat of French armada had culminated into signing of treaty held in Geneva which assured both Cambodia and Laos of their independence. Besides, America was aware of the imminent division of Vietnam into both South and North Vietnam.

To his surprise, he realized the struggle would not be against the expected French rule. World War II was under way, and the Japanese, allied with Germany and Italy, had seized Indochina. With his lieutenants Vo Nguyen Giap and Pham Van Dong, Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam and organized the Viet Minh, also known as the League for the Independence of Vietnam. This organization was dominated by the Communist Party, but it was supposed to be a military league with the sole objective of fighting for Vietnamese independence. The Viet Minh waged a guerilla war against the Japanese occupation. Forced to ask for China’s aid for the new organization, Ho Chi Minh revisited China and was imprisoned for a year and a half by Chiang Kai-Shek’s anti-Communist government. He was released when Mao Zedong overthrew Chiang Kai

An argument favoring America’s involvement in Vietnam is that capitalist country South Vietnam would be overthrown by communist North Vietnam, unless The United States became involved in Vietnam to control the spread of communist activity. The United States feared communist ideals spreading globally during the 1950’s and replacing capitalism, this fear urged action to aid South Vietnam. Leading up to Vietnam war, the French colonized South Vietnam but were weakened by the calamity of World War 2. The United States sought to protect corporate interests and with an ever increasing shift in the global market towards communism, grew weary of strickend trade among the Indonesian region of the globe. The strength of this argument is that without United States involvement, the financial climate would shift for the worst, and communistic views would

Due to the French colonization, Vietnam had low economic development and lacked physical infrastructure. The US believed that if poverty and underdevelopment persisted in a country, the country is more likely to succumb to communism. Therefore, the US proposed programs dedicating economic development as a tool of foreign policy. The US increased its foreign aid to rebuild and modernize Vietnam. The US launched its state-building project in Vietnam in 1954 due to the reasons of “the increased attention to these nations and people, the rise in foreign aid, and the emergence of modernization ideas” as solutions to fight against communism.