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The Vietnam War 1964-1971
Short note on vietnam war
Short note on vietnam war
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Vietnam war The Vietnam war was taken place mostly in Vietnam, eastern part of Indonesia and Southeast Asia. The Vietnam war was a long conflict that the communist hated and the southern allies, viet cong, and the its ally the United States. The war was worth millions of lives which most of them were Vietnamese civilians. We can because of need president Harry Truman sent around $160 million for aid to the Trench warfare. He also sent the Military Assistance Advisory Group or MAAG to help assist them there. Many of these conflicts were affecting the Domino theory espicslly the war in general. The Domino theory is if a country became communist if would soon start spreading it like a Domino when fallen. Because of this threat of communism in the air the United …show more content…
President Kennedy continues to send aid in fact, during 1963 and again authorized to increase the aid and advisors being sent. Although unfortunately he was assassinated but then Vice President Lyndon Johnson takes his place and become president. During the beginnings of Johnson's presidency during 1964 there had been attacks overseas on the United States, everyone was surprised they did not believe it, and the attacks were all targeted toward the USS Maddox. The result of this attack the congress passed the “ Golf of Tonkin Resolution” allowed president Johnson to be able to attack back to north Vietnam for what they did. In 1965, the Viet Cong attacks the pleiku in south Vietnam, which is known as the “ operation rolling thunder”. There was a lot of bombing ,643,000 tons of bombs dropped on north Vietnam. Then in 1968 the tet offensive was in place. The tet offensive was an attack on January 30 ,1968 it was planned to be a surprise attack on the military and civilians commands all throughout south Vietnam. Also when Johnson was a president we witnessed the anti-war movement where people began to protest against war because of all the lives lost and the money becoming in debt for something they
The first United States involvement in Vietnam began in the late 1940's, long before it escalated to include the United States Military. Because of the basic terms or the Truman Doctrine, the United States was drawn into the Vietnam conflict. The Truman Doctrine dealt with fears of Communism, the domino theory, and a feeling there was a need for containment. All of Vietnam was in danger of falling into the hands of Communism. The threat of Communism that was unfolding could end with the United States worst fears coming true, or a successful effort of containment and the spread of democracy.
In conclusion, I think that the United States became increasingly involved in the Vietnamese War because of the policies they had made as a promise to fight communism, and because they had sorely underestimated Vietcong’s ability to fight back using Guerrilla warfare. They refused to pull out of the war in fear of losing face before the world, but this pride factor scored them massive losses in the war. In the end, with both side sustaining heavy losses, the US were still seen as mutilators in the war, with advanced showing what their intervention had costed, and Vietnam was still fully taken over by Communism – they had achieved nothing and lost a lot.
In the Early Years: 1961-1963, Kennedy administration and Vietnam take flight. Assumptions behind the administration's decisions to increase U.S involvement in Vietnam strains two very important aspects that would gainsay obligation; one, the fall of South Vietnam to Communist control and the U.S military role and support. Discussion of knowledgeable ties to Southeast Asia emerged. Lack of governmental experts created obstacles. When the Berlin crisis occurred in 1961and during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, President Kennedy was able to turn to senior people like Llewellyn Thompson, Charles Bohlen and George Keenan, who knew the Soviets intimately. There were no senior officials in the Pentagon or State Department with comparable knowledge of Southeast Asia. Ultimately, the administration failed to critically analyze their assumptions and the foundations of their decisions, which inevitable ended in disaster.
