What Was America's 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.

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.

The United States of America seems to always be searching for conflict with other countries. If one looks at history, he or she can see the United States “sticking their nose in other peoples’ business,” which seems to cause conflict. Former president Richard M. Nixon once said, “No event in American History is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.” One can take this quote into consideration and realize that the truth was not all there. The United States involvement in the Vietnam War can be argued as a good thing or a bad thing; however, the bad definitely outweighs the good.

Like a moth to a flame, the United States has always been attracted to international affairs. In this particular case communism in Vietnam was the flame that leered American bugs in, not knowing that they would be brutally burned by communism in the end. From 1953 to 1961, all the initial decisions involving Vietnam were made by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who once served as the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe as well as the first Supreme Commander of NATO. Thus, Eisenhower was very knowledgeable about war issues and was prepared to tackle pending conflicts and avert the dispersal of communism when he came into office. Communism was an immense fear of this great patriot, who witnessed to the “Red Scare” during the

History Controlled Assessment : Part A – Explain why the USA was involved in the conflict in Vietnam during Eisenhower’s Presidency

The U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War helped for the South Vietnamese for a while,

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.

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.)

Throughout history, there have been multiple wars that have all contributed to build the society we live in today. An example of one of these wars is the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War occurred between 1962 and 1975, and was fought between communist North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. United States was one of the nations that was involved in the conflict, and as a result, suffered due to its involvement. It is still argued today why America was involved in the war, and is believed to be because of their fear of the “domino theory” and the idea that Communism would spread from nation to nation. United States suffered socially, economically and politically, and the impacts of their involvement include suffering veterans and American

“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.

The Vietnam War (1955-1975), was a conflict between the communist north and the United States backed south. This war claimed over 3,000,000 lives including an estimated 58,000 Americans and over half of the remaining being Vietnamese civilians. The American population would divide over opinions of U.S. involvement in this conflict and lead to many protests and civil unrest. Throughout the course of this war, the Air Defense Artillery was a cornerstone of U.S. force’s capability and helped shift the tide of battle significantly. This paper will discuss the history of the war, some major conflicts that occurred and the ADAs role during this war.

The Vietnam War caused a spike in American deaths in the 1960’s. Even more Vietnamese citizens died due to United States troops. Children in South Vietnam wandered the streets as they yell for their dead parents. Soldiers lose their sanity over seas and kill there own United States soldiers. Even though the government told citizens the war would be over soon, the war seemed like a never ending battle full of ruthless killings and long suffering deaths.

In 1965, the United States of America officially enter the war against North Vietnam. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident where North Vietnamese attacked two U.S. ships on August 2nd and 4th, 1964, this event was a chance for U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to give authority for U.S. to enter war in Vietnam. United State involvement in Vietnam War was an approach to seize the communist aggression. A campaign authorized by President Johnson called “Operation Rolling Thunder” which started on February 24th, 1965 is a series of extensive bombing directed towards the North Vietnamese predicted to be eight weeks long until the North Vietnamese surrender to U.S. power. However, this campaign lasted two years longer than expected.

United States Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy had spent millions of dollars to aid the non-communist South Vietnamese. Before 1964 thousands of American military advisers were training and assisting the South Vietnamese army. President Lyndon B. Johnson’s decision to bomb North Vietnam put the United States in the center of the longest war in the nations history. The Vietcong (North Vietnamese) grew more aggressive after the incident at the Gulf of Tonkin. On November 1964, they attacked the American base at Bien Hoa and destroyed five B-57 jets while damaging twenty more. Since the increase of tension with the Vietcong continued, draft calls had increased substantially in the United States and American casualties were being felt across the country.