Withdrawal Of Vietnam Essay

United States involvement in Vietnam began as early as 1950. Multiple United States presidents authorized the use of U.S. troops in Vietnam and each had their reasons that they believed were appropriate. From Truman to Johnson, efforts were focused on putting an end towards Communism in the country. The United States believed that if one Southeast Asian country fell to Communism, many would follow. This was called the “domino theory”. Every president had a different approach to prevent the uprising of a Communist regime, all making the situation worse than it had previously been.

Many people felt that this was a war of money that the U.S. didn’t need to interfere in and was being fought by North and South Vietnam, therefore we had no business getting in the middle of it. The United States should've thought of themselves and done what was best for them as a country. When Dwight D. Eisenhower left office, a new President came in with the name John F. Kennedy. JFK warns the American public about “Military Industrial Complex”. This affected Americans because we didn’t want all of Vietnam to become communist. From the beginning, the United States was not aware of what they were getting themselves into. Furthermore, they didn’t understand the nature of the war on who and why they were fighting.

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 brought many changes to the United States in the 1960’s and the 1970’s. Some of the changes were for the better of the country, take the rediscovered Women’s Rights movements and the ever growing Free Speech movements inspired by New Left, while most of the other changes brought on tensions between government and their people. The Domino Theory pushed our leaders to the edge. In order to stop the Domino Theory in Vietnam, the U.S. invaded. The war was useless for the American government to get involved with. Even Robert Kennedy described our presence in Vietnam as ‘... sending a lion to halt an epidemic of jungle rot.’ (Doc E) From new groups forming to rebel, to inflation and loss of trust in the Government, from 1960’s to

1)"Although the some Americans still supported their government policy in Vietnam in 1965, as the war went on, more and more Americans turned against it. The Vietnam War had been described to the US public as one where the richest and most powerful country would have a lot of problems defeating one of the smallest and poorest countries in the world. The protests against the war started

1)During the Cold War, Europe was divided and faced three consequences (results). One consequence that occurred in Europe was that the US helped create NATO which composed the western allies. The second consequence is that the Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact with allies from Eastern Europe. Finally, the third consequence is that a line was formed between the west and north. This line was called the Iron Curtain.

The Nixon administration was forced to de-escalate the war in Vietnam. The antiwar movement fueled US troop withdraws from Vietnam. Through his ‘Vietnamization' program, President Nixon entailed withdrawing American troops and strengthening the South Vietnam's army. Nixon hoped to calm domestic opposition to the conflict and thereby buy time for his effort to a force favorable outcome to the war. The antiwar movement accomplished congressional legislation that cut off U.S. funds for the war. Wells,

Protesters had lost their faith in Nixon’s ability to keep his promise of ending the war. Years into the conflict, when he decided to expand into Cambodia, the protesters were outraged. The Vietnam War was costing lives and money, and no one knew exactly what they were supposed to be fighting for, and if the United States was winning. They were incredibly confused, because they had been led to believe the war would be brief against an inferior opponent, such as the North Vietnamese. At home, the draft was drawing more and more young men away from their lives into an uncertain future, and college deferments had been ended. After 15 years, people were angry and tired of this conflict, and they lost trust in Nixon, with his continual misleading of the public. They wanted it to end, and many had trusted Nixon with that endeavor, when he had run for president on the promise of ending the war. However, instead of keeping his campaign promise, he grew the war’s size to include more boundaries, and with that, more American soldiers. The dissenters of his administration felt voiceless and angry.

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.

Nixon presidency the United States decided to bring forth the “Vietnamization” policy. A strategy that pledge to strengthen the South Vietnamese military by training them and eventually reducing the United States combat troops until complete withdrawal. Nixon believed this negotiation would give the give them “a better, shorter path to peace”. Although, the United States had cut all military supplies and funding to South Vietnam resulting in a lack of funds to buy equipments such as bullet, bombs, rockets, weapons etc.. In addition the gradual removal of troops made matters worse. It left South Vietnam without the proper equipments and trained troops to succeed. By 1973, the Paris Peace Accords was signed to establish peace in Vietnamese and end

Nixon believed the war needed to be stopped and the people agreed. History stated that “The increasingly unpopular war had created deep divisions in American society.” Many people had different views on the war. Some believed that the US should be using different tactics. Also, many US soldiers were dying, around 211,454 casualties.

