Essay on The US Involvement in The Vietnam War

“In August of 1964, in response to the American and GVN espionage along its coast, the DRV launched a local and controlled attack against C. Turner Joy and the U.S.S. Maddox , two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin” (Brigham 2). This resulted in the United States government giving Lyndon Johnson the ability to make war under the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. President Johnson then gave orders to perform air raids on Northern Vietnam pushing the United States further into the war. Compared to 1962 when only 9,000 soldiers supported the South Vietnamese, by June 1965 82,000 soldiers occupied the country. The number only continued to rise exponentially, and by 1966 370,000 soldiers had been sent in to prop their South Vietnam allies. President Richard Nixon withdrew American soldiers from Vietnam and as part of the “vietnamization” of the war. Over and 60,000 American soldiers had been lost in a war to preserve the status quo, not to win.

The Vietnam War is one of America’s longest lasting wars beginning in 1955, and lasting until 1975. The United States became involved in the Vietnam War because of its efforts to stop communism in Southeast Asia. The United States feared that if communist took over Southeast Asia it would cause a domino effect around the world. The United States began sending financial aid and military advisors to South Vietnam to help stop a communist takeover. North Vietnam was run by communist leader Ho Chi Minh, and the South had a non-communist government. An election to unify Vietnam would be held in 1955, fearing that Ho Chi Minh would win the elections South Vietnam president Ngo Dinh Diem refused to hold an election that would unify the country.

The Gulf of Tonkin incident was a series of reported confrontations between the USS Maddox on August 2nd and August 4th, 1964. The second of the two confrontations, on August 4th, was later proven to have never happened, and the legitimacy of the first confrontation on August 2nd is in question. The USS Maddox reported that on August 2nd, while patrolling in international waters, it was attacked by three North Vietnamese Torpedo Boats. President Johnson went on live television on August 4th saying that the USS Maddox and the USS Turner Joy were attacked again by Vietnamese boats. He used these attacks as reason to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that granted him the use of conventional military force in Southeast Asia without a formal

We responded immediately. And we took out one of their boats and put the other two running. And we're puttin' our boats right there, and we're not running on in." is what President LBJ tells secretary McNamara to say to Senate Majority Leader Mansfield. Later President Johnson consequently approved a move under which the destroyer Maddox was reinforced by the C. Turner Joy, and both ships entered the Gulf together. With the American warships in a state of hyperalert, on the night of August 3/4 the warships recorded a series of sound (sonar) and electronic (radar) readings interpreted to be attacking torpedo boats. Although the commander on the scene, Captain John D. Herrick, quickly amplified the initial, excited reports with one stating he doubted the reality of the attacks, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Ulysses S. Grant Sharp nevertheless proceeded as if the attacks were genuine. This is a clear reference to the OPLAN-34A raids, confusion about which had been a factor in the initial Tonkin Gulf engagement on August 2. Here LBJ suggests a measure that would actually increase Hanoi's incentives to fight. A little over an hour later, at 10:53 AM., McNamara has a second conversation with the president in which Johnson's concern centers on the details of the supposed combat in the Gulf. McNamara tells LBJ that the U.S. aircraft carrier Ticonderoga sent out

President Lyndon Johnson asked U.S Congress for permission to increase the U.S military in Indochina, because two U.S destroyers called in that they had been fired on by North Vietnamese forces. President Johnson received authorization to proceed any actions that is necessary to get revenge and to encourage the repairs of security and worldwide peace, he was granted approval when Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The Johnson Administration believed that increasing the U.S military presence in Vietnam was the only answer, the South Vietnamese troops stayed generally ineffective. In supporting South Vietnamese raids and applying a U.S program for the Lao border to disturb supply lines, U.S military started supporting South Vietnamese raids of the North Vietnamese coast. In the Gulf of Tonkin two destroyers by the name of the Maddox and the Turner Joy, were stationed to strengthen these action by The United States Navy. The commander on the Turner Joy reported being attacked by North Vietnamese Patrol boats twice, once on August 2 and the second on August 4. However, doubts later occurred as to whether or not the Turner Joy was attacked. Under those circumstances, Johnson instantly asked permission from Congress to defend U.S militaries in Southeast Asia. The Senate passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution with just two restricting votes, and the House of Representatives passed it collectively. Congress upheld the determination with the supposition that the president