The Vietnam War (1965-1975)was fought between the North and South Vietnam. The North was called Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the South was the Republic of Vietnam which was supported by the United States. On August 2nd, 1964 the USS Maddox was on a secret intelligent mission on the North Vietnamese coast where in the Gulf on Tonkin they were attacked by torpedo boats. The USS Turner Joy was attacked in the same area two days later. Due to the second attack Congress declared the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which led to air strikes.In 1959 there were 5,000 guerilla fighters and in 1964 the numbers jumped to 100,000. At Pleiku on March, 1965 U.S Marine barracks were attacked causing the three stage escalation bombing of North Vietnam to begin. The 3 year lasting bombing was used to force North Vietnam to stop supporting the "National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam" by destroying their industrial infrastructure and Vietnam's air defenses. Unfortunately this did not stop the North's support for the NLF. The U.S. Air Force bases were constantly being attacked so the U.S. on March 8, 1965 the 3,500 U.S. Marines was deployed to South Vietnam. At this point in time, the U.S. public supported the dispatch because the Vietnam War had been portrayed to the American people as a war against the spread of Communism. Johnson was president at the time and he kept adding more and more troops as the war went on. As the draft quotas increased, the American public protests started. When Nixon came into presidency his policy towards the Vietnam War was "peace with honor" in other words he wanted to widen the war. After more bombing and fighting, on January 27, 1973 the Paris Peace Accords was signed, restoring peace in Vietnam and U.S. forces pulled out. Nixon stopped all American attacks on Vietnam. The condensed summary of the Vietnam War is to see what presidents were involved in this war (Johnson, and Nixon) and what foreign policies were taken towards Vietnam mostly before the protests began.
It consisted of North Vietnam trying to make South Vietnam a communist government. The United States later joined this conflict because of the stress North Vietnam was putting on South Vietnam to become a government that America did not want. The main reason why America joined was because of a theory called the Domino Effect. America and Russia were going through what has been dubbed the Cold War. The Domino Effect is the theory that communism will spread from one country to another.
The Vietnam War, also known as the American War, and the Second Indochina War started on December 1956. 58,000 Americans were killed. The war ended on the 30th April 1975, along with a withdrawal of the United States army, and the South and the North of Vietnam reunited. The US government, led by Lyndon Baines Johnson, tried to stop communism from spreading in North Vietnam, because if Vietnam became a communist country, the nearby countries, such as Laos, Thailand, and Cambodia may be affected and become communist countries as well, like a domino, gradually turning down the countries in agreeing in being a communist, called the ’domino theory’. On the other hand, South Vietnam was a capitalist. On 1965, the US army flew 8,000 miles, and landed on South Vietnam, to fight against communism. North Vietnam was supported by the USSR, Russia. There are many ways the Vietnamese army, known as the Vietcong, used to win the war, and force the US army to withdraw. In 1969, when Richard Nixon became the new president, he started working on removing the troops from Vietnam. In 1973, there was finally an end in the peace talks that was held in Paris and the United States army backed off. There are also many flaws of the US army to end up losing the war. The major factors are the tactics of each country, popular support from their home country, weapons, supplies and resources, and lastly, confidence and motivation of the soldiers at war. So what was the main reason that answers the question to, why was the United States army forced to withdraw from Vietnam, and which one is the most important?
The president that played the most significant role in the Vietnam War was president Richard Nixon. Nixon took the U.S. out of the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War lasted throughout (Nov. 1, 1955 – Apr. 30, 1975). The Vietnam War was fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam over communism. Communism is a society where nobody is better or richer than you are, where everyone works together and shares in the products of their labor, and where the government creates a safety net of guaranteed employment and medical care for all. The US at the moment, was also going through the Cold War and the US felt like they were losing the over the spread of communism as China, and the trend was spreading to other nations in Latin America, Africa, and Asia as well. The US disliked the idea of the spread of communism, which meant the US would be allies with South Vietnam in the Vietnam War. Overall, it was not a successful war for South Vietnam and the US as North Vietnam defeated the South. Throughout the war there was More than 3 million people were killed including 58,000 U.S. military fatal casualties and more than half of the dead were Vietnamese civilians. Vietnam became a unified communist country.
The Vietnam war has been referred to by many names, one of the longest being 'the cornerstone of the free world southeast Asia'. It was called that by John F. Kennedy. He was talking about Vietnam being an essential country in a non-communist world. He believed that if Vietnam became a communist country, all of the surrounding countries would also become communists. This is the main reason America was involved in the Vietnam War.
