The Vietnam War was an expensive and fatal conflict between the North and South Vietnam regions. The communist government from the north and their southern allies, the Viet Cong, were heavily against South Vietnam and their benevolent allies, the United States. The main purpose of the Vietnam War was to reassemble the country of Vietnam under the rule of communism. From the perspective of the Viet Cong, the conflict against the South and United States seemed as a colonial strife. During this time of lonesomeness and dismal, Grandpa has been involved in the war, but later moved on with his family to escape the unbearable tragedies that took place in his home country. Since the forces from North Vietnam were massively influenced by …show more content…
In 1956, South Vietnam, along with the help of the Americans, rejected to host coalition elections. Until 1958, guerrilla allies led by the Communist named Viet Cong, were underway to clash with the South government of Vietnam. In an act to help the South’s government, the United States of America deployed 2,000 military advisors, which later increased to 16,300 advisors in 1963. Due to the run down military conditions, South Vietnam forfeited the high-yielding Mekong delta to the Viet Cong. Lyndon Johnson, the 36th U.S. president, intensified the war by calling air strikes on North Vietnam in 1965 and sent ground troops in 1968. “I shall not seek, nor will I accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president” (History.com). During the political campaign at the time, Johnson wanted to focus on peace, but the conflict in Vietnam precipitated pain and distress to him during his last month in the office, which caused him to call in artilleries and ground forces to Vietnam. The Tet Offensive of 1968 by the Northern Vietnamese turned several Americans against the conflict. Richard Nixon, the president after Johnson, recommended Vietnamization, which removed American soldiers and gave South Vietnam greater responsibilities to fight their own war. “In the previous administration, we Americanized the war in Vietnam. In this
President Johnson who inherited the commitment to counter communist forces further escalated the war, commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and committing ground forces. However, the war took a long toll on the America on the financial resources as well as losing a large
When Lyndon Baines Johnson was elected the United States President perhaps the biggest issue for him was that he inherited in office the Vietnam War. Around 1968 the United States of America had around 550,000 ground troops in Vietnam. South Vietnam was supported by the United States government at the time. North Vietnam was trying to take over South Vietnam and that's how the United States of America got involved in the Vietnam
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.
On November 1969 President Nixon gave a speech to his fellow Americans, trying to discuss their concerns being involved in the war in Vietnam. President Nixon said he wanted to answer question that he knew were on the minds of the listeners. He wanted to explain how America became involved in Vietnam, why they remain involved in Vietnam, what was preventing peace, and what he had planned in Vietnam. Fifteen years ago President Eisenhower responded to a request of the Government of South Vietnam and sent economic aid and military equipment after North Vietnam, Communist China, and the Soviet Union organized a campaign to enforce a Communist government on South Vietnam. Eight years after that President Kennedy sent out 16,000 military personnel
The investigation assesses the level of success President Richard Nixon’s Vietnamization policy attained during the Vietnam War to end U.S. involvement in the war. In the strive to evaluate the level of success this policy demonstrated, the investigation evaluates the ability of the policy to equip, expand, and train Southern Vietnamese forces and allocate them to a substantial combat position, all while simultaneously reducing the quantity of U.S. combat troops in a steady manner. The Vietnamization policy is investigated and analyzed by both its causes and effects. The motivation that led to Nixon’s creation of this
In 1965, he “ordered an increase in U.S. military forces in Vietnam, from the present 75,000 to 125,000”(History). Immediate reaction followed from this, and communist leader attacked him for this decision. This became “a major turning point, as it effectively guaranteed U.S. military leaders a blank check to pursue the war”(History). Johnson's future tactics included more men and many bombings and plans such as operation rolling thunder. These failed due to the fact that the Vietcong was not defeated stepping down from war. The more men he sent overseas just generated more chaos in America and deaths in Vietnam. In addition to this, North Vietnam had significantly less troops than we did in the South, they had about “10,000 troops...meanwhile we have an occupation force of 500,000 ground troops”, this doesn't include the naval and air command(Doc G). Lastly, the biggest shock for not only the President but the citizens lied in the fact that everyone believed it wasn't “possible for us to lose the war. We are too strong…”(Doc F). Johnson along with the generals aimed to “fight it with the least cost to ourselves and the greatest cost to our enemy”(Doc F). Unfortunately, it did the exact opposite with the failure through the President's failed military tactics and policies.
rejected to host coalition elections. Until 1958, guerrillas led by the Communist, called Viet Cong, and were underway to clash with the South government of Vietnam.
