22.1- Moving Toward Conflict
• United States Sides with France o The United States never intentionally wanted to start a war, but still showed massive support towards their ally, France. o The French was in the middle of the French Indochina a War, fighting to regain their territory after losing colonies during World War II.
The United States also joined in to take advantage in their fight against communism as Cold War was still raging on. o After World War II came to an end, Vietnamese exiles were tired of French rule and formed revolutionary groups under command of Ho Chi Ming, leader of the Indochinese Communist Party.
With his power growing, he eventually gained complete control over the country of Vietnam with help from the group
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Johnson recalled that decision and ended up making the conflict even worse.
South Vietnam entered a greater state of chaos after Diem’s death, allowing the Vietcong to gain greater influence over the many cities that are present there.
This caused Johnson to believe an invasion from North Vietnam would be inevitable at this point, scared it would ruin his image and reputation. o Suddenly, August 2 in the year of 1964, North Vietnam fired torpedoes at the American Battleship, USS Maddox, which was on a patrol.
This ship than took advantage by firing upon patrol ships and the coast of Vietnam even though they were no longer experiencing attacks.
However, the ship would not admit they were being attacked, making Johnson believe an invasion was coming and sent in many bomb strikes. o Johnson managed to get the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to be passed, which did not officially declare war against Vietnam, but gave Johnson military power.
Johnson began sending in covert teams to raid North Vietnam, but then he went over the edge in 1965.
After eight Americans were killed, he sent in over 5,000 to fight a
When Vietnamese revolutionary Ho Chi Minh and his political organization, the Vietminh, seized control of their independence from France United States Politicians saw it as another communist take over. When really Ho was more a nationalist than a communist. All Minh wanted was for the United States to recognize its independence from France and to send aid to help it reach its nationalistic goals. "Before the Cold War Ho and the Vietmin...
Based on this information, the President in a news conference announced to the U.S. that he was ordering air strikes against North Vietnam in retaliation for the attacks on US ships. But information now leads us to believe that President Johnson had ordered bombers to strike in an attack that never happened. It has even been reported that before the air strikes even began, there was reason to believe that the attack on August 4th never happened. There are transmission reports from the commander in the Tonkin Gulf, Captain John J. Herrick stating that there was an overeager sonarman who "was hearing ship's own propeller beat" and freaky weather conditions. Also, Navy pilot, James Stockdale, who was flying in the area that night, stated that "our destroyers were just shooting at phantom targets there were no boats there.
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.
Japan bombed the Dutch harbor in Alaska on the days of June 3rd and 4th. Japan landed there instead of on the islands of Attu and Kiska, in fear the United States might be there. The attacks failed when the plan to get the American fleet from Midway to aid the freshly bombed Dutch harbor. At 0900 hours, an American patrol boat spotted the Japanese fleet seven hundred miles from Midway. At that point, admiral Soroku Yamamoto’s plans for a sneak attack were over.
When president of south Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem decided that the election of 1956 should be canceled, America strongly agreed so that Minh could not gain control of the whole country. Diem was a Catholic, which angered the country consisting mostly of Buddhist. In opposition to Diem, a new regime was conjured up in south Vietnam called the Vietcong. Vietcong were residents of South Vietnam who were in favor of the communist rule in North Vietnam.
In this selection of reading President Johnson is defending his Vietnam policy. This address by Johnson lays out many arguments for why the war in Vietnam is necessary; they are as follows: (a) the self-determination of nations; (b) aggressive forces; (c) communism as a menace to the world; (d) idea that everything operates like dominoes; (e) avoiding another Munich; (f) responsibility of the American people; (g) a “new deal” for third-world countries; (h) a better tomorrow for the world
On August 2, 1964 an incident happened between the USS Maddox and a North Vietnamese torpedo ships. While the Maddox was doing a casual sweep through of the Tonkin Gulf, the North Vietnamese ships began to follow. Captain Herrick ordered his men to shoot while he radioed an aircraft carrier for assistance. After feeling threated, the North Vietnamese ships each fired one torpedo. Two missed and the third failed to launch. The Maddox was barely touched, as for the Vietnamese ships, two were in bad shape and the other had sunk. Meanwhile, over in Washington D.C., President Lyndon B. Johnson was frantic about the situation he had been informed of. At first, President Johnson had no desire to hold any reprisal against North Vietnam. He proceeded to tell Russia that he had no interest in extending the conflict. However, he did warn that there would be consequences for their action. This conflict had our stationed soldiers on high al...
