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The War Of The Vietnam War

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In a high school education system that places emphasis on American history over world history, there are still many subjects that remain untouched. Prior to my own research for this paper, what little knowledge I had on one such event, the Vietnam War, came from entertainment-based programs and the play Miss Saigon. Despite heavy coverage in such well-known comedic films as Forrest Gump and Good Morning Vietnam, the true events were anything but a laugh for those involved. In spite of the relative recentness of the events in Vietnam, many of today’s youths know little about the topic. The events in Vietnam raise the ever-present question on the ethics of third party involvement in a war otherwise unrelated to the American people. Having …show more content…

The United States, which had offered its support to France during the encounter, acted as a signatory to the signing, and “as part of the Geneva agreements, the U.S. also pledged to limit its involvement in the region, and to maintain only a small number of advisors in Vietnam” (Anderson and Bourassa). However, war soon broke out between Vietnam’s northern and southern counterpart in 1959, caused by the partition between the communist North Vietnam and the non-communist South.
During the 1960’s he United States entered the conflict in Vietnam, mostly in fear of the spread of Communism. Without ever officially declaring war, the American nation entered the conflict under the claim “that it was defending South Vietnam against aggression from the North” (Anderson and Bourassa). It wasn’t until 1961 that the United States formed an official treaty with South Vietnam, agreeing to provide “provide military and economic assistance” (Badertscher and Goodwin) and would later sponsor a coup in 1963 that would result in the assassination of Ngo Dinh Diem, the first president of South Vietnam. The reason behind American involvement in Vietnam was not entirely unselfish. It was largely inspired by a fear of the spread of Communism and the control of the Soviet Union. The Vietnam War was by all rights a Proxy War- “a war fought through

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