US Involvement In The Vietnam War: A Case Study

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.

The American involvement in the Vietnam War was a very controversial decision, with many people being for the war, however many people in the United States were also against the war. The Vietnam War was the longest lasting war in the United States history, before the Afghanistan War, in which most people felt strongly about, be them United States citizens, Vietnamese citizens, or just the global population. In order to better understand the ideas of those American citizens that are either for or against the war, one would have to look at the reasons that the United States was involved in the war, the impact of the Vietnam war on the American society, and the impact on the United States foreign policy.

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.

Andrew J. Bacevich was born 1947 in Normal, Illinois. In 1969, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy and served in the Vietnam War for a year from 1970 to 1971. He retired in the early 1990’s with the rank of Colonel after also holding posts in Germany, Persian Gulf, and the United States. He later earned his Ph.D. in American Diplomatic History from Princeton University. He is a professor at Boston University, currently teaching international relations. He is also a retired career officer of the U.S. Army and one of the former directors of Boston University’s Center for International Relations. In 2007, his son, First Lieutenant Andrew Bacevich Jr., who also served in the U.S. Army, was killed in action at the age of 27.

US should not have been involved in the Vietnam War. For one, the US should not have been involved in the Vietnam war because protest were turning violent. They started peaceful and then they turned violent. Movements and protest are now violent because the American Society feels as if their opinions are being ignored or do not matter. Another reason that people don't trust the government now is because of the propaganda and false advertising. The president is telling the people of the US that everything is okay and the war is almost over when it is nowhere near being over. Lastly, war is very costly. The money going to cover the cost of war could be given to innovations, welfare, housing, and many other beneficial things to the people of the US.

Under Truman’s administration, Vietnam was separated by the 16th parallel north. After Hainan Island was captured, he approved the spending of $10 million for military aid to the French in order to prevent the spread of communism in Indochina. After the Korean War, the U.S. started becoming more involved in combating communism. Once President Dwight D. Eisenhower took over, he used the “Domino Theory.” The Domino Theory was an idea that suggests that if one country fell under communist control, neighboring countries would eventually follow. The theory was used to justify U.S. involvement in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. After Kennedy became President, U.S. involvement in Vietnam became much more notable. Before his assassination, Kennedy had increased the amount of military numbers in

The American involvement in Vietnam War began in 1950 with the first shipment of military supplies to the French. (Graham, 2016) The conflict involved over 2.5 million soldiers while 58,183 US personnel were killed and over a span of twenty-four years. Air Defense systems such as the HAWK, Vulcan, Quad 50, and Duster deployed to Vietnam for the protection of assets as well as providing forward area air defense and fire support to ground forces. These systems provided a strategic advantage and deterred the North Vietnamese while maintaining US air superiority. Air defense Soldiers during the war earned more 450 medals for valor and received over 1000 Purple Hearts for their service during the war. (USC ROTC, n.d.)

The United States involvement in the Vietnam War developed into one of the most brutal, yet necessary wars of The Cold War. Although the war was viewed poorly by most, it helped a weak, crumbling South Vietnam stand up to a strong powerful North Vietnam that was forcing communism on them. President Johnson even stated that “Our objective is the independence of South Vietnam and its freedom from attack.” The United States wanted to stop an oppressive government and to make sure the world is a safer, freer place for all people. The Vietnam War was worth fighting for as it sent a message to the world that communism is not the right form of government and that the United States was here to support small nations in dire circumstances. The war

In the beginning, the United States always pushed forth the idea they were becoming involved in the war in Vietnam in order to send out aid to France, who was an ally of theirs. After the United Nations began setting up a plan to help France, the United States suggested splitting up the Communist and Democratic portions of Vietnam, with the communists having control over the North, while the Kennedy administration continued to send military aid to the Southern portions of Vietnam.

The Vietnam War is thought of as one of the most significant events in United States history. It was fought over the course of two decades and three United States presidencies. American involvement in the Vietnam War is one of the most highly debated topics discussed today. The United States began their involvement by supporting the French with one billion dollars per year to assist in containing the chaos in Vietnam. Once the French failed, the United States continued to supply money, firearms, and military advisors to aid the South Vietnamese. Americans remembered their promise to support any country fighting against the spread of communism. That promise was hard to keep when government lies were exposed, the number of American graves grew, and the matter of draft issues became too overwhelming to ignore.

The Vietnam War was a grousing, costly battle that drained our nation morally and psychologically. The war lives infamously with the unpopularity received by America and its people. Many believed that we had no business joining arms with South Vietnam to try and defeat a communist regime of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong. With the war begining in 1954 due to the rise of the North Vietnamese and their leader Ho Chi Minh, an advocate for communism, which put a target on North Vietnam due to America’s pursuit to end communism around the world. By 1969 and the Wars 15th year of existence, more than half a million American soldiers had been involved. Many returning veterans and a large portion of the American public felt bitter about our involvement

The Montagnard had suffer the same consequent as the Native American, the conquer of the land, according to the Degar Foundation “In this way, we have suffered a fate similar to the Native Americans, Australian aboriginals, African Bushmen and other original inhabitants subjected to invasion and exploitation by outsiders.” The same way as the Vietnamese is taking over the land, but the solution in taking back the land is far too risky, due to the fact that; the Montagnard population is dropping. It was once over 3 million during French colonialism, today the race has dwindle to only a few thousand. As the tension between the Montagnard and Vietnam grow the safer place to be is in Cambodia and the neighbor countries.

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.

The U.S. involvement in Vietnam was a failure and should not have been a war the US fought. The United States main objective was to stop communism within Vietnam, considering that Vietnam is still a communist country shows that the involvement did not help to stop communism in Vietnam. The Vietnam War was not only a disaster in Vietnam, the United States was getting a lot of backlash from its citizens. The US was split with pro-war and anti-war opinions that created a lot of protest amongst the citizens. The covering up and lying about the war by president Johnson also caused a lot of distrust between the US citizens and the US government grew. The United States involvement in Vietnam did not only not fail in its main objective, it came at a huge cost in casualties to American and Vietnamese citizens.

“Why? Why was America involved in such brutal war to stop a brand new country from forming? Shouldn 't we support that because that 's what happened to us.” That was my very first question when my grandfather first told me about the most brutal and longest wars America has ever been in, the Vietnam War. America’s involvement in the conflict was to stop the evil and corrupt system of Communism. French forces were dead meat unless America teamed up with them. Unfortunately, this didn 't stop the nonmoral army under Ho Chi Minh. The United Sates did not win the Vietnam War due to strong motivation, Guerrilla warfare, and the political factors in the United States.