United States' Involvement in the Vietnam War
Source Based
Source A is about US fear of communism. The nature of this source is a
presidential speech to the US public. It is clear that source A is a
primary source as it says on the bottom 'president Lyndon B Johnson
speaking in April 1965.' That shows that the source is a primary one.
There is a great possibility that the US presidential advisors
produced this source to give president Lyndon B Johnson a speech to
publish in front of the US public, one month after operation 'Rolling
Thunder', which was a military operation, in which the US forces used
massive fire power against North-Vietnamese forces. The aim and
purpose of this source is to persuade the US public to back and
understand the United States' violence in Vietnam, and to justify the
president's actions in Vietnam to his nation.
After the Second World War, France found it difficult to maintain
control over indo-china. America supplied $1.2 billion of military aid
to the French forces but in 1954, after a serious defeat in the battle
of Dien Bien Phu, the French government decided to withdraw from
Vietnam. At the Geneva conference, May 1954, it was agreed that
elections would be held within two years and that in the meantime
Vietnam would be divided into two halves with North Vietnam under the
control of communist, Ho Chi Minh. These elections did not take place
and the United States continued to supply military aid and advisors to
help protect South Vietnam from communist guerrillas (national
liberation front).
On August 2nd 1964, North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked the US
destroyer Maddox. The United States government retaliated by bombing
North Vietnamese naval bases and oil refineries. In March 1965,
president Lyndon B Johnson started sending troops to South Vietnam to
protect a government that appeared to be in danger of falling to the
The United States became increasingly involved with the War in Vietnam mostly thanks to their enmity with Russia due to the fact they were Communist, and how the USSR spread claiming countries that could’ve been turned democratic and become trading partners of the US. While Russia, Britain and the USA were all allies in WW1, they disagreed on many things, especially on how Germany should be punished and how should Europe be handled.
The Differing Reactions to United States' Involvement in Vietnam Everyone in America had a different reaction to the Vietnam War. Some people supported the war because they feared Communism. They were afraid that if they did not stop the Communism in Vietnam, that type of government would affect all other countries. This was according to the Domino Theory. They thought that stopping the Vietnamese would be the correct and easy thing to do, but they were wrong.
Reasons for United States' Involvement in Vietnam In this essay I will be writing about why America got involved in the Vietnam War, between the 1950s to the 1960s. This was a steady and slow process with many deaths all because of communism. It was very costly and bloody. This essay will focus on political reasons, military reasons and economy reasons.
Thirty-eight years have passed and the Vietnam War is still a controversial topic. While some Americans believe that Indochina was of no strategic value to the United States, others argue that civilian leaders have undermined the war effort. My paper will help analyze the different viewpoints for U.S. involvement in Vietnam and the overall assessment of each. Almost all the sources utilized came to the consensus that the chief purpose for U.S. intervention was to stop Communism from spreading. Nevertheless, while some believed that the developed country had reason to fear the “Iron Curtain,” which fell upon Asia in 1954 with the armistice in Korea and the Geneva Accords, others did not see this as an act of upholding freedom and democracy. My thesis concludes that apart from the containment argument, what America sought by intervening in Vietnam was the opportunity to demonstrate its credibility as a world power.
Vietnam is a time in American history that most of us would like to forget, but really, we must learn from it. Vietnam is a time where we didn't look at the whole picture, it was 'perceived through the lens of Cold War politics.' (MP:420) With the new ?domino theory,? Americans feared for their safety and the safety of the 'free world.' If they didn't step in, they would inevitably lose the world to communism.
Though out history, American has had its hand in conflict with other countries. Some of those conflicts have turned out into wars. Looking back at America’s “track record” with war, America has a worthy past of having its citizen’s support. Obviously the two World Wars we not controversial. The United States in the Korean War was criticized, fairly, for its strategy, but the need to defend South Korea was never questioned. In only the Vietnam War was the United States’ very participation criticized. This is such a gigantic change with prior wars that it bears study as to why it happened, and better yet, should have it happened. This paper will discuss the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War, by asking the simple question, Should have the Untied States’ gotten involved into the first place. This paper will prove that in fact, America should have not gotten involved with the Vietnam War.
