United States' Involvement in Vietnam Essay

During the Vietnam War, United States involvement was for personal reasons and fear of communism. Neither the United States or the Soviet Union should have been involved. The War was just used as a cover up for the actual silent, passive aggressive war between the United States and the Soviet. The Vietnam war was started by the North “Viet Cong” and their desire to unify Vietnam under communist rule. The South was against communism, making tensions grow until eventually, a war broke out on November 1, 1955. Five years later in the 1960s, the war was escalated with the involvement of foreign countries. While the North was supported by its communist allies such as China and the Soviet Union. The South was supported by the United States of America. The Americans wanted to halt or prolong the spread of communism. The “domino theory” compelled the U.S. to get involved as soon as possible because if not, the rest of Asia would fall to communism like “dominoes”. The U.S. involvement only started with Eisenhower administration when Vietnam split in half. This action of the United States was only for their own well being and their main goal was not for the good of Vietnam. During this time period the Vietnamese had just united and established the state of Vietnam. The war ended up lasting 9 years with long periods of bitter guerrilla warfare in the rugged jungles of Vietnam which would eventually result in the victory of the North and longed unification of Vietnam

The Vietnam War was fought between North Vietnam communists led by their leader Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam anti-communists led by their president Ngo Dinh Diem. North Vietnam was trying to taking over South Vietnam to make it a communist country. That is when the U.S. came knocking on South Vietnam’s door and gave them much needed help in 1950. In Eric Foner’s and John A Garraty’s essay, “Vietnam War,” they explain, “from Washington’s perspective, . . . [a]ny communist anywhere, at home or abroad, was, by definition, an enemy of the United States” because of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “domino theory” (Foner). Eisenhower’s “domino theory,” was a theory that if communists took over Vietnam, they would gradually control all of Southeast Asia. The first aid given by the U.S. was to France. Willbanks explains in his essay that the U.S. provided France, a South Vietnamese ally, $2.6

Fighting in Vietnam started well before the actual “Vietnam War”. The Vietnamese people had been under French rule for several decades until Japan invaded in 1940. In 1941, when Ho Chi Minh came back from his travels there were two foreign powers occupying the Vietnam territory, the French and Japanese. Ho Chi Minh established the Viet Minh in hopes to rid Vietnam of these two powers. On September 2, 1945 the Viet Minh established the Democratic Republic of China after getting support in northern Vietnam. This action spawned the French to fight back to keep control of their colony. Ho Chi Minh wanted support from the United States against the French; he went as far as to supply the United States with information about the Japanese during WWII. The United States kept with their Cold War foreign policy of containment as to prevent the spread of Communism, fearing the “Domino Theory” that said “if one country in Asia fell to Communism then surrounding countries would soon fall”.

The Vietnam War was one of the most outrageous and long-drawn out wars in history. The other name for the Vietnam War was called Cold-Era proxy War. The war had been battled in order to stop the spread of invasion from communism in the southern parts of Vietnam. The American played the role of a supporter to the southern part of Vietnam, trying to prevent communist from approaching the southern part of Vietnam. The Americans was influenced by the French government to help with the war. France did not support communism due to their loss to the communist

The war dragged on from 1946 to 1954. The French had a certain deal of

In the era between the Second World War and the Vietnam War, national unity in the United States and American patriotism began to disintegrate and morph as the nation progressed from the 1940s through the 1970s. During WWII, the United States military fought a foe that the American public, and the world alike, saw as an enemy to the human race, which caused Americans to unify in their efforts to fight in the battle. In contrast, US military actions in Vietnam were not fully backed by the American public or American allies, in which caused many people from the country to lose trust and faith in America. Wars have points that define them. In WWII, it was the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese, which rallied a nation to come together and fight, citizens and soldiers alike. Where as, Vietnam it was the Gulf of Tonkin with North Vietnam, which left many Americans, and soldiers both, confused by the confrontation and unsure of what actions should be taken by their government. Both attacks prompted American officials to make decisions concerning the use of military force, but in each case the attacks appealed differently to American leaders and the American public. In the time period between the two wars the United States military had desegregated its forces. For the first time, African American and white soldiers fought on the front lines together and slept in the same barracks and this caused many African American soldiers to think about the Army differently. Although the

The Vietnam War was an antagonism war that took place in Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia for around 20 years – 1954 to 1975. It was a hostile struggle that not only lasted many years, but also an expensive one. The Vietnam War had radical outcomes for the U.S and the various countries who took part in it. The war was between South Vietnam backed by the United States of America and many other countries that opposed communism ideologies, and North Vietnam backed by China, The Soviet Union and supporters of communism. The reason for the start of the Vietnam War rotates around the notion at that time held by America that communism was extending to all parts of south East Asia. The US government considered American participation in the war as a strategy to preclude a communist seize of South Vietnam. This was a component of a broader restraint strategy, with the declared aim of blocking diffusion of communism and a way to repress nationalist self-determination (Eldridge, 2012, p.18-20).

