Explain why america left vietnam

1317 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The attack on Vietnam war

Explain why the United States left Vietnam
A culmination of problems within Vietnam, domestically and internationally forced the United States to leave the nation. The key reasons for withdrawal were bulging economic costs, an increasingly impatient home front, an underestimation of North Vietnamese ideology, events which turned the war and ineffective strategies. The United States was left in an unpleasant situation. The French President, Charles de Gaulle, had warned the US against its Vietnam involvement, saying the only way out would be the removal of its troops, “…you will sink step by step into a bottomless military and political quagmire…” .

To give a global context to the US occupation of Vietnam: there was cut-throat tension between the democratic nations and communist regimes. The American public and the majority of industrialised nations were persuaded by arguments of the “Domino Theory” and Communism taking over the world, the support for initial involvement was present. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident America began escalation in the Kennedy and Johnson years. However with an absence of results in the late 60’s support for the war disappeared as fast as it had arrived.

America, from the onset of the war did not have any precise strategies to achieve their goals. Vietnamese leader, Diem noticed this stating, “It was as if the United States could never quiet decide what policy to pursue.” The official reason for US entry was to defeat the Communist threat. President Kennedy stated, “The enemy is the Communist system itself-implacable, insatiable, unceasing in its drive for world domination…” There were two significant faults with this objective. Firstly the Americans assumed that, without evidence, the Vietnamese people would be swung by the power of democracy. Secondly, disputes occurred between the major Communist nations during the Vietnam war: the Sino-Soviet split destroyed the idea of a unified world-wide takeover by Communist nations. Vietnamese scholar Luu Doan Huynh attacked the US many years later, “…you were not only wrong, but you had, so to speak, lost your minds. Vietnam a part of the Chinese expansionist game in Asia? For anyone who knows the history of Indochina, this is incomprehensible.” America was trapped, the original premise of invading Vietnam became void as the war progressed.

Military strategies used by the United S...

... middle of paper ...

... for the US.

Bibliography
• Allen, G.W. None So Blind (2001) Ivan R Dee publishing, Chicago.
• Berman, L. No Peace, No Honor (2001) Free Press, New York.
• Bilton, M & Sim, K. Four Hours in My Lai
• Diem, B. In the Jaws of History (1987) Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
• Harpur, J. War Without End (2000) 2nd Edition. Longman, Melbourne.
• Herring, G. America’s Longest War (1996) McGraw-Hill, New York.
• Karnow, S. Vietnam: A history (1983) Viking Press, New York.
• Kolko, G. Vietnam: Anatomy of a War, 1940-1975 (1987) Unwin Paperbacks, London.
• McNamera, R.S. Argument Without End (1999) PublicAffairs, New York.
• Sanders, V. Access to History: The USA and Vietnam 1945-75 (1998) Hodder & Stoughton, London.
• Willbanks, J. Abandoning Vietnam: How America left and South Vietnam lost its war (2004) University Press of Kansas, Lawrence.

Show More
Related

  • Chris Appy's American Reckoning

    1077 Words  | 3 Pages

    Chris Appy’s s American Reckoning is a book-length essay on the Vietnam War and how it changed the way Americans think of ourselves and our foreign policy. This is required reading for anyone interested in foreign policy and America’s place in the world, showing how events influence attitudes, which turn to influence events.

    Read More

  • Mark Atwood Lawrence´s The Vietnam War: A Concise International History

    1155 Words  | 3 Pages

    Lawrence’s purpose in writing this book was concise and to the point. In recent history, due to the fall of the Soviet bloc, new information has been made available for use in Vietnam. As stated in the introduction, “This book aims to take account of this new scholarship in a brief, accessible narrative of the Vietnam War… It places the war within the long flow of Vietnamese history and then captures the goals and experiences of various governments that became deeply embroiled in the country during the second half of the twentieth century” (Lawrence, 3.) This study is not only about the American government and how they were involved in the Vietnam conflict, but highlights other such countries as France, China, and the Soviet Union. Lawrence goes on to say that one of his major goals in writing this book is to examine the American role in Vietnam within an international context (Lawrence, 4.) Again, this goes to show that the major purpose of Lawrence’s study included not only ...

