US Response To The Vietnam War

The opinion of the public in the United States’ government was affected from the Vietnam War. In the beginning, most of the Americans supported the war but when more conflicts occurred and more troops were shipped the support started to decrease. What began is that some college student movement against the war then it became as a national protest. By the end of 1965, most of the soldiers who had been fighting in the war were drafted into war. Some Americans opposed the draft and believed it is unfair. The Vietnamese war was the first war to be televised instead of writing down news in newspaper

The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longer ones was 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being and essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam war. Another reason was that America wanted to spread their “political ideas around the globe”. They wanted to do this so that their anti-communism stance was clear. The public also wanted to keep communism from spreading. To soldiers, the war was like a crusade, a great journey to purge the communists from Vietnam.

The Vietnam War began in 1954 after years of conflict stretching back to the 1940s between the communist regime of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was attempting to make South Vietnam a communist country; since we are a democracy, the United States opposes the views of communist countries, and because we feared the spread of communism the United States became involved as an ally of South Vietnam. The war ended in 1975, resulting in disastrous effects on Vietnam and America. The assertion of the United States in this war rose controversy among Americans, and I disagree with our involvement in the Vietnam War because of the United States’ reasons to fight.

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.

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.

It was under President Johnson’s presidency that the United Sates sent U.S. troops to enter the Vietnam War. The military troops became involved in the conflict in order to contribute to the salvaging of the country underneath communism; additionally it was also supposed to prevent any further expansion of communism during that time. The French had sent in troops prior to the U.S., but after their retrieval it was the United States turn to contribute actively to the cause with military action (Rosenberg, n.d.).

“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.

In the beginning of the Vietnam War was on the first of November, and war finally ended on April 30th 1975. This Vietnam war was very horrible. Not only was it a hard time for the soldiers but also back home. This war took place in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Even though the war was in Viet Cong against South Vietnam. The United States was the primary ally for South Vietnam. It happened because Communism was threatening to expand all over South-East Asia.

Going over to Vietnam was a decision made by the U.S. government to go over and stop Communist from taking over South Vietnam. This resulted in a long and costly war. Sending over 500,000 Americans over to help fight this Communist battle. According to The Vietnam War Statistics web page, there were only 1,728,344 men drafted but only 38% of the men actually served. The death toll for Americans was up to 58,000 people, meaning that one in every ten people died.

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 end, the United States’ main objective in becoming involved in the Vietnam War was to prevent the spread of communism in the region. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which occurred when North Vietnamese patrol boats fired on an American ship that they had discovered conducting a spy mission off the coast of North Vietnam, current United States President Johnson used the incident to eventually get authority from Congress to send more US troops into Vietnam. Slowly over time, the anti-war sentiment against the Vietnam War continued to grow amongst the American people. Many Americans grew confused as to why we were continuing to be involved in a war that was

The Vietnam War began in 1954 and came to an end in 1975. It was a conflict that set in opposition the communist regime of North Vietnam and the Viet Cong

The Vietnam War took place between 1954 and 1975. The war lasted for 21 years, not including the the time that the country itself was at war. The war started at the interior of the country in 1945, but the U.S. only started to help in 1954. In 1954 the French were prevented from helping Laos by the Vietminh. Years later in 1959, North Vietnam made Group 559 to infiltrate the south for weapons. Then in 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected president. In the same year the Vietcong was formed. In 1965, Operation Rolling Thunder was deployed, and would last for almost 3 years. in 1968, Richard Nixon was elected president, and in the following year, secretly bombed Cambodia with the name Operation Breakfast. in 1973, Paris , represented by Henry Kissinger, signed a cease-fire with Le Duc Tho. Then in 1974, Richard Nixon resigned and US President Gerald Ford gained presidency, then in 1975 he announced that The Vietnam War is finished.

“The American people were pro war due to Cold War propaganda against the US; however, due to conscription of young men the support decreased” (Bottaro, 2012:52). Americans supported the involvement of the US in the Vietnam War because of the propaganda which was against the US due to the Soviet Union. Also, they supported the fact their country was preventing communism take over in Vietnam. However, things changed after conscription of young men to fight and media coverage of the war. “The Vietnam War was complicated by factors that had never before occurred in America of a war, because the American media had come to dominate domestic opinion about its purpose and conduct” (Hallin, 1986:3). Since the Vietnam War was the first ever televised war, Americans and the world were able to see the destruction caused by the US soldiers on Vietnamese land and people. Americans did not understand why the US government allowed soldiers to continue a war America was clearly losing. “Along with the Civil Rights movement campaigns of the 1960s, the anti-war movement was one of the most diverse forces in the 20th- century in US history” (Halstead, 1973:22). Despite the increase in anti-war protest, poverty decline in the economy and the Civil Rights movement situation were happening in the US during this period in America, the government still did not