The World War II Hero And Late Five Star General Douglas Macarthur Essay

In her book The Vietnam Wars, 1945-1990, author Marilyn Young examines the series of political and military struggles between the United States and Vietnam, a nation that has been distinctively separated as the South and the North. Young chooses to express the daily, weekly, monthly progresses of the affairs collectively called the Vietnam Wars, focusing on the American interventions in the foreign soil. She seeks to provide an answer to a question that has haunted the world for years: What was the reason behind the United States interfering in the internal affairs of a foreign country in which it had no claims at all? Young discloses the overt as well as covert actions undertaken by the U.S. government officials regarding the foreign affairs with Vietnam and the true nature of the multifaceted objectives of each and every person that’s involved had.

During the Lyndon Baines Johnson presidential administration, both those policy makers who supported America’s involvement in Vietnam and those who opposed the war were part of the “containment generation.” They had reached political maturity during World War II and the early years of the Cold War and had experienced the intense anticommunism of the McCarthy era of the early 1950s. These leaders understood and applied the lessons of American nationalism, which had the primary message that the U.S. was the dominating nation that had to embrace its responsibility to aid and improve nations in America’s image. Therefore, when they saw that there was a threat of the spread of communism to areas of Southeast Asia, a majority of the

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.

Douglas MacArthur was a US soldier, born in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. The son of a Union army hero during the Civil War (they are the only father and son to win the Congressional Medal of Honor) and a mother ambitious for his success, he trained at West Point (1903), rose steadily in the army, and demonstrated his bravado on a secret mission to Mexico (1914). In World War 1 he commanded a brigade in combat in France (1918), where he earned a reputation for bravery (wounded three times) as well as foppery - he carried a muffler and a riding crop into the line, but not a helmet or a gas mask. After serving as the superintendent of West Point (1919–22), he completed his second tour of duty in the Philippines.

General Douglas Macarthur was one of the most well known military figures in the history of the United States. He gave his farewell speech to congress on 19th April 1951 and went into retirement after 52 years of service in the United States army. He was given the chance to address his final message to the US government. This analysis carefully examines his ethics, goals, strategies, strengths and weaknesses. The speech is very famous and highly popular among the American audience. Therefore, we will take into account all factors to critically evaluate the speech and find out what makes it important.

For centuries the Vietnamese people resisted being controlled by their powerful Chinese neighbors. They struggled to unify their country as an independent state. Ultimately they freed themselves from China 's claim for control of political authority and achieved national unity only to fall victim to French imperialism (Anderson 1). French ruled Vietnam and neighboring kingdoms as colonies from the nineteenth century to the twentieth century. Japanese occupation of Southeast Asia during World War II influenced the Vietminh war against the French in 1945. September 2nd, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declares independence from French rule shortly after Japans surrender from World War II (www.history.com). France 's rule over its colony was incredibly brutal and exploitative (Anderson 6). French colonialism deprived the Vietnamese of their political independence, and it impoverished many of the Vietnamese people (Anderson 7). Many villagers lost their lands and became low-paid plantation

The War in Vietnam remains to be a blemish of American foreign policy today and remains as a crisp thought to those who lived it. As the decades pass away through the sands of time, historians and civilians alike further their wonder of who was truly responsible for this calamity. Verily, this war was the full responsibility of Lyndon Johnson because he failed to learn from former presidents of why fighting was happening, he accrued some of Kennedy’s inept advisors and, he was selfish in terms of the reason why he gave the approval for war.

War is often seen as a sensitive and debatable topic and one of the most controversial wars to have ever been fought was the Vietnam War. In Lyndon B, Johnson’s “Speech on Vietnam (September 29.1967)” and Martin Luther King’s speech, “Why I am opposed to the War in Vietnam” we are offered two different perspectives on this matter. While Johnson provides reasoning on why we should fight the war, it is King’s speech that shows a more compassionate side to Vietnam that I agree with.