“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.”
At the end of World War II, Japanese forces in Indochina turned over power to Vietnamese Nationalists. Japan had created an independent Vietnamese government. Japan allowed this government to be displaced by the Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh. (The History Place, Beginner’s Guide)
After World War II, the French began a fight for their former colony of Indochina, which included Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The French and other countries failed to see at that time the will and desire of the Vietnamese people to gain independence from foreign rule and to have their country unified. Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese nationalist, fought the French and overtook the North Vietnam capital of Hanoi with his followers, the Viet Minh, declaring the area the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. (Anderson, 2002) The French were unwilling to give up their colony and drove the Vietminh from many of the larger cities in the south. The United States entered the Vietnam struggle in 1950 when $15 million in aid was pledged to France in order to fight the Vietminh. (Anderson, 2002) The rationale was to align with France and keep the Soviet Union from expanding in Europe and to keep another country from falling into communist rule.
While the Vietnam battles began in the 1950’s, America did not become involved until 1965, under the command of President Lyndon Johnson. Right away the decision was met with mixed reactions. World War II had ended about 20 years prior to the deployment of U.S. troops in Vietnam, and many were not exactly excited to jump into another war. Right away protest groups formed across the nation, and many people began to let ...
The conflict in Vietnam for the United States started when President Dwight D. Eisenhower went along with the domino theory and sent in military advisors in South Vietnam to stop the communist movement from taking place in South Vietnam. The Vietnam conflict was between the communist’s and the United States. North Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh, and Ho Chi Minh led the Viet Cong, a guerilla group to help spread communism. The United States were supporters of the South Vietnam because they wanted them to maintain their government rather than falling to the domino theory of communism. After Eisenhower’s term ended John F. Kennedy became president and took control of the situation of Vietnam but on November 22, 1963, Kennedy was assassinated. Lyndon B. Johnson succeeded presidency and the problems of Vietnam were left to himself. In 1963, the Tonkin Gulf incident occurred where, the U.S.S Maddox was attacked by North Vietnamese naval ships on august 2 1964. Two days later an even more controversial attack happened where it was reported another ship was attacked again but has later been proven false. Johnson used these events to gain congressional approval to enter into Vietnam. However the Tonkin Gulf Incident was questioned to have even happened which makes the war undoubtedly questionable Immediately after the incident . Many troops were killed in Vietnam and the United States eventually lost the war and does not achieve their goal to stop communism. Despite the large amount of conflict in Vietnam that needed to be resolved, escalating the war was the wrong idea by Johnson, as the many consequences of the war for the United States outweighed the potential spread of communism.
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 these 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 decision 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 Kennedy¡¦s policy. Kennedy promised in his inaugural address, Let every nation know...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty. From the 1880s until World War II, France governed Vietnam as part of French Indochina, which also included Cambodia and Laos. The country was under the formal control of an emperor, Bao Dai. From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese struggled for their independence from France during the first Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South. For this reason the United States became involved in Vietnam because it believed that if all of the country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and further. This belief was known as the domino theory. The decision to enter Vietnam reflected America¡¦s idea of its global role-U.S. could not recoil from world leadership. The U.S. government supported the South Vietnamese government. The U.S. government wanted to establish the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which extended protection to South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in case of Communist subversion. SEATO, which came into force in 1955, became the way which Washington justified its support for South Vietnam; this support eventually became direct involvement of U.S. troops. In 1955, the United States picked Ngo Dinh Diem to replace Bao Dai as head of the anti-Communist regime in South Vietnam. Eisenhower chose to support Ngo Dinh Diem. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born in Brookline, Mass., on May 29, 1917. Kennedy graduated from Harvard University in 1940 and joined the Navy the next year.
At the same time, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were involved in the Cold War. They were competing against one another, constantly trying to show that their country (and therefore their form of government and ideals) was the better choice. They were competing for influence over the rest of the world. Eventually the USSR and Communism lost, but far more important results came out of this competition instead.
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.