Why the United States Became Increasingly Involved in the War in 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.

During the first three years of the war, the US began to finance the French and so Ho Chi Minh was ultimately forced to seek support from the Soviet Union and China, confirming US fears. Although the French were being supported by the United States, the Vietminh of the north was being equipped with weapons by China and the Soviet Union, who were both communist. The French greatly underestimated the force of the Vietminh, who used guerrilla warfare tactics against the conventional tactics of the French. In 1954, the weakening French army experienced a breaking defeat after surrendering a siege of 55 days at Dien Bien Phu. This fractured the French morale to continue fighting the Vietminh; they could not comprehend such a small nation had defeated a renowned European power.

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.

Exploring the Reasons for United States' Involvement in Vietnam 1. US involvement in Vietnam The US wanted to stop communist expansion into South Vietnam after successfully stopping them from capturing South Korea but President Eisenhower could not get the support of the people. Therefore he used a different way i.e. sending a team of 12 intelligence agents under Colonel Edward Lansdale to win over the South Vietnamese people by spreading lies about the Ho Chi Minh government killing political opponents and the presence of Chinese communists in South Vietnam. Besides that colonel Lansdale also employed mercenaries to sabotage North Vietnam and boost up the image of President Diem.

“On October 17, 1973, Arab oil producers declared an embargo that drastically limited the shipment of oil to the United States” (OPEC 1). Arab countries refused to sell oil to the United States because of the Yom Kippur War, a war between Egypt and Israel. In this war, United states was backing up Israel by supporting them and giving them weapons, which angered Arab leaders. Arabs started limiting the shipment of oil to the United States. The embargo, however, brought crisis to the US with unequal proportions. US citizens were very panicky because of the shortage of gas and oil. Ultimately, the US economy slowed down, leaving its’ citizens to to be dependent on domestic resources. Shipment of oil in the country dropped by 1 million barrels,

Before the famous Vietnam war started, America promised we would keep communism from taking over. When Eisenhower and Kennedy were in office they continued to supply weapons, funds, and military advisors to South Vietnam. America stepped in when North Vietnam began to take over South Vietnam. We stepped in to help South Vietnam because they are our allies and they couldn't take on North Vietnam alone. This action taken by the United States government to step in created many problems within our own country.

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.

The Vietnam War also referred to as the Second Indochina War in the East Asia region was a war that many in the United States felt was unnecessary. However during four separate presidential terms the Commander and Chief of the United States made a decision that America’s involvement was necessary. Were these decisions for the betterment of the United States and its allies or a show of how big of a military power house the United States had become?

Franklin D. Roosevelt served as the presidents of The United States of America who leading America though the great depression and the only prime minister who were elected to more than two term in office. During World War II Roosevelt met the soviet leader Josef Stalin which was an important ally but often problematic against Nazi Germany which later Roosevelt negotiated with Josef Stalin and Winston Churchill at Yalta 1945, which failed to establish a framework for peaceful post WW2 cooperation between the soviet and the west.

Why the United Sates Became Increasingly Involved in the Vietnam War The United States became involved in the war in Vietnam for many reasons. The main reason of which is the Cold War. No fighting between the two countries actually took place due to both countries owning nuclear weapons which were used as a deterrent but got at each other by involving themselves in the issues of other countries that had a knock on effect on each other. The Cold War was a war that initiated between the US and Russia after World War two.

in 1965, the first American combat troops arrived in Vietnam. Each year the number of troops conscripted to fight in Vietnam continued to grow until y 1968, there were millions of American troops who were fighting there. Australia and New Zealand decided to also send their troops in an attempt to stop a communist takeover. Between 1965 and 1972, the US air force had launched a massive bombing campaign, which was known as Operation Rolling Thunder. The Ho Chi Minh trail was bombed in order to destroy the vegetation which hid the supply routes, a defoliant was used, and it was called Agent Orange, this then caused environmental damage. They also bombed 'strategic targets' in North Vietnam which caused a large number of civilian deaths and also

The different beliefs caused a lot of problems for example the Vietnamese War that started on November 1, 1955 and ended on April 30, 1975. The Vietnamese War was also known as Resistance War against America. It occurred in Vietnam and Cambodia. The leader for the north was Ho Chi Minh and the South was Ngo Dinh Diem. The US supported the south of Vietnam and the USSR supported the north of Vietnam. The reason USA got involved in the War because they didn’t wanted the part of the world falling under the communist influence. The USA also got involved because they wanted to help the Northern side of Vietnam that was led by Ho Chi Minh. Both the countries knew that they can’t have an all-out nuclear war so they decided to cause problems in Vietnam.

The more involved the United States became in the Vietnam War, the more money the government spent on the military. This left less money available for Johnson's Great Society. Many American citizens were against increased U.S. involvement in Vietnam. America lost territory after some attacks, and it took them weeks to regain. Americans started to distrust the government.

Why USA Became Involved in Vietnam Before the Second World War, the region between India and China which now includes Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos was part of the French Empire. During the Second World War, however, Japan controlled Vietnam. After the war, the French tried to take over again but a communist group, the Vietminh wanted independence.