The US Involvement In Vietnam

Upon being elected in 1969 Richard Nixon introduced vietnamization (A plan to get the troops out of Vietnam and leave the war to the Republic of Vietnam) due to the ever growing unpopularity of the war. It took Nixon 5 years to end the Vietnam War, which is considered a defeat. Nixon also performed secret bombings in Cambodia for almost a year2.

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.

When President Nixon took office in 1969, the U.S. was currently sending american troops to fight in the Vietnam war.Shortly after taking office in 1969, President Nixon introduced a policy called Vietnamization that was intended to end american military involvement in Vietnam war by encouraging all south vietnamese to take more responsibility for fighting the war on their own.

Exploring the Reasons for United States' Involvement in Vietnam 1. US involvement in Vietnam The US wanted to stop communist expansion into South Vietnam after successfully stopping them from capturing South Korea but President Eisenhower could not get the support of the people. Therefore he used a different way i.e. sending a team of 12 intelligence agents under Colonel Edward Lansdale to win over the South Vietnamese people by spreading lies about the Ho Chi Minh government killing political opponents and the presence of Chinese communists in South Vietnam. Besides that colonel Lansdale also employed mercenaries to sabotage North Vietnam and boost up the image of President Diem.

One of the many challenges the Nixon administration faced, was the Vietnam War. He realized that this war wasn’t going anywhere, and that the American people were not as gung-ho for the war like they were before his presidency. With that in mind, Nixon introduced the topic of “Vietnamization”. (Wikipedia) He introduced this topic in his May 14, 1969 speech and also introduced it in his letter to Ho Chi Minh. (Document A) Vietnamization was basically a plan to get Americans out of Vietnam. Nixon wanted to stop the deaths of American soldiers because he saw that this war wasn’t going to be won. During Vietnamization, American soldiers were to train the South Vietnamese soldiers on how to fight and, at the same time, remove American troops from Vietnam.

Vietnamization of the a war was a policy which was the Nixon administration to end the U.S involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnamese forces and assign to them an ever increasing combat role, at the same time, steadily reducing the number of U.S combat troops" Upon taking office in 199 U.S President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) introduced a strategy called Vietnamization that was

thousand plus killed, many were blameless citizens who wished not to be involved. The attacks were just fruitless, and it should be clear to Americans about how hypocritical their government is acting and reacting.

After Nixon was elected, he redefined Vietnam policy. Referring to the policy as ‘Vietnamization’, it called for the slow takeover of the responsibility of South Vietnam by the South Vietnamese leaders (Lecture 17). The Nixon Doctrine said that the United States would continue to give aid to our allies, but would continue sending troops into the region. Beginning in 1972, the United States began withdrawing from Vietnam, until eventually all US troops were removed from the region by 1975. After the United States removed all military presence from the region, North Vietnam took control of the

By the time Nixon had entered office, America had been involved in military action for four years, and already over thirty thousand American lives lost, many tried to push Nixon to extract the entire military campaign in Vietnam and cut our loses in a battle that many didn’t even want us to engage in. Nixon believed that it would not be productive to have gotten ourselves into a war and pull out to see the lose of many American lives just to see the massacre of the South Vietnamese like we had nearly 15 years prior. Nixon’s policy of Vietnamizaton was ultimately based on the attempt to ease our way out of the Vietnam War but successfully try to train and equip the forces of South Vietnam to sustain the power of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese communist regime. Soon Nixon and his administration looked to diminish the American involvement in Vietnam without having to extract our forces, leaving the South Vietnamese forces without help. In Nixon’s speech, which was nationally broadcasted on November 3rd, 1969 where he called this strategy Vietnamization. Many Americans including returning veterans wanted a immediate extraction of U.S. troops, many thought that the amount of time we had spent their had been enough, but Nixon and his foreign

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.

Former Secretary of State and Vietnam veteran John Kerry said it best when he stated “In our opinion and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America” and “To attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos…is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy which we feel has torn the country apart” (Goldstein). This statement stands true with many Americans as the Vietnam War was the most opposed and debatable war in the history of the United States. The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War began 1954 and ended in 1975 and was a direct result of the First Indochina War in which France claimed Vietnam as a colony (Mintz, McNeil). The war ended in 1954 following a French defeat in the battle of Dien Bien Phu (Marlantes, history.net) which resulted in Indochina’s independence, and the division between North and South Vietnam. America’s involvement heightened in the war in 1954 in an attempt to stop the spread of communism (Mintz, McNeil). In fact, the United States had the largest military presence in the war and basically directed the war from 1965 to 1968 (Mintz, Mcneil). This battle against communism led to one of the longest wars in American history, and one of the bloodiest conflicts America has ever seen; thus, leading to outrage and protests in streets of Washington D.C. The Vietnam War is considered one of the most controversial wars in the history of

and it also does not state why it was a concern. It could have been

The Vietnam War was unlike any other war in which the United States has participated. The Vietnam War has many unique attributes, beginning with the unclear reason as to why the U.S. became involved in a war that presented no threat to U.S. citizens or national security. Three unique attributes of the Vietnam War that are very interesting are the U.S. combat strategy, the Vietnamese guerrilla warfare, and the MIA issue.

In November of 1969 President Richard Nixon introduced a new strategy called “Vietnamization,” a change in United States policy with the goal of having South Vietnam take more responsibility

People must learn about history in order not to repeat humanity’s errors. Germany perhaps could have learned from Napoleon’s mistake in Russia, and the United States from their repeated errors in Afghanistan and Vietnam. Unfortunately history isn’t the most interesting genre people seek when learning. Today movies have made it possible to transmit a narrative about an historical event in a more direct and personal way than books. Two historical moments that have acquired attention in both theater and literature are the Vietnam War and the military interventions in the Middle East post 9/11. The way these conflicts are presented to the people, and how they affect both soldiers and veterans differs greatly between both communication