America's Role in Containing Communism

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Immediately after World War II, another war emerged from the horizon. The Cold War, a battle for both political and military superiority between the Soviet Union and the United States, began soon after World War II, with Vietnam as a central issue. Vietnam, bordered by China, Laos, and Cambodia, became a colony of the French in the late 1800s, who exploited the locals for raw material, such as tin, rubber, and oil. They justified imperialism by insisting that they were protecting the Vietnamese and held power over Indochina until World War II. Desperate for resources, the Japanese conquered Southeast Asia, including Vietnam, for raw materials during World War II. While the French did naught, Ho Chi Minh took advantage of the political vacuum left by the Japanese surrender in 1945 and established the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. When China developed into a communist nation, the United States began to intervene in the First Indochina War, which resulted in the separation of Vietnam into the democratic South and the communist North along the 17th Parallel in 1954. From 1945 to 1964, American intervention in Vietnam was due to the leaders of Vietnam, the nerveless Bao Dai, the puppet Ngo Dinh Diem, and their communist rival, Ho Chi Minh.

The Vietnamese Emperor, Bao Dai, neglected his duties and vacationed in France, forcing the United States to intervene in order to give the inexperienced emperor a chance to contain communism. With the growing communist threat in North Vietnam, the United States saw Bao Dai as “the defender of ‘democracy’ and ‘independent nationalism’” (Puppets). As a supporter of freedom and equality, the United States must do all that it can to contain communism─ which the United States saw as a type of dictat...

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...came a major threat, as he gained access to enough resources to create an army that could overthrow Diem’s government. Reacting to the declaration, the United States sent advisors to Vietnam to make sure that Diem’s government is impregnable to the communists.

With the incapable Bao Dai and the obdurate Ngo Dinh Diem against the resourceful Ho Chi Minh, American intervention became mandatory in preventing the spread of communism. The United States could only support Diem of the democratic South, as the emperor wasted his time in France. However, the actions of Diem did little to improve the lives of the peasants and he quickly lost their support to Ho Chi Minh. Therefore, American intervention was necessary to contain communism and unlock the shackles of servitude imposed on the Vietnamese by the communists, giving the Vietnamese the bright future of opportunity.

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