United States Involvement In Vietnam

In both situations the U.S found themselves in an undeclared war with other

“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.

“You could never tell who was the enemy was … therefore you treated everyone with suspicion”- Thomas Giltner, US Soldier “Contested Spaces”The foreign US soldiers had no knowledge of the geography of Vietnam (jungles, mountains, rainforests, and climate) but the VC did, and used it to their advantage. The US, by engaging in massive firepower, killing many non-combatants, destroyed the US credibility in the minds of the people. The VC sympathised with the people’s hardships and this was effective as they won the people over. The VC had extensive knowledge of guerrilla warfare, it was their war, and the US fought tractional conventional warfare which did have some effected, but eventually the US ran out of will. The military operations were

A) President Kennedy intended to carry on with his predecessor's policy of supporting Diem's South Vietnam government as he believed in the Domino Theory. The full of South Vietnam world lead to the fall of Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Philippines, New Zealand and Australia. Kennedy increased aid to South Vietnam to enable them to increase the strength of their army from 150,000 to 170,000. He also increased the number of military advisers by 100 in order to train South Vietnam army. In 1962 the Strategic Hamlet programme was introduced.

The Vietnam War loomed predominantly over three U.S. presidencies. When John F. Kennedy came to the presidency, he immediately inherited Dwight Eisenhower’s commitment to assist Saigon in its struggle

Up until this event Johnson’s foreign policy was quite similar to Kennedy’s, whereas after the resolution his new foreign policies deepened the U.S. involvement in Vietnam to a much larger extent. The effects could be seen shortly after the resolution, as immediate increases in military assistance were ordered, causing some 25,000 American combat troops in Vietnam by 1964. Additionally, by the spring of 1965 there were constant American aerial raids on North Vietnam, which was a part of an operation, called “Rolling Thunder”. Johnson and his advisors greatly supported this operation in the hope of damaging North Vietnam’s war-making infrastructure and its lines of supply. This operation which emerged from the Tonkin resolution also set Johnson’s foreign policy apart from Kennedy’s. It was the first sustained U.S. military operation in Vietnam, which demonstrated Johnson’s greater military commitment to Vietnam. This trend of continuously sending more and more American troops continued, which can be clearly seen when Johnson finally decided in July of 1965 for an open-ended military commitment. Johnson was able to completely Americanize the war and rush thousands of ground troops into Vietnam. This can be especially seen when comparing the maximum number of Kennedy’s military advisors of 16,000 by November 1963 with Johnson’s 500,000 American troops in Vietnam by 1968. Although

The escalation of US involvement in Vietnam was due to several decisions that were inherited, and subsequently exasperated, by the Johnson administration. The Gulf of Tonkin in 1965 played a large role in the justification to escalate the war and served as an opportunity for Johnson to show that he was tuff and could be trusted to protect

Kennedy (1961-1963) became the 35th President of the United States. President Kennedy was liked by most and viewed as a defender of freedom and civil rights in America and abroad. President Kennedy believed in the Domino Effect President Eisenhower described and increased the amount of American advisors, arms, and equipment being provided to the South Vietnamese. Kennedy believed that when the South Vietnamese defeated the North it would be a substantial victory and help strengthen the political reform in the region and stop the spread of communist rule. In Kennedy’s own words he stated “Vietnam represents the cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia, the keystone to the arch, the finger in the dike. Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be threatened if the Red Tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam.” President Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas before having the chance to complete his plans for the Southeast Asia

When a attack on a US navel ship though to be by the North Vietnamese, things were forced to escalate. Because of this President Johnson was forced to send troop into the

The Vietnam War, which occurred in the period of 1961 to 1975, proved to be an event that evoked antiwar activity amongst American citizens due to foreign policies of involvement that only brought domestic chaos thus leading to mistrust of the government and presidential authority

The mission was to eliminate all Vietcong and the soldiers were more than willing because in their eyes someone had to answer for the deaths of their deceased allies.

In this coursework essay, I am aiming to explain why the United States of America became increasingly involved in the Vietnam conflict between the years 1945 and 1966. During this time, America had five different presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.

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.

The United States intervention in Vietnam is seen by the world as America’s greatest loss and longest war. Before the start of the war in Vietnam, the thought of the United States losing this war was unheard of because America was technologically superior, no country in south East Asia could contend with them. Lyndon B. Johnson announced that he would not be the president to allow South East Asia to go Communist . Why the United States lost the war has been a huge debate since the end of the war, because there were so many factors affecting why they lost; the war was a loss politically, after losing support from not only the American public but also the South Vietnamese and losing a political mandate for the war by 1973, when the last

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