In 1963, the United States sent in 2,000 military advisors to support the South Vietnamese government in the war (Digital History). At the beginning of the war, many Americans believed that defending South Vietnam from communist aggression was in the country’s favor, although as the war continued, that opinion drastically changed (“The Antiwar Movement”). In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson escalated the war by starting air strikes on North Vietnam. Later on in the war, the 1968 Tet Offensive turned many Americans against the war. This was a large series of attacks resulting in many South Vietnamese and American casualties (Digital History). President Richard Nixon served from 1969 to 1974 and when he was inaugurated the nation was deeply divided by the war and over what was going to happen next. As the war continued more and more Americans grew impatient over the increasing amount of casualties and escalating costs throughout the war. There were large gatherings of anti-war protesters that helped bring attention to the public resentment of the US involvement in the Vietnam War. By the late 1960s, peaceful demonstrations became violent and the anti-war movement was rapidly growing (“The Antiwar Movement”). Protests across the country were part of opposition against the military draft and US

I chose the redemptions cycle method for John Kerry anti- war speech on Vietnam. The redemption cycle works perfectly for this speech. During the 1954-1975, it was an integral part in Americans history. There are three stages of the redemptions cycle, from Guilt, Purification, and Redemption is the result of Kenneth Burke’s dramatistic process. This period went through the entire course to setting up the Redemption cycle, step by step.

America entered the Vietnam War on December 11, 1961 when U.S troops arrived in the capital of Saigon. Vietnam soldiers retaliated and the first battle of the infamous Vietnam war commenced. The war ended in 1976 when President Nixon called for the withdrawal of American troops in Vietnam. Losing the war completely changed American political and social life. The U.S paid an extreme political cost for the Vietnam War. The war weakened public faith in government and promoted a cynicism and a high degree of distrust toward politicians. Another major impact of the Vietnam War that greatly affects the U.S till this day was the anti-war movement. The anti-war movement was a campaign against U.S engagement in war. Anti-war marches and other protests attracted a widening base of support. Even political leaders supported the anti-war movement. Congress took extreme measures to prevent further violence in the U.S. Congress repealed the draft and Congress attacked the "imperial" presidency through the War Powers Act, restricting a president's ability to send American forces into combat without explicit Congressional approval. The Vietnam War left a scar on U.S and taught Americans a valuable lesson, that war and violence should avoided at all

In 1958, Communist-led guerrillas, eventually known as the Viet Cong, began to battle the government of the South Vietnamese. The United States then sent 2,000 military advisors t support South Vietnam’s government. This number grew to 16,3000 by 1963. The military force slowly deteriorated. By 1963 the fertile Mekong Delta was lost to the overpowering Viet Cong. The war rose in 1965, when President Johnson issued commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and ground forces, which had risen to 536,000 by 1968. The Tet Offensive by North Vietnam turned many Americans against the waging war. President Nixon, following Johnson, promoted Vietnamization, the withdrawing of American troops and handing over the great responsibility of the war to South Vietnam. Protesting of the war dramatically increased, especially after Nixon’s attempt to slow North Vietnam forces and supplies into the South by sending American forces to destroy supply bases in Cambodia in 1970, which violated Cambodian neutrality. This provoked antiwar protests on many of the United Stats’ college campuses. In 1968 through 1973 attempts were made to end the ongoing conflict through diplomacy. Then in January 1973, an agreement was reached. U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam and the U.S. POWs were released. In April 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was once again united. The Vietnam War ended, but it took the lives of 58,000