“In July 1965, Lyndon Johnson chose to Americanize the war in Vietnam.” Although Johnson chose to enter America into the war, there were events previous that caused America to enter and take over the war. The South Vietnamese were losing the war against Communism – giving Johnson all the more reason to enter the war, and allowing strong American forces to help stop communism. There were other contributing factors leading up to the entrance of the war; America helped assist the French in the war, Johnson’s politics, the Tonkin Gulf Incident, and the 1954 Geneva Conference. President Johnson stated, “For 10 years three American Presidents-President Eisenhower, President Kennedy, and your present President--and the American people have been actively concerned with threats to the peace and security of the peoples of southeast Asia from the Communist government of North Viet-Nam.”
In May 1961, John F. Kennedy sent investigators to Vietnam, thus turning the tide in favor of the United States and South Vietnam. Unfortunately, with the flow of infiltrators and weapons from North Vietnam, the United States and South Vietnam lost their upper hand (Tucker). Conclusively, 2.5 million Americans served and about 58,000 lost their lives in Vietnam (Vietnam Veterans Memorial). On April 30, 1975 Vietnam was finally reunited under a communist government. Once the war ended, Vietnam was devastated. Both the South and North Vietnamese economies were in shambles and they suffered from the chemical pesticides. The Vietnamese also lost about 3 million soldiers and civilians during the war. The United States also suffered due to the fact that the military was completely shattered and had to be rebuilt. The inflation was at an ultimate high from the failure to fact the actual costs of war. These situations forced Washington D.C. to reevaluate the power of the United States
What was so big about the Vietnam War? Have you ever been to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington DC? Many causalities happened during the war but what was so significant about it? The main conflict was Communism against Democracy. This conflict split Vietnam into two different sides; North and South Vietnam. Similar to the Korean War, which lasted from 1950-1953, the North was for Communism while the South was for Democracy. The US aided South Vietnam, while the Soviet Union (Russia) and China aided North Vietnam. The Vietnam War is the longest war in American history. It was the only war that the USA has lost. Many were surprised that the US, the biggest country with a mighty economy and military resources, lost against a small country like Vietnam. How did this all happen, though? What sparked the Vietnam War?
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 the 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 decisions 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 Kennedys policy.
Communism, as idealized by Marxism-Leninism, is portrayed by socialist systems as the utopian society of the future. In definitive terms, it is the sharing of social production according to the people’s needs, and thus appeals to nations of lower socioeconomic standings (Kornai 1992). This poised Vietnam, a nation neighbouring China in South Eastern Asia, to be next affected by the Domino Theory – the spread of Communism through Russia, China, North Korea and now South East Asia (Slater 1993). Following The Union of Soviet and Socialist Republics (USSR) attempt to occupy East Germany post-World War 2, a time in which many nations previously under the rule of Republics, sought independence through political reform, the communal appeal of Communism
The revolutionary worldwide spread of communism has always been a great fear to the USA. In the past, America has gone to many wars to psychologically protect its ideology against powerful nations. That the ‘domino theory’ and the cold war mentality held by the USA, primarily justified their involvement in Vietnam. It was after World War Two that the USA’s interest in Vietnam came about. Eisenhower and Dulles contrevsial ‘ domino theory’ with the fear of a communist-dominated government in Vietnam and surrounding countries sparked an increase in America’s involvement. There were also secondary factors that influence the Americans such as, political and economic interests over raw materials, etc. The USA and France had separate and completely different aims, ideas and interests regarding Vietnam and Indo-china. The US’s involvement began with supplying the French with military aid to a full-scale conscript defense force, fighting battles on the ground. At a time, when the cold war was at a peak between the US and the USSR, and after the victory of stopping South Korea becoming a communist state. The USA out of all the allies in the Vietnam War was the only country involved primarily because of the ‘domino theory’. The history of the domino theory played a significant role throughout the cold war and was America’s greatest fear and motivation.
Kennedy and Diem were both killed in 1963 and 1964. Johnson took control of the situation by increasing the amount of money and manpower put into Vietnam. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving the president full military power. After Johnson dramatically escalated the amount of soldiers in Vietnam, The North Vietnamese mounted a surprise attack during the Vietnamese new year, and this strike was called the Tet Offensive. It made America more aware of what they were up against, that the communists were capable of fierce, guerrilla warfare, unlike anything Americans had ever fought before. Images of the terror and disarray reached back home, and the U.S. began to wonder how effective their involvement in Vietnam really was.