As many as two million Vietnamese civilians were killed during the Vietnam War(Spector). Would this number have been different if certain things off the battlefield in the United States did not occur. The Vietnam War was a war between the communist regime of North Vietnam leaded by Ho Chi Minh, and the non-Communist South Vietnam. The United States fought with the south in fear that if all of Vietnam became communist then the domino effect would occur and all of Asia would turn to communism(“Vietnam, War”). The war began in 1954 and ended in 1975 when communist forces took over the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon(“Vietnam”). This was two years after President Nixon, the thirty seventh President of the United States ordered the withdrawal
France had control of Indochina which later became the countries Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh, who was communist, and his followers, who were called Viet Minh entered into war with the French from 1946 to 1954. There was a conference to decide the fate of Indochina, which was determined in the Geneva Accord. The Geneva Accord divided Indochina into 4 different regions which were Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. Laos and Cambodia were both meant to be neutral. An election was planned for 1956 to reunite North and South Vietnam under the same leader.
Vietnamese independence was a crucial event that took place soon after World War II. Before World War II, Vietnam was a colony of France. The French were still determined to restore colonial presence in Indochina. With the help of the British, the French managed to seize control of Cochinchina, creating two Vietnams, the communist North and noncommunist South.
The Vietnam War caused an outbreak between Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The tet offensive was of the main reasons for the start of this war and was one of the largest military campaigns that North Vietnam used to attack the government of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese army was supported financially and militarily by the Soviet Union, China, and other communist allies, while the South Vietnamese army was supported by United States, South Korea, Thailand, and other anti-communist allies. In this paper, I will addressing, to what extent was Communism a significant factor for the United states to join the Vietnam war and this was the manifestation of the Cold War, and led to the reason of Communism being the main reason for the United states
After the Fall of Saigon, many Vietnamese refugees had left Vietnam in the hope of moving to another democratic country that would accept them. This resulted in the Indochina refugee crisis, in which a large outflow of people from the former French colonies of Indochina, comprising the countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, after communist governments were established in 1975. Most of these refugees were thus taken in by other countries and were resettled, mostly in North America and Europe. At least twenty Western countries, led by France, Canada, Australia, and the United States, the very nation that tried but failed to help prevent their country of South Vietnam from falling to Communism. The total number of Vietnamese evacuated by the
The Vietnam War started on November 1,1955 and ended when Saigon was defeated on April 30,1975. It occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and was fought between North Vietnam and the government of South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese government and the Viet Cong were fighting to reunify Vietnam. The Vietnam War was also known as the Second Indochina War and in Vietnam it was called the American War. The North Vietnamese army was supported by the Soviet Union, China and other communist allies and the South Vietnamese army was supported by the United States, South Korea, Australia, Thailand and other anti-communist allies.
War in Vietnam is the longest military conflict U.S. were involved in during 20th century. However, 20 years before the official war declaration, in 1944, no one would have ever guessed that the area of South East Asia is going to experience such development. Having approached the Vietnam situation with wrong policy, underestimating the motivation and determination due to historical memory, in the hostile conditions caused US were unable to suppress the communist insurgency in South Vietnam, which later turned into a David vs. Goliath type of conflict.
United States' Withdrawal From Vietnam America went to war in Vietnam with an aim of destroying the Vietcong to protect South Vietnam from Communism. America was against communism and they wanted to stop the spread of it. They did not achieve what they set out to do as they had many boundaries in their way. Events both inside and outside of Vietnam led to the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
The Vietnam War is also known as Second Indochina War or the Resistance War Against America. It is one of the only major wars that has ended in American defeat. The Vietnam War was a series of battles between North Vietnam, their allies, South Vietnam, and their allies. I chose to research this event because I had very little prior knowledge about the war and I wanted to learn about it.