What Led The United States Into The Vietnam War?

Hess argues that the threat of the USSR and Communism “left the US no choice but to stand up to the challenge posed by Vietnam”. Direct confrontation was impossible as the USSR was a nuclear power, therefore the only choice available was “a policy of containment”; previous success in Korea gives validity to this view. Hess states Vietnam was the centre of the “Domino Theory”, that a communist Vietnam “would inexorably lead to the collapse of other non-communist states”. All communist states were believed to be puppets of the USSR so an increase in Soviet allies would tip the global power balance against the US.

The Vietnam war, which occurred November 1, 1955 – April 30, 1975, was a major loss

During the Lyndon Baines Johnson presidential administration, both those policy makers who supported America’s involvement in Vietnam and those who opposed the war were part of the “containment generation.” They had reached political maturity during World War II and the early years of the Cold War and had experienced the intense anticommunism of the McCarthy era of the early 1950s. These leaders understood and applied the lessons of American nationalism, which had the primary message that the U.S. was the dominating nation that had to embrace its responsibility to aid and improve nations in America’s image. Therefore, when they saw that there was a threat of the spread of communism to areas of Southeast Asia, a majority of the

As communism began to spread steadily and gain more and more attention, Americans became immensely concerned in what most saw as a detrimental threat. President Eisenhower only added to the hysteria by outlining the Domino Theory: the theory that a political event, in this case referring to the spread communism, in one country will cause a similar turn of events in neighboring countries, like a falling domino that causes an entire row to fall down. Although the Vietnam War is seen by many as the only option to try to end the spread of communism, the specious outcome of the war was not effective enough to justify the amount of unethical decisions and situations that were allowed to take place. In 1961, under President Kennedy, 100 Special Forces troops were sent to South Vietnam and by 1963, just two years later, U.S military advisors and Special Forces had increased to 21,000 troops. We will soon see that this is just the beginning and in my paper I will outline the full record of events all the way to the end of the war, including the reasons for U.S involvement, unethical decisions that were made, America 's effort to end the war, and the lasting impact the war had on the United States.

In the mid-1960s, Lyndon B. Johnson tacked his name onto a long list of U.S. presidents presiding over conflict in Vietnam. More so than his predecessors, however, President Johnson’s involvement was arguably more significant, because he was the first U.S. president to commit the United States to a ground war in Vietnam. His escalation of the war in early-1965 came as a surprise to many, considering his pledge to deescalate the conflict during the 1964 election campaign against Republican Barry Goldwater. However, in analyzing declassified executive documents, the Johnson Administration had, by the summer of 1964, decided that escalation in Vietnam was the only course of action which could feasibly end the conflict and establish stability in the region. Following President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Johnson felt it necessary to continue his predecessor’s legacy in Vietnam, although his reasons for doing so were less refined than were Kennedy’s. Unconfident in foreign affairs, Johnson was assured in one thing: his alarmist views on the spread of communism. Spurred on by the criticism of his contemporary Republican opponents, Johnson took a hardline stance at the beginning of his presidency, declaring that he would do whatever necessary to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, understanding that a withdrawal from Vietnam would undercut the legitimacy of U.S. foreign commitments, Johnson—albeit reluctantly—ignored the suggestions of political

In 1973, the "Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace" or the "Paris Peace Accord" was signed between the US, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam, to arrange a settlement which ended the US military involvement in the Vietnam war and also established peace in Vietnam which was supposed to end the war itself. Originally, the US got involved into the Vietnam war due to President Dwight D. Eisenhower's theory of the Domino Effect, a metaphor for the spreading of Communism happening in Asia and north-east Europe. Communism was a thought of all people having the same rights and goods as others, a thought that attracted several developing countries such as Vietnam and Indochina who were trying to approach a Communist approach government. Soon, when it could be seen that Communism does not work in practical ways since there always are people who are better off than others, America decided to try to stop the spread by getting involved into the Vietnam civil war, joining the democratic South who were fighting against the communistic North that wanted to take them over and adjust their government style.

The Vietnam War was fought between South and North Vietnam over the reunification of Vietnam. The North fought a more conventional warfare and it was supported by the Soviets and other communist countries while the South fought more of a guerilla war and was supported by the US and other anti-communist countries. Of course the US got involved and supported the South because of the Truman Doctrine in which aided any country who felt threatened by communism and prevented the spread of communism, the US got involved and supported them by going into war and using military tactics such as airstrikes and large stratgetic bombings. One major thing the US had going on was the Domino theory which applied to most US foreign policies, this justified their support for non-communist regimes. North Vietnam saw this war as something small while the US saw it as a way to prevent communism taking over another country and eventually the US got involved in the long run. Although the North Vietnamese won and unified Vietnam under communism, and the US had no success in preventing this, communism failed to spread through the rest of Southeast Asia.