In the mid-1960s, Lyndon B. Johnson tacked his name onto a long list of U.S. presidents presiding over conflict in Vietnam. More so than his predecessors, however, President Johnson’s involvement was arguably more significant, because he was the first U.S. president to commit the United States to a ground war in Vietnam. His escalation of the war in early-1965 came as a surprise to many, considering his pledge to deescalate the conflict during the 1964 election campaign against Republican Barry Goldwater. However, in analyzing declassified executive documents, the Johnson Administration had, by the summer of 1964, decided that escalation in Vietnam was the only course of action which could feasibly end the conflict and establish stability in the region. Following President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Johnson felt it necessary to continue his predecessor’s legacy in Vietnam, although his reasons for doing so were less refined than were Kennedy’s. Unconfident in foreign affairs, Johnson was assured in one thing: his alarmist views on the spread of communism. Spurred on by the criticism of his contemporary Republican opponents, Johnson took a hardline stance at the beginning of his presidency, declaring that he would do whatever necessary to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, understanding that a withdrawal from Vietnam would undercut the legitimacy of U.S. foreign commitments, Johnson—albeit reluctantly—ignored the suggestions of political

“The war in vietnam is but a symptom of a far deeper malady within the American spirit.” Martin Luther King, Jr. once said. The Vietnam War was considered one of America’s greatest defeats of all time. Not only did the US failed to stop the spread of communism, but they also embarrassed this country as a whole with the outcome of this war. The overall outcome from this war will be remembered for years to come. In this essay, I will be talking about how the United States would have won the Vietnam war if the home front was for the war, if the the US was more familiar with the land, and the U.S.’s goal was not successful.

The Vietnam War, once called “the most disastrous of all America’s undertakings over the whole 200 years of history” by George Kennan (Brinkley, p. 773) was a war where the United States entered to support South Vietnam. The goal was to help South Vietnam maintain an anticommunist government. What began as providing aid, turned into intervention, and then full-fledged involvement. In the beginning, few Americans protested America’s involvement in the war, however this drastically changed as time continued. Peace

Both Robert Buzzano and Randall Woods present excellent interpretations of American foreign policy in Vietnam. What we need to look at closely is the goals that are set by the U.S., as well as their expected goals. When starting our comparison we are forced to realize that John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson had two very different approaches to Vietnam. Many attribute LBJ as the reason we even went into Vietnam. However what remains is another instance of America trying to protect the world from communism. Woods tells us that, “Johnson was an unbelievably intelligent person. His capacity to absorb information and analyze it was amazing. He was a very earthy and profane man, but he also was very much a liberal Christian.” This becomes a more popular argument however that Wood expands on.

The Vietnam War plunged the United States in an ever-increasing dilemma of how to exit what seemed to be an unwinnable war against a formidable foe without losing honor and respect in the global community. In a comparison of two essays regarding America’s involvement in Vietnam, the authors offer different perspectives on the war and what led to an America defeat. In the first essay, the effects of the 1968 Tet Offensive are examined and what impact it had on American policy and public opinion about the war effort. Likewise, the second essay examines the role the news media played in the war effort and what effect they had, if any, on official and public opinion, domestically and internationally.

The Vietnam War was, and still is highly controversial. Whether or not the United States should have entered the war is still up for debate. However, when considering the war’s impact, it seems quite clear that the nation shouldn’t have. 1967 was a time when many Americans were heavily divided not just over America’s involvement and action in Vietnam but also about their values and morals. It was in this year that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his speech “Beyond Vietnam” in which he provides exceptional reasoning for ending the war, and a call to action for Americans to fix not only the damages of war in Vietnam, but also in their own country. After reading his speech, it is very clear why the United States should have stayed out of

The Vietnam War and Era has been a strange configuration of differing parts. So many differing parts that more often than not Historians struggle to find a way to accurately make sense of this behemoth of history. In an effort to make sense of Vietnam, it must first be segmented. Unlike previous military consumed eras, the Vietnam era has no general consensus for long. It must be fragmented by topic, antiwar, politics, soldier’s perspective, cultural changes on the home front, and military engagements. But then it must also be split based on the years in which change is not occurring.