    Read More

  • Comparing the Characters in Laurents' West Side Story and Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1794 Words  | 4 Pages

    The meshing of characters between Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and Bernstein’s West Side Story formulate significant similarities between the two. In Romeo and Juliet the story of “Two households both alike in dignity,” (Montagues and Capulets) who have been feuding is parallel to the two gangs in West Side Story (Jets and Sharks). This grouping of loyalties keeps the segregation of the two groups at a dead lock, thus producing the tension that keeps the two lovers in each play (Romeo and Juliet, Tony and Maria) in the unattainable, intangible realm of their idealistic love. It is these two groupings that cause the star-crossed lovers to forfeit their lives in Romeo and Juliet’s instance and costs Tony his life in his and Maria’s love. Why do these groups feud and keep love bound by hatred? How are these groups alike in their intent? What are the similarities between the leaders of the groups or gangs in both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story? The hatred of diversity is what created these groupings, binding them to love their hate.

    Read More

  • Stories of the Vietnam War Illustrated in O’Brien’s The Things They Carried

    830 Words  | 2 Pages

    Tim O’Brien’s book, The Things They Carried, portrays stories of the Vietnam War. Though not one hundred percent accurate, the stories portray important historical events. The Things They Carried recovers Vietnam War history and portrays situations the American soldiers faced. The United States government represents a political power effect during the Vietnam War. The U. S. enters the war to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam. The U.S. government felt if communism spreads to South Vietnam, then it will spread elsewhere. Many Americans disapproved of their country’s involvement. Men traveled across the border to avoid the draft. The powerful United States government made the decision to enter the war, despite many Americans’ opposition. O’Brien’s The Things They Carried applies New Historicism elements, including Vietnam history recovery and the political power of the United States that affected history.

    Read More

  • Vietnam War Analysis

    692 Words  | 2 Pages

    So many things influenced our involvement in the Vietnam War, and Lawrence examines the decisions we made in a greater context than just our own. He argues that international pressures controlled the attitudes and ideas of the United States, for the most part.

    Read More

  • The U.S. Public Opinion as a Major Factor in the Withdrawal of American Troops from Vietnam

    617 Words  | 2 Pages

    The U.S. Public Opinion as a Major Factor in the Withdrawal of American Troops from Vietnam

    Read More

  • The War that Changed America Forever

    931 Words  | 2 Pages

    The reasons for the Vietnam War took place long before the war even began. For years, the Vietnamese had been under French colonial rule. But, when Communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh came back to Vietnam, he established a group called the Viet Minh, the goal of which was to remove all French occupation from Vietnam. So, the fighting started, and Ho Chi Minh tried to get the US to support them. But, being true to their policies of containment, the US started supporting France. The United States' thoughts about Communism's potential growth can be summed up in one basic idea: the Domino Theory. This theory stated that if one country in a region fell to Communism, the surrounding countries would soon follow. Because of this, the US committed to keeping the North Vietnamese contained once the French withdrew from Vietnam. But, the thing that really pushed the US into sending troops into Vietnam was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. On August 2nd and 4th, 1964, the North Vietnamese fired upon two US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Following this, Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964, which gave the president authority to send military troops into Vietnam without declaring war. So, President Johnson sent troops into Vietnam, which had already erupted into civil war, to aid the South Vietnamese.

    Read More

  • Presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy and the Vietnam War

    857 Words  | 2 Pages

    Anderson, D. (2002). The Columbia guide to the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press.

    Read More

  • Music Affecting the Memory of Alzheimer’s Patients

    1074 Words  | 3 Pages

    Witzke J. How sweet the sound: research evidence for the use of music in Alzheimer's dementia. Journal of gerontological nursing. 2008;34:45.