The Vietnam War was a result of the United States’ involvement in the Cold War against the USSR. The main goal of the United States during the Cold War was to contain communism and prevent the USSR from affecting other countries with their communist government. One of the concerns for President Dwight D. Eisenhower was that if communism spread to Vietnam, then other countries in Southeast Asia would become more susceptible to adopting communism. As a result, The United States entered a war in Vietnam, where they supported South Vietnam against the communist government of North Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a failed attempt by the United States to contain communism and support South Vietnam, because after decades of combat, the United States

Both Robert Buzzano and Randall Woods present excellent interpretations of American foreign policy in Vietnam. What we need to look at closely is the goals that are set by the U.S., as well as their expected goals. When starting our comparison we are forced to realize that John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson had two very different approaches to Vietnam. Many attribute LBJ as the reason we even went into Vietnam. However what remains is another instance of America trying to protect the world from communism. Woods tells us that, “Johnson was an unbelievably intelligent person. His capacity to absorb information and analyze it was amazing. He was a very earthy and profane man, but he also was very much a liberal Christian.” This becomes a more popular argument however that Wood expands on.

On the 7th of April 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower gave one historic press conference [1]. In that conference, he announced his so called “Domino Theory”. It was a substantial aspect of the US involvement in the Vietnam War, involvement in terms of its military support and methods used in Vietnam. Even though it was greatly enhanced by other factors, such as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, it was the trigger, and therefore the source of all US involvement in the Vietnam War. The main rationale of the theory was that if one country fell down to communism, all the surrounding countries would do the same, hence why it was called the ‘Domino’ Theory. Eisenhower thought that Vietnam’s fall to communism would lead to consequential communist uprisings in neighboring countries, such as Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. He also that that it could possibly extend as far as India, Japan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia and New Zealand -[1]. This gave The US enough motivation, and more importantly, justification as to why they greatly increased military presence in Vietnam. Eisenhower said, “The possible consequences of the loss [of Indochina] are just incalculable to the free world.” [2]. Even though the theory was imprecise, and only Laos and Cambodia joined communism after the US lost the war, it was significant as the foundation of the US involvement in the conflict.

By 1964, the US—desperate to contain communism—had already sent troops to support South Vietnamese leader, Ngo Dinh Diem. Ngo Dinh Diem couldn’t end communist infiltrations of the South; such infiltrations were otherwise known as the Viet Cong (South Vietnamese communist guerillas), who made their debut to the South in 1959. Diem did not receive loyalty and his rule was so “deteriorated that he was overthrown and assassinated by several of his generals with the tacit approval of the Kennedy Administrations”¹ in 1963;

The decision that was made to enter war changed America, the nation had a split, consisting those who believed that communism should be stopped and the ones that believe violence is not the answer. President Johnson believed that establishing a brute force to repel communism in Vietnam would be beneficial to the future of the United States. The decision, however came with tragedies, such as the amount of U.S. soldiers that lost their lives. The danger of communism opened the eyes of all Americans. Ever since WW2, Soviet Union exemplifies communism and encouraged all the other nations in the east to participate. With all of the corporation dealing to the communist Soviet Union, America became on high alert as it was during the Cold War. The meaning behind prevention is to stop.

Many people choose to answer the question "Why did America lose the Vietnam War?", but the deeper subject today is, "What did America lose in the Vietnam War?” You can argue with many things, but I have narrowed it down to 3 main things. First, you have the trust that was lost in the U.S. Government by the American citizens. Then there was the changing and loss of some morals and hope in the American people. Lastly, we look at what the Veterans of Vietnam lost and yet how it is still making an impact on them so many years later.

From the beginning, the people of America had a distrust in the government when they first began to involve themselves in the Vietnam War. The United States feared that communism would overtake the world, and, unlike the majority of its citizens, the government of America felt it their responsibility to prevent this from happening. An opportunity presented itself in which America could aid in the prevention of the overtaking of Vietnam by a communist government. South Vietnam and North Vietnam were separated at the seventeenth parallel, and South Vietnam wanted it to remain that way and to become its own independent country and democracy. However, North Vietnam and its leader, Ho Chi Minh, wanted to unite both North and South Vietnam under communist rule. In 1954, President Eisenhower put into effect America’s plan to halt the spread of communism. Eisenhower sent a letter to Ngo Dinh Diem, the Prime Minister of South Vietnam, with America’s plans and motives in efforts to gain the trust of a possible new American ally. The citizens of America saw this, not as an opportunity, but as a danger to their precious country. The American government viewed South Vietnam’s situation as a cry for

The conflict in Vietnam for the United States started when President Dwight D. Eisenhower went along with the domino theory and sent in military advisors in South Vietnam to stop the communist movement from taking place in South Vietnam. The Vietnam conflict was between the communist’s and the United States. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, and Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Cong, a guerilla group to help spread communism. The United States were supporters of the South Vietnam because they wanted them to maintain their government rather than falling to the domino theory of communism. After Eisenhower’s term ended John F. Kennedy became president and took control of the situation of Vietnam but on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was