U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War
Although it was called the Vietnam War, the U.S. was primarily involved and participated in most of the warfare to defend democracy. South Vietnam's government and army were not well organized. The U.S. fought most of the war, then when it turned the war over to the South Vietnamese, they couldn't fight the North.
Ngo Dinh Diem, prime minister of South Vietnam, was opposed in South Vietnam. Buddhists grew inpatient since Diem's government had long offered benefits to Catholics, and in May 1963 protests were held in the city of Hue since Diem refused to allow Buddhists to fly Buddha's flag on the anniversary of his birthday (Detzer 69-71). Diem's soldiers opened fire and killed nine people, then some Buddhists began to publicly burn themselves to death as a protest (Detzer 71). Another problem for Diem was his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. Nhu was in charge of South Vietnam's police and imprisoned or killed virtually anyone who opposed Diem (Detzer 69). Nhu, under the strain, started to take opium, became addicted, and became increasingly dangerous (Detzer 69). Some of Diem's generals began to plot against Diem and Nhu and asked American representatives in Saigon to help them (Detzer 71). Kennedy would continue to support Diem if he would rid himself of Nhu, but Diem refused to even listen to the suggestion so Kennedy turned his back on Diem (Detzer 71). On November 1, 1963, Diem and Nhu were overthrown and murdered by half a dozen frightened generals (Detzer 71). Political events in Saigon became unstable:
When Diem was murdered, his successors, the junta of generals, began to replace his people with their own followers. In Saigon and out in the provinces the result was political turmoil; in the army it was almost as bad. Meanwhile, the members of the junta wrestled with one another. One of them would be ousted and another would take his place. Each time this happened, the man at the top put some of his followers in critical positions. The result, inevitably, was chaos. (Detzer 76)
The U.S. did not fight for Vietnam right away. Instead it sent military advisors and goods to Vietnam. By November 1963 there were 16,000 military advisors in Vietnam and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) was mostly helicopters and armored personnel carriers (Detzer 68-69).
The Americans entered the war in 1964 because they believed in the domino theory, that if one nation fell into communism then other nations would follow. Soon America found it almost impossible to fight against people who were so determined to win, so America pulled its troops out of Vietnam in 1973. Withdrawing the American troops resulted in the South Vietnamese forces being defeated by the communists who then took over the country.
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 Vietnam War was one of many. One reason some people argue the US should have been in the Vietnam War is because of the belief the US was trying to help establish a democracy there. The Vietnam war helping America win the cold war was another reason people believe the US was justified in the Vietnam war. Others believe that the US should not have been there because they were supporting a corrupt government, another reason is that American warfare was excessive and abusively killed many innocent civilians and ruined the land. While it appeared that