    Read More

  • JFK and the Vietnam War

    1800 Words  | 4 Pages

    JOHN F. KENNEDY IN VIETNAM There are many critical questions surrounding United States involvement in Vietnam. American entry to Vietnam was a series of many choices made by five successive presidents during these years of 1945-1975. The policies of John F. Kennedy during the years of 1961-1963 were ones of military action, diplomacy, and liberalism. Each of his decision was on its merits at the time the decision was made. The belief that Vietnam was a test of the Americas ability to defeat communists in Vietnam lay at the center of Kennedy¡¦s policy. Kennedy promised in his inaugural address, Let every nation know...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty. From the 1880s until World War II, France governed Vietnam as part of French Indochina, which also included Cambodia and Laos. The country was under the formal control of an emperor, Bao Dai. From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese struggled for their independence from France during the first Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South. For this reason the United States became involved in Vietnam because it believed that if all of the country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and further. This belief was known as the domino theory. The decision to enter Vietnam reflected America¡¦s idea of its global role-U.S. could not recoil from world leadership. The U.S. government supported the South Vietnamese government. The U.S. government wanted to establish the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which extended protection to South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in case of Communist subversion. SEATO, which came into force in 1955, became the way which Washington justified its support for South Vietnam; this support eventually became direct involvement of U.S. troops. In 1955, the United States picked Ngo Dinh Diem to replace Bao Dai as head of the anti-Communist regime in South Vietnam. Eisenhower chose to support Ngo Dinh Diem. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Mass., on May 29, 1917. Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940 and joined the Navy the next year.

    Read More

  • Music And Dementia Research Paper

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    Henry, an 94 year old man in a nursing home, has suffered from dementia for the last decade of his life. He sits in his chair with his head down and only talking when he has to. One day, a pair of headphones was placed on his head playing his favorite, Cab Calloway, and after that everything changed. The second the music started playing, Henry began to sway and sing along to the music. He reacted the same way to music ever since then and the power of music has had similar effects on many other Alzheimer's and dementia patients.

    Read More

  • Tim Hortons Case Study

    1270 Words  | 3 Pages

    Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR is defined by McMullan and Cardin as “an organization’s responsibility toward people and the planet, is increasingly seen as an important part of doing business”. Tim Hortons is a successful fast food restaurant chain in North America with over 4,000 stores with the vast majority located within Canada. As someone who has worked at Tim Hortons for the four years, I felt this was a good company to look at more in-depth as I have my own general knowledge and opinions on their current CSR and would like to research the company on a larger scale. This report will be looking at Tim Hortons’ CSR efforts, their target audiences, how their CSR is communicated to their target, any criticism that they have received as a company and my personal opinion of their Corporate Social Responsibility and whether or not I feel that they are succeeding as a company or not.

    Read More

  • Short Summary of Vietnam

    470 Words  | 1 Pages

    Vietnam was a struggle which, in all honesty, the United States should never have been involved in. North Vietnam was battling for ownership of South Vietnam, so that they would be a unified communist nation. To prevent the domino effect and the further spread of communism, the U.S. held on to the Truman Doctrine and stood behind the South Vietnamese leader, Diem.

    Read More

  • The Vietnamese War In Vietnam And The Vietnam War

    1583 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Vietnam War, which also goes by the Second Indochina War, was a Cold War-era conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from December of 1956 all the way to the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. This particular war may have been viewed at first as an easy and quick one; however the North Vietnamese forces soon proved to the United States that they would certainly be formidable opponents. The war was fought between North Vietnam; which was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies; and the government of South Vietnam; supported by the United States and other anti-communist countries. The Vietnamese War played a rather large role both on civilians, and military personnel at the time. Soldiers had to adapt to the harsh and unforgiving weather that they faced in the jungles of Vietnam and were subject to various events that traumatized some for the rest of their lives. Besides having to fight the North Vietnamese Army, the United States also faces the very deadly Viet Cong, which was a lightly armed South Vietnamese communist common front, which fought a guerilla war against any anti-communist groups in the region. The question that still baffles historians and political analysts alike is: Why did the United States withdraw from Vietnam? This is actually a very complicated question and several theories have been formed in order to explain why the United States abandoned Vietnam, whose army was nothing compared to that of the mighty American forces. Out of the vast amount of theories, I find one to be the most credible explanation; and the theory as to why the United States withdrew is not only due to

    Read More

  • John Lennon's Song Imagine

    1407 Words  | 3 Pages

    Willbanks, James H. "The Real History of the Vietnam War." ARMCHAIR GENERAL Nov. 2007: 54-67. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

    Read More

More about Explain why america left vietnam

Open Document