During the Cold War, many lessons were learned. The United States had to learn these lessons to survive in a rapidly changing world. It learned lessons from the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin and the resolution that followed that lead to the invasion of Vietnam. It learned lessons from the horrors of war in Vietnam. And it learned lessons from The My Lai massacre in Vietnam, one of those very horrors. One lesson that was learned from all these incidents is that in uncertain times, restraint should be exercised. This lesson can be applied to situations like the War in Iraq. that the U.S. finds itself in today.
The lack of restraint used in the Vietnam War was enormous. Had more restraint been used when the U.S. was attacked by an enemy just before the War in Vietnam, the conflict could easily have been avoided. President Johnson did not use restraint in making his decision when two U.S. destroyers were supposedly attacked by North Vietnamese forces, commonly referred to as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. “Johnson told Americans that communist torpedo boats fired on U.S. destroyers on Aug. 2 and Aug. 4, 1964. Following that, Congress voted almost unanimously on Aug. 7 to give Johnson approval to step up U.S. involvement in Vietnam…. "More recent analysis ... now makes it clear that North Vietnamese naval forces did not attack (USS) Maddox and (USS) Turner Joy that night in the summer of 1964," (Dakks,). Johnson should have known the facts about the Gulf of Tonkin Incident before he proposed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which allowed him to justify the invasion of Vietnam.
During the Cold War the United States did not exercise enough restraint when it invaded Cambodia. President Nixon should have realized that invading Cambodia ...
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...ring the invasion of Cambodia. It was certainly not present during the My Lai Massacre. The lesson could have been applied during the Iraq War, but nary was the lesson a factor then. The U.S. could have won the Vietnam War and could have applied the knowledge to the War in Iraq if they had know that it is correct to use restraint in uncertain times. not enough restraint was exercised during the War in Iraq and the War in Vietnam. The invasion of both countries could have been avoided. Once the country was invaded, mistakes that changed the tide of the war could have easily been avoided. Massacres occurred that demonstrated the lack of restrain used. And the wars could have been won if the U.S. had seen the mistakes made during the course of the war and try and fix them. The U.S. could have won the war in Vietnam if they had used restraint in times of uncertainty.
The Cold War was a period of dark and melancholic times when the entire world lived in fear that the boiling pot may spill. The protectionist measures taken by Eisenhower kept the communists in check to suspend the progression of USSR’s radical ambitions and programs. From the suspenseful delirium from the Cold War, the United States often engaged in a dangerous policy of brinksmanship through the mid-1950s. Fortunately, these actions did not lead to a global nuclear disaster as both the US and USSR fully understood what the weapons of mass destruction were capable of.
In August of 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the closest thing there was to declaring war on Vietnam. A war that resulted in millions of people dying, and the loss of liberties for a large number of people. The Resolution was passed because the government (and the American people) believed that the Vietnamese had fired torpedoes at a US destroyer on routine patrol in the Tonkin Gulf on August 2, 1964. It was also reported that a second deliberate attack happened against a pair of ships two days later on August 4, 1964. 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 for 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. There was nothing there but black water and American fire power."
In the history of the United States, foreign policy has caused many disputes over the proper role in international affairs. The views, morals and beliefs of Americans, makes them feel the need to take leadership of the world and help those countries who are in need. The foreign policies of President Eisenhower will eventually lead to the involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War. President Eisenhower’s role in these policies was based on his military-type strategies to safeguard a victory in the Global Cold War. President Eisenhower’s foreign policies led to an effective involvement in the Cold War and enviably the Vietnam War from an American perspective.
U.S. political and military difficulties in Iraq have prompted comparisons to the American war in Vietnam. Unfolding events in Iraq have caused some observers to make analogies to the American experience in the Vietnam War. There are many reasons why most Americans believe that Iraq is becoming the new Vietnam, with U.S. troops getting shut down in a bloody war and occupation of a violent area. There are plenty of ways to compare and contrast the Vietnam and Iraq war. Many people have viewed Vietnam as a completely different war from the current one in Iraq. Despite these claims I have still noticed that there are many comparisons that have been made between the war in Iraq and the Vietnam War.
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.
No one could have realized that what seemed as an insignificant gesture to partake in training South Vietnamese armies and America’s involvement in Southeast Asia would one day have the impact it did on America. Although at the time when Eisenhower was trying to stop of the spread of communism it seemed the right thing to do, the repercussions of that decision and the war it eventually led to was devastating to America politically, socially, and culturally.
This was because the “appetite of aggression is never satisfied.” To even further his idea of this being a moral obligation he brought up the Bible. “…in the words of the Bible: ‘Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.’” He explained that the US’s only objective is to maintain the freedom of South Vietnam. Since attacks in Vietnam were growing stronger we had to send in attacks by air. Johnson then made an extremely bold statement, “We will not be defeated. We will not grow tired. We will not withdraw, either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement.” This statement was a strong statement of the US’s investment in the war. Of course we go into every war not wanting to withdraw but in this instance this statement made waves. Many people believed we should have NEVER gone into this war in the first place and now the president made the statement that we will NOT withdraw under any
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...
... all involved. President Johnson was determined to have a limited involvement in the war without involving the legal approval of Congress or the knowledge of the people of America. McNamara and Taylor regularly lie to conceal actions. McMaster has written a thorough look at the decisions of all these men, which certainly shows a Dereliction of Duty.
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.
War is an idea that has existed since the dawn of humanity, and with every war there are goals and motives, the Cold War is no different. The turmoil of the first World War in set the global stage for the future of relations between the United States, Russia, Britain and other countries. As the Russian civil war grew fiercer, allied forces, including U.S. forces, laid foot on Russian soil, at which point things took a turn for the worst. The Cold War was a war of competition, in every sense of the word; and although both the United States and the Soviet Union were teetering-tottering on the brink of war for many years after the first World War, ultimately the United States is to blame for initiation of the Cold War, as the United States adjusted
“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.”
President Johnson’s in-group avoided reconsidering its escalation policy when time and again the expectation on which they based their decisions turned out to be wrong. The policy-makers avoided the discussion of prior decisions and kept inventing new rationalizations to recommit themselves into defeating the North Vietnamese.
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.
“The world must know what happened, and never forget.” (World War 2) General Eisenhower reflecting upon the world war II, and acknowledging it as a pertinent event in the history of the United States of America. War is war, it is not pretty or humane, but what it is, is a diplomatic way in which to settle disputes and aggressions between countries. By analyzing these wars of the past, the people of the country can learn many things, be it mistakes made by one side, strategy from someone else or battle field etiquette. And it is through this analysis that the human race is able to further itself to not repeat the mistakes made by their ancestors. There are many lessons to be learned from looking at the seeds of, the fighting of, and the fallout of WWII.