In August 1964, two US destroyed that were positioned in the Gulf of Tonkin in Vietnam claimed that they had been “attacked” by North Vietnamese forces. President Lyndon B. Johnson demanded authorization from the United States Congress to augment US military presence in Vietnam. As a result, congress ended up passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which authorized President Jonson to act any way to retaliate against the Vietnamese. Later on, many would question if either attacks had taken place. Key leaders included Barry Goldwater, William Westmoreland who was the US general who advocated aggressive strategies against Viet Cong and NVA using large numbers of US forces. Lastly, another key leader was Ho Chi Minh who was a North Vietnamese communist

The Gulf of Tonkin was known as the USS Maddox incident. It happened on August 2, 1964. It was the international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. The original American report blamed North Vietnam for both incidents. It became very controversial with widespread claim that either one or both incidents were false.

Vietnam was a divided country with the North supporting communism and the South opposing it. The United States was an ally to South Vietnam, with the goal of assisting them to avoid a communist takeover. The United States involvement may have started out with an honorable intention; however, there are many reasons the United States should not have become involved in the conflict, such as it was no business of the United States, it was very costly, many lives were lost, there was no victory in sight, and it went against the United States ethics and standards. Many would argue that the U.S. involvement was crucial, but many more would

The Vietnam War took place in between 1947- 1975. It consisted of North Vietnam trying to make South Vietnam a communism government. The United States later joined this conflict because of the stress North Vietnam was putting to South Vietnam to become a government that America did not want. The main reason why America joined was because of a theory called the Domino Effect. America and Russia were going through what has been dubbed the Cold War. The Domino Effect is the theory that communism will spread form one country to another. United states does not want this because our

The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was set as an attempt to contain communism in 1964 after the Gulf of Tonkin incident. This incident gave the U.S authority to join in the Vietnam war to try to seize communist aggression. Whether the United States should have been in the Vietnam war or should have stayed out is a very controversial issue. The United States however should not have been part of the Vietnam war due to political reasons.

attack on South Vietnam by the North Vietnamese on the first day of Tet-Vietnam's Lunar New

Up until this event Johnson’s foreign policy was quite similar to Kennedy’s, whereas after the resolution his new foreign policies deepened the U.S. involvement in Vietnam to a much larger extent. The effects could be seen shortly after the resolution, as immediate increases in military assistance were ordered, causing some 25,000 American combat troops in Vietnam by 1964. Additionally, by the spring of 1965 there were constant American aerial raids on North Vietnam, which was a part of an operation, called “Rolling Thunder”. Johnson and his advisors greatly supported this operation in the hope of damaging North Vietnam’s war-making infrastructure and its lines of supply. This operation which emerged from the Tonkin resolution also set Johnson’s foreign policy apart from Kennedy’s. It was the first sustained U.S. military operation in Vietnam, which demonstrated Johnson’s greater military commitment to Vietnam. This trend of continuously sending more and more American troops continued, which can be clearly seen when Johnson finally decided in July of 1965 for an open-ended military commitment. Johnson was able to completely Americanize the war and rush thousands of ground troops into Vietnam. This can be especially seen when comparing the maximum number of Kennedy’s military advisors of 16,000 by November 1963 with Johnson’s 500,000 American troops in Vietnam by 1968. Although

The escalation of US involvement in Vietnam was due to several decisions that were inherited, and subsequently exasperated, by the Johnson administration. The Gulf of Tonkin in 1965 played a large role in the justification to escalate the war and served as an opportunity for Johnson to show that he was tuff and could be trusted to protect

The Gulf of Tonkin was passed in 1964 and gave President Johnson authorization. It launched America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. It was a negative because citizens wouldn’t agree on it, and because of this there was not a lot of funding for the war. Operation Rolling Thunder is a bombing campaign over North Vietnam to soften up the enemy, but it has also killed a lot of kids and women and animals and also destroyed a lot of jungle and native plant life. The tunnels and traps (also known as rat

The Vietnam War, deploying 2.5 million troops and lasting 10 years made it one of the largest wars in United States history. Allegedly, the war started after two navy ships were fired at off of the banks of Vietnam. The questionable attack would foreshadow a very misunderstood and questioned war to come. The United State’s army would be tested in just how strong they were, some 58,000 men were killed and almost double that were severely disabled. This was humiliating to the United States, a great world power at the time, and tensions grew as the war went on. Robert F. Kennedy mentioned the severity of the war in one of his speeches, “For years we have been told that the measure of our success and progress in Vietnam was