Us Involvement In The Vietnam War

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.

The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or ‘Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.

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.

Another reason American adults were against the war was because of the weapons and strategic tactics used in the war. As stated in “Weapons of the Vietnam War”, Weapons used in the Vietnam War were more mortifying than in any other war. The communist side (the Soviet Union) used not only your standardized weapons, but they also used toxic chemicals and explosives (History.com). South Vietnam was in real trouble, the American-manufactured weapons were no match to the devastating weapons that the communists used. Back at the homefront, people were horrified when they caught wind of what was happening out in battle, this egged on more protests. In accordance with “Vietnam War Protests”, The SDS organized more Anti-war marches and other protests after the United States retaliated on North Vietnam by beginning to bomb them (History.com). The cost of materials were going up and it was getting more expensive to make the bombs and other weapons, the U.S. was putting a whole $25 billion a year into manufacturing these supplies. This upset Americans not just on a moral level anymore, but also on an economic level; the government

The Vietnam War was devastating time for not just America, but worldwide. This War lead to 1 million, four hundred and fifty thousand casualties from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. This devastating number only increased when you also take into account the other side, the Americans, with more than 50,000 casualties. One may argue that a major reason the Vietnam War occurred was due to the disagreement between the Soviet Reds and the Great Uncle Sam after World War 2. The Reds wanted to spread communism, this left Americans not too pleased because they were capitalist. They did not believe in communism. The U.S. got involved in the Vietnam War to help countries stay free, and to contain communism, but the American people were not pleased about the government decision.

Throughout the 1960s, the Vietnam War created anger and hatred towards government officials. Some people believed that there was no good reason for the United States to go to war with Vietnam. However, the opposing side argued that one of the main reasons that factored into our involvement with the war was our obligation to stop the spread of communism. Presidents such as Lyndon B. Johnson, "reiterated the 'domino ' theory that presumed that when one nation succumbed to 'communism, ' the others were likely to follow” (Campbell). Should the United States have gone to war with North Vietnam? For anti-war protesters, the obvious reason was no; however, for the majority of government officials, the answer was yes.

Though out history, American has had its hand in conflict with other countries. Some of those conflicts have turned out into wars. Looking back at America’s “track record” with war, America has a worthy past of having its citizen’s support. Obviously the two World Wars we not controversial. The United States in the Korean War was criticized, fairly, for its strategy, but the need to defend South Korea was never questioned. In only the Vietnam War was the United States’ very participation criticized. This is such a gigantic change with prior wars that it bears study as to why it happened, and better yet, should have it happened. This paper will discuss the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, by asking the simple question, Should have the Untied States’ gotten involved into the first place. This paper will prove that in fact, America should have not gotten involved with the Vietnam War.

thousand plus killed, many were blameless citizens who wished not to be involved. The attacks were just fruitless, and it should be clear to Americans about how hypocritical their government is acting and reacting.

America is a country which always told the citizens of their country that they will do anything to save the citizens of any country; they had the belief in spreading freedom and democracy internationally. Meaning that when they intervened the situation in Vietnam, they were actually stopping the elections, because it would cause too much harm to the people of Vietnam, but instead the United States were not protecting the Vietnamese people, rather they were harming them. Not only did the U.S. prevent the Vietnamese from taking part in elections, but during the course of the war, civilian fatalities were treated as horribly. Because the North-Vietnamese forces were peasants, just like the civilians, they were very difficult to tell apart. There are recorded cases of entire villages of being examined because of suspicion of the communist from North Vietnam. America’s commitment of saving citizens was not as pure as it seemed, they caused a lot

The United States went to with North Vietnam to stop the spread of communism. One example of this is President Harry Truman’s address to the congress. This document shows that there is a good and a bad way of living;Truman tells the congress that communism is the bad way of living and it is the United States job to stop the spread of it. Another example of Truman’s reasoning for fighting was his address at a dinner of the Civil Defense Conference. At the dinner he states that if they do not stop communism in North Vietnam it would cause the domino theory. This is if communism stays at one place, other countries will think it is good and become communist too. That means if they don't stop Vietnam the bad way of living will spread.

Former Secretary of State and Vietnam veteran John Kerry said it best when he stated “In our opinion and from our experience, there is nothing in South Vietnam which could happen that realistically threatens the United States of America” and “To attempt to justify the loss of one American life in Vietnam, Cambodia, or Laos…is to us the height of criminal hypocrisy which we feel has torn the country apart” (Goldstein). This statement stands true with many Americans as the Vietnam War was the most opposed and debatable war in the history of the United States. The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War began 1954 and ended in 1975 and was a direct result of the First Indochina War in which France claimed Vietnam as a colony (Mintz, McNeil). The war ended in 1954 following a French defeat in the battle of Dien Bien Phu (Marlantes, history.net) which resulted in Indochina’s independence, and the division between North and South Vietnam. America’s involvement heightened in the war in 1954 in an attempt to stop the spread of communism (Mintz, McNeil). In fact, the United States had the largest military presence in the war and basically directed the war from 1965 to 1968 (Mintz, Mcneil). This battle against communism led to one of the longest wars in American history, and one of the bloodiest conflicts America has ever seen; thus, leading to outrage and protests in streets of Washington D.C. The Vietnam War is considered one of the most controversial wars in the history of

Vietnam was the site of one of the most brutal and destructive wars and America’s self-proclaimed liberators and protectors of democracy. Fighter of liberty and equality both at home and abroad is the reason why American intervenes. President Johnson Administration thought that United States authority in Vietnam was the way to make sure and prevent the spread communism to Vietnam and any other nation states to. To show that United States is will to go to war to communism at all cost. The Vietnam War had cost United Sates so much, untold billions of dollars spent as well, but what make matter worse is the thousands of American lives taken by 1967 growing numbers of Americans were becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the war, the increasingly

The Vietnam War was a typical proxy war that occurred during the cold war period. It involved both the Soviet Union and the United States and in some ways China was also involved. The American involvement in the Vietnam War started just like most proxy wars do. President Truman and President Eisenhower sent military advisers to the region along with economic aid to support the French and South Vietnamese in their actions against the North Communists. Eventually, more and more aid and military advisors were sent to Vietnam under President Kennedy, who believed that the war was the place to help restore American Credibility. Kennedy was a strong believer that he as President had to contain communism and in his first speech as President he

April 1955 was the birth of a critical turning point made in history. The first ever Afro-Asian conference in Bandung was established by the newly independent Asian and African countries. President Ahmed Sukarno advocated human rights, the elimination of colonialism, nuclear weapons as well as making peace among Afro-Asian countries. (T) The Bandung conference stood as an advocate for world peace and unity but instead caused more division and destruction among U.S and European Nations. This paper analyzes (a) the reaction of US Cold Ward policies of containment against Ahmed Sukarno’s motivation to continue the spread on communism, (b) the cuban revolution which involved military and nuclear forces and (c) Nato, the formation of allies after the second world war.