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Was President Richard Nixon’s Vietnamization policy a success or a failure, and to what extent?
A. Plan of Investigation
The investigation assesses the level of success President Richard Nixon’s Vietnamization policy attained during the Vietnam War to end U.S. involvement in the war. In the strive to evaluate the level of success this policy demonstrated, the investigation evaluates the ability of the policy to equip, expand, and train Southern Vietnamese forces and allocate them to a substantial combat position, all while simultaneously reducing the quantity of U.S. combat troops in a steady manner. The Vietnamization policy is investigated and analyzed by both its causes and effects. The motivation that led to Nixon’s creation of this policy will be investigated as well. The investigation encompasses an array of sources, which will be analyzed for their purpose, value, bias, accuracy, and any further limitations.
B. Summary of Evidence
After taking office in 1969, President Richard Nixon developed a new strategy called Vietnamization. The primary purpose of the Vietnamization policy was to end American involvement in the Vietnam War by assigning all of the military responsibilities to South Vietnam. One of the reasons for the formation of this policy was because the war had generated severe breaks and divisions in American society. President Nixon strongly believed that his Vietnamization policy would
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Candidate #: 001503-0062
ready South Vietnam to be responsible for its own defense against a Communist takeover by North Vietnam. President Nixon’s Vietnamization policy involved strengthening
South Vietnam’s military strength. This would allow the U.S. to withdraw its troops from Vietnam, depart the conflict,...
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Rexy, . The Vietnam War , "How effective was the Vietnamization?." Last modified November 30, 2012. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://thevietnamwar.info/how-effective-was-the-vietnamization/.
Simkin, John. Spartacus Educational, "Vietnamization." Last modified April 2014. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/VNvietnamization.htm.
Prados, John. Vietnam Veterans of America, "Vietnamization: Success or Failure?." Last modified December 2007. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://www.vva.org/veteran/1207/vietnamization.html.
Staff, History.com, . History, "Vietnamization." Last modified 2010. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnamization.
eHistory Archive, "VIETNAMIZATION AMERICAN ASSESSMENT." Last modified 2014. Accessed April 10, 2014. http://ehistory.osu.edu/vietnam/essays/theend/0018.cfm.
Anderson, D. (2002). The Columbia guide to the Vietnam War. New York: Columbia University Press.
The Vietnam War: A Concise International History is a strong book that portrays a vivid picture of both sides of the war. By getting access to new information and using valid sources, Lawrence’s study deserves credibility. After reading this book, a new light and understanding of the Vietnam war exists.
Nixon’s approach to the war was Birchesque. He campaigned for president in 1968 as a peace candidate by pointing out that he had been raised as a Quaker and promising to bring the troops home. His path to peace, however, entailed an escalated war. After his election as president, he unleashed a ferocious air assault on the Vietnamese and extended the ground war into Laos and Cambodia. When the anti-war movement criticized these measures, Nixon did what any Bircher would do: he decried the anti-war movement as a communist conspiracy that was prolonging the war and that deserved to be treated as an internal security threat.
This was implemented to end American involvement in the Vietnam War. They transferred troops to South Vietnam and strengthened South Vietnam’s military ability so they could withdrawal their troops. Eventually they negotiated a treaty with the North and completed the process of Vietnamization (“Vietnamization”).
Source G: "The Vietnam War and Its Aftermath." American Voices. Glenview: Scott Foresman, 1995. 821-47. Print.
President Lyndon Johnson had several issues he considered as he developed the rules of engagement for Vietnam. One of which was how he maintained tight control over the selection of targets for the air war, for fear that the bombing provoke the Chinese and the Soviets into a confrontation with the United States. (Moss 163). The other was how he counted on a reasonably quick and easy victory over the NLF and Hanoi. As a result President Johnson “did not confront the crucial question of what would be required to achieve its goals until it was bogged down in a bloody stalemate.” (Moss 162).