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
In reality, his main concern as president was to ‘provide education and medical care to the browns and the blacks and the lame and the poor’ (Hunt 72). He wanted to focus on social reforms but with Vietnam looming, he had no choice but to try to handle that situation and to end the wishy – washy debates on the war that occurred in the homes of Americans. Johnson wanted ground troops; all he needed was a reason to send them there. The sooner he sent troops to crush communism, the sooner he’ll be working on his domestic programs (Hunt 79). President Johnson first started by launching sorties against the North Vietnamese, then when that wasn’t working as fast, wanted ground troops to do the dirty work. The only thing this president needed was a reason to send combat troops. Obviously, he completely disregarded the lessons from the past and so after the second Gulf of Tonkin Incident, proclaimed that ‘he didn’t just screw Ho Chi Minh, he cut his pecker off,’ (Hunt 85). This, of course, was said after he destroyed a few Northern Vietnamese facilities. As the years worn on, public support for the war decreased and, different advisors brought up the thought of that this was a place that a ground war should not be found, “They would go into Vietnam as foreigners lacking local cooperation’s and good intelligence and fighting in unfavorable jungle terrain, “ warned Secretary of State George Ball (Hunt 103). Nevertheless, President Johnson did not want to hear anything about it and declared war against
In 1958, Communist-led guerrillas, eventually known as the Viet Cong, began to battle the government of the South Vietnamese. The United States then sent 2,000 military advisors t support South Vietnam’s government. This number grew to 16,3000 by 1963. The military force slowly deteriorated. By 1963 the fertile Mekong Delta was lost to the overpowering Viet Cong. The war rose in 1965, when President Johnson issued commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and ground forces, which had risen to 536,000 by 1968. The Tet Offensive by North Vietnam turned many Americans against the waging war. President Nixon, following Johnson, promoted Vietnamization, the withdrawing of American troops and handing over the great responsibility of the war to South Vietnam. Protesting of the war dramatically increased, especially after Nixon’s attempt to slow North Vietnam forces and supplies into the South by sending American forces to destroy supply bases in Cambodia in 1970, which violated Cambodian neutrality. This provoked antiwar protests on many of the United Stats’ college campuses. In 1968 through 1973 attempts were made to end the ongoing conflict through diplomacy. Then in January 1973, an agreement was reached. U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam and the U.S. POWs were released. In April 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was once again united. The Vietnam War ended, but it took the lives of 58,000
“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 conflict in Vietnam for the United States started when President Dwight D. Eisenhower went along with the domino theory and sent in military advisors in South Vietnam to stop the communist movement from taking place in South Vietnam. The Vietnam conflict was between the communist’s and the United States. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, and Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Cong, a guerilla group to help spread communism. The United States were supporters of the South Vietnam because they wanted them to maintain their government rather than falling to the domino theory of communism. After Eisenhower’s term ended John F. Kennedy became president and took control of the situation of Vietnam but on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was
The Vietnam War was one of the bloodiest wars in the history of Vietnam. Vietnam use to be a peaceful country until the idea of communism started spreading across Vietnam. Many wanted to stay democratic but saw what happened to the Germans and started to lean towards communism. Many also wanted to stay democratic and still had it hopes high that it will soon get their lives and economy back on track.
President Kennedy saw the Vietnam situation as America’s fight to stop the spread of communism. Kennedy, who was young and well liked by the American people, did not really see much protest from the American people. He wanted equality in America, and supported open-mindedness in his country; at his assassination in 1963 only 15,000 troops were in Vietnam. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson greatly increased the number of troops that went to Vietnam, reaching 500,000 in 1966. Television allowed the American public to see what these soldiers were facing and that this was a senseless war. Too many men were coming home in American flag draped coffins, causing many Americans to rebel and move to the new hippie counterculture.
The Vietnam War was fought between North Vietnam communists led by their leader Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam anti-communists led by their president Ngo Dinh Diem. North Vietnam was trying to taking over South Vietnam to make it a communist country. That is when the U.S. came knocking on South Vietnam’s door and gave them much needed help in 1950. In Eric Foner’s and John A Garraty’s essay, “Vietnam War,” they explain, “from Washington’s perspective, . . . [a]ny communist anywhere, at home or abroad, was, by definition, an enemy of the United States” because of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “domino theory” (Foner). Eisenhower’s “domino theory,” was a theory that if communists took over Vietnam, they would gradually control all of Southeast Asia. The first aid given by the U.S. was to France. Willbanks explains in his essay that the U.S. provided France, a South Vietnamese ally, $2.6