Before all this chaos happened and Vietnam was divided into two; it was one country ruled by the French in 1945. But with the influence of communism from surrounding countries mostly China at the time, that form of government became stronger in North Vietnam because of the strong presents. The leader/president of Vietnam, declared it an independent country and when this happened many didn’t agree with him and some still wanted to be ruled by the French. So a war between the leader Ho Chi Minh’s followers and the French began in 1946 and that war lasted for eight years; ending only because the French lost a very important battle. (History, 2009)

Since the 19th century, Vietnam had been under French rule. During World War II, Ho Chi Minh was the president who valued the

France was giving Vietnam the independence and self-determination that they were seeking, but the U.S would not agree to that because they could not risk having Vietnam turn communist. Consequently, Eisenhower chose to invent a government in South Vietnam, taking control over the French; thus more evidence that supports French Colonialism. By 1954, the U.S had invested nearly $3 billion dollars in funding France’s effort against the Viet Minh, who rapidly became U.S enemy. Once the Viet Minh became a direct U.S enemy, U.S efforts increased and their involvement grew more. After France’s withdrawal, concern about the stability of the region grew, and the U.S became directly committed to the war in

government believed the cost of sending American troops was too high. The French defence of Dien Bien Phu collapsed in 1954 and soon France surrendered and Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh declared victory. The avoidance of becoming involved in Vietnam is debatable and controversial. The Johnson administration believed it was critical to suppress the spread of communism and it was vital to prevent South Vietnam from coming under North Vietnamese rule (Tucker). Those opposing US involvement believe that the war posed no direct threat to the U.S. and caused great debts, casualties, and social dismay. The war was protested in America and abroad. Steps to winning the war would have been to destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail, which was vital to the survival of the Viet Cong. More strategic bombing sites and setting up North Vietnamese bases would have also contributed to a possible win. The unfavorable public opinion and false media reporting added negative support and riots of the the U.S. involvement in the war. The US ignored faults and corruption of the the SOuth Vietnamese government and if the US recognized reform and gained support of the South Vietnamese people, they had a better chance of winning the war. The complete elimination of the communist party in Vietnam and the success of an establishment of a democracy in Vietnam would have produced a victory and allowed the U.S. to exit the

The Vietnam War came at a time of great social and political unrest in America. It was right in the middle of the Cold War, a fierce worldwide battle between Eastern communism and Western democracy. There was already division going on in America at the time, with events like the red scare in Washington creating a growing fear of worldwide communism. The U.S. involvement in Vietnam began with Harry Truman aiding the French in an imperial war from 1946-1954, which the French eventually lost to the Vietminh. The U.S. once again entered Vietnam in 1965, this time involved in a civil war between the democratic South and the communist North. What ensued was one of the most controversial wars in American history, which had a lasting impact that is still felt today.

The way that the United States got involved with Vietnam was in large part due to the way that we usually get involved in conflicts and disputes; out of a need to proactively or reactively respond to a threat to American interests at home or abroad. True to the times, the threat was communism and it came in the form of a North Vietnamese government led by Ho Chi Minh. The United States was convinced that Minh was wording with China and the Soviets in an attempt to unify Vietnam under a banner of communism (Roark, Johnson, Cohen, Stage, & Hartman, 2012, p.

From 1955 to 1975, a period of twenty years, the Vietnam war, as bloody as any other wars, claimed the lives of more than two million people where a majority of that casualty population was comprised of civilians, 3 million were wounded, and hundreds of thousands of children were left orphans. The war devastated both North and South Vietnam. Initially it was only a minor group of American soldiers serving on Vietnam soil as aid to combat communism. However, by June of 1965, 50,000 American troops had arrived in Vietnam, and by the end of that year, 180,000 Americans were serving there. As American involvement increased abroad, opposition to the war increased at home.

From 1954 to 1975, America fought its longest and costliest war. The Vietnam War created massive disruption to Southeast Asia and tremendous turmoil in American society.