The initial policy decision made by President Lyndon B. Johnson was to “Americanize” the Vietnam War (Tindall and Shi, p. 1341). This meant that American troops would be sent to Vietnam in large numbers to fight. The goal was to keep South Vietnam from falling to Communism, and
McNamara graduated Harvard with a master’s degree in business, served in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and was President of the Ford Motor Company. Given his background in analytics, President Kennedy asked McNamara to be his Secretary of Defense in 1960. The American military support of Southern Vietnamese forces gradually increased during Kennedy’s presidency. Early public opinion of the Vietnam wasn’t necessarily bad. The widespread American notion of the war was seen as a fight against communism. This paired with the preconceived idea of Northern Vietnam’s inferiority as a military power seemed like favorable odds for and easy American win given it’s reputation as a global hegemony. Because of this, Kennedy, with the advisement of McNamara, approached the conflict under the principles of limited war. However, the Kennedy administration did not anticipate was the unexpected tactic of guerrilla warfare paired with the unwavering dedication to the war effort. After President Kennedy’s assassination, Lyndon B. Johnson took over the role of President. Before Kennedy’s death, there had been talks between him and McNamara about withdrawing troops from the war. This strategy was not shared by Johnson. His primary strategy was to escalade and “Americanize” the war.[2] FACTS ABOUT VIETNAM BOOK. McNamara’s actions match this accordingly as Johnson’s Secretary of Defense until McNamara’s resignation in 1978. However, by evaluating
The Vietnam War was the longest and most expensive war in American History. The toll we paid wasn't just financial, it cost the people involved greatly, physically and mentally. This war caused great distress and sadness, as well as national confusion. Everyone had that one burning question being why? Why were we even there? The other question being why did America withdrawal from Vietnam. The purpose of this paper is to answer these two burning questions, and perhaps add some clarity to the confusion American was experiencing.
Brigham, Robert K., and E. Kenneth Hoffman. "Battlefield:Vietnam | History." PBS: Public Broadcasting Service. Web. 19 Sept. 2011.
Roark, James L. "Vietnam and the Limits of Power 1961-1975." The American Promise: A History of the United States. Boston, MA: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2008. 1,062- 1,100. Print.
This book details the discussion of government policy in the stages of the Vietnam crisis from 1961-July 1965. It examines the main characters of President Lyndon B. Johnson, Robert McNamara, in addition to the military, which included the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It began in the Kennedy era amidst the Bay of Pigs incident and how that led to mistrust of the military planning by advisors and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. It continues with Johnson and his administration making decisions over and over that continued to commit more and more involve...
Nixon’s principle objective was to reduce U.S involvement in the war, so he began the process called Vietnamization which gave the South Vietnam the money, the weapons, and the training that they need to take over the full conduct of the war. In return, the U.S troops would gradually withdraw from Vietnam. The president proclaimed the Nixon Doctrine, declaring that in the future Asian allies would receive U.S support but without the extensive use of U.S ground forces. Nixon’s Vietnamization process reduce the number of antiwar protests, but when the president expanded the war by using U.s forces to invade Cambodia in order to destroy Vietnam’s communist base, a nationwide protest occurred. U.S senate voted to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
While Nixon was in office, he used the war to his benefit, helping him win another term in office. Nixon’s plan was to use “Vietnamization,” a process in which American soldiers would train South Vietnamese to fight for themselves and eventually drawing American troops out of the war (Vietnamization). At first, General WestPoint was in charge, raiding Vietcong bases and trying to eliminate them. The original plan was to use the body count to discourage any more NVA troops from fighting, but this strategy backfired because both Vietnamese and American troops had high body counts. General Abraham was appointed as commander and began the “Vietnamization” strategy, which only seemed to work in the public’s eyes. Nixon made a treaty with South Vietnamese President, to have a ceasefire to withdraw American troops and release American POWs while South Vietnam took over the war (The). Nixon planned to use this strategy to withdraw all American troops, however it was “worse, Nixon would leave North Vietnamese troops occupying and controlling much of the South, while withdrawing all remaining American ground forces (Hughes).” Nixon’s use of Vietnamization helped to further his political resolve. He “sacrificed the lives of American soldiers to further his electoral ends (Hughes).” The ...
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.