The Involvement of the United States in Vietnam
The single most important factor in understanding the United States involvement in Vietnam is fear. In the years leading to the Vietnam Conflict the United States was immersed in paranoia toward Communist Russia and the communist movement as a whole. This paranoia has its roots in the depression of the nineteen thirties and was fueled by the exploits of men like MacCarthy and other politicians who saw this as an opportunity to further their careers or push policies. This paranoia was the most important factor in the entrance of the US into the conflict in Southeast Asia.
During the years proceeding World War II the United States found itself one of the two most powerful nations in the world. This position placed Americans at odds with their rival country, the Soviet Union, on almost all fronts. These two countries now found themselves locked into a passive conflict not only of military might, but of social and ideological values.
There are now two great nations in the world, which starting from different points, seem to be advancing toward the same goal: the Russians and the Anglo-Americans....[E]ach seems called by some secret design of Providence one day to hold in its hands the destinies of half the world.
Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835
The rise of these two nations as leaders and rivals was seen as early as Tocqueville, but was this vision was not realized until the end of WWII where the two nations developed as ideological opposites. Now because of these ideological and cultural differences, and the growing equality of the military might of the tow nations, the American people began to fear the Soviets as a threat the Ame...
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...h the now looming threat of the Communist Soviet Union and the possibility of full-scale nuclear warfare, caused a mass panic in the hearts of the American people. By the nineteen fifties this began to manifest itself in government and the American foreign policy. It was this foreign policy created by the American paranoia of some impending doom, whether in the form of domestic economic disaster, foreign infiltration of our culture, or the onslaught of war, that caused the United States entrance into the Vietnam War.
Rethinking MacCarthyism, not MacCarthy
Bibliography:
www.cc.columbia.edu/acis/bartley/inaugrual/press59.html
http://cwihp.si.edu/cwihplib.nsf/l…a925f8256689006fl9d0?
gopher://wiretap.spies.com/00/Gov/US-History/Vietnam/shite-paper.txt
The New York Times, Ethan Bronner
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
After the end of WW2, two major governmental institutions, the USA and the USSR, with conflicting political ideologies and agendas, set forth to dominate each other in international politics. This period of time, also known as the Cold War, initiated an era of crazed hysteria in the United States as these two governments frequently clashed and bitterly fought. As a result, the frightened public grew delirious as the world grew dangerously close to a calamitous nuclear war, which ultimately prompted the Eisenhower administration to hinder the spread of communism and encourage the U.S. population to rapidly pursue higher education for the future welfare of this nation.
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.
The political ideologies of the USA and of the Soviet Union were of profound significance in the development of the Cold War. Problems between the two power nations arose when America refused to accept the Soviet Union in the international community. The relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union was filled with mutual distrust and hostility. Many historians believe the cold war was “inevitable” between a democratic, capitalist nation and a communist Union. Winston Churchill called the cold war “The balance of terror” (1). Cold war anxieties began to build up with America and the Soviet Union advancing in the arms race for world dominance and supremacy. America feared the spread of Communism
During the late 1940's and the 1950's, the Cold War became increasingly tense. Each side accused the other of wanting to rule the world (Walker 388). Each side believed its political and economic systems were better than the other's. Each strengthened its armed forces. Both sides viewed the Cold War as a dispute between right and wron...
Vietnam was really just a pawn in the much larger game of the Cold War. The main political objective behind the Unites States’ involvement in the Vietnam War was to set forth it’s policy of containment prevent the “Domino E...
Allen (2008), Young (2002), and Joes (2001) expressed great distrust in regards to America’s motives for entering the war. They argued that from the beginning Vietnam was not a threat nor did it seek to pursue ties with Communist superpowers; Vietnam only sought independence and was willing to cooperate with the United States in order to resolve this misunderstanding. A lack of education in Vietnamese history and the general exaggerated sentiments of paranoia in regards to the spread of Communism led to a miscalculated decision that reverberated repercussions for decades. As a result, these authors accused the United States of having attempted to prevent the nationalist forces in Bien Phu, of engineering the divide between a “Communist” North and an “Anticommunist” South in Vietnam, and of invading to prevent the Nationa...
After fighting along the United States against Nazi Germany in World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States soon became enemies, locked in the grip of the Cold War with the fear of a nuclear holocaust. Fear was a constant emotion throughout the entirety of the United States, no one knew exactly what was going to happen. The Soviet Union’s leader, Joseph Stalin, believed in communism, in fact the reader can concur that Americans were taught that communism was a bad thing, which worried most Americans. Textbooks should emphasize the Soviet society and economy versus the United States, as well as including the Great Terror, and military strength.
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 politicians were in favor of the war, which was the most costly U.S. foreign policy intervention during the Cold War. President Johnson and others considered Vietnam a crucial Cold war battleground where an American loss would trigger dire domestic and international repercussions. This view led him to decide to enter the Vietnam War, which was a condemnable action considering that there were intensifying domestic issues that he neglected because he was engrossed in the Vietnam situation. Anti-War protesters, a few politicians, and even the South Vietnamese all pointed out that this war was immoral and was resulting in destruction. Ultimately, Johnson’s decision resulted in a huge price paid on America’s part for its determination to prevent the spread of communism through this war and in the deaths of more 50,000 in an overseas war that was extremely difficult to win and that deepened divisions at home.
foreign policy. A year after the Truman Doctrine started the Cold War, in 1948 the Soviets blockaded Berlin forcing the U.S. to airlift supplies to the distressed country. This effort conducted by America was a way for them to establish their dominance over the Soviets and proving that they cannot be stopped. In 1949, the communists took over China and was able to detonate their first atomic bomb. This created a setback for America as they were no longer the sole owner of a functioning nuclear weapon. This began the war against the communists and the capitalists, as demonstrated by the Korean War in 1950 and the Vietnam War in 1954. During these wars, communism was battled by fighting with efforts to contain the advancement of the Soviet’s efforts. The wars shaped U.S. foreign policy because they were able to determine which alliances could benefit America and help them to remain the strongest superpower in the world.
The Soviet Union and the United States served as Allies during World War II. At the end of the war however each side wanted to deal with the aftermath differently. The United States was in favor of a peaceful and cooperative relationship with Germany and their Allies. The Soviet Union wanted revenge on the crimes and atrocities that were committed against them. The United States wanted to push democracy in Eastern Europe yet the Soviets countered this by saying the United States was hypocritical, since at that time the United States supported the Latin countries that were governed by dictatorships. The Soviets were under the impression that this was an effort to boost the UNITED STATES economy.
Many Americans believed our involvement in Vietnam began around 1965?the beginning of combat with American boys. In reality, engagement began much earlier, around 1945. The US supported France and rejected to recognize the Vietnamese nationalists as an actually body. The leader of the Vietnamese nationalists was Ho Chi Mihn and he was known as a communist. Our reasons for supporting France, more or less, reflected our foreign policy: containment. Post-WWII, our main focus was to contain Communism, as seen through the Truman. Doctrine. ?Truman and his advisors, who saw Communism as a monolithic force, assumed wrongly that Ho took orders from Moscow.? (AP:897) Because they believed that Ho had a connection with Communist Russia, the US wanted to support the more democratic side. American showed its support in aiding over 3/4 of the cost of France?s war.
The relationships of the United States and the Soviet Union were driven by a complex interplay of ideological, political, and economic factors, which led to shifts between cautious cooperation and often bitter superpower rivalry over the years. The distinct differences in the political systems of the two countries often prevented them from reaching a mutual understanding on key policy issues and even, as in the case of the Cuban missile crisis, brought them to the brink of war.
saw a high political cost in the conclusion of the Vietnam War, as the long and weary conflict also brought light onto the distrust of the government and officials. Events such as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which lead to U.S. troop deployment in Vietnam, the secret invasion of Cambodia, and the tragic Kent State shooting had put America in a crisis of faith and confidence in its own government. To the American people the ones that lead that nation were no longer credible, and this was further confirmed with the resignation of president Nixon along with the Watergate Scandal. Because of these factors, the Vietnam War changed the views of a generation as they became more and more skeptical in their own government in the wake of the Vietnam War. After the war the U.S. and it’s people were wounded and humiliated. Over 50,000 thousand men gave their lives for a pointless cause: to contain the spread of communism. America’s defeat undermined its superiority, confidence, and ultimately its commitment to internationalism; as future leaders would be wary of any involvement in foreign countries, they were afraid of being stuck in another Vietnam. This reluctance to commit overseas was known as the “Vietnam Syndrome”, were leaders would not send troops to foreign land unless it was in national interest or when there is strong public support. Gradually this syndrome would be shrugged off as America regained its status as a superpower and won relatively quick wars such as the Gulf War shaping the nation we know
The cold war which is the period of tension between the United States and Soviet Union drastically altered life for Americans. The tensions have still been escalating to this period. In World War 2 Russia was an ally of the us and England because the war against Germany. Although Stalin was considered a devil because of how he treated his people; he was a totalitarian dictator murdered people left and right, the political and military relationship between Russia has been on rocky ground ever since then. The fear of nuclear destruction had a big part to do with higher education, economy, immigration policy, civil rights and civil liberties. A period of time known as the red scare which was also known as the red menace had a profound effect on the American society as a whole It had an direct impact on the lives of Americans for instance with the launch of sputnik 1 which was launched in 1957 the us took measures to launch an overhaul in science education. This satellite launch emphasized that the Soviet Union had trampled the us into space. . As mentioned in a speech by Precedent john F Kennedy June, 10, 1963 “it is an ironic but accurate fact; that the two strongest powers are the two with the most danger of devastation. All we have built, all we have worked for would be destroyed in the first 24 hrs and even in the cold war with brings burdens and dangers to so many countries including this nations closest allies our two countries bare the heaviest burdens. For wee are both devoting massive sums of money to weapons. That could be better devoted to combat ignorance, poverty and disease.” (kennedy) Mad short for Mutual assured destruction or also referred to as mutual suicide on September 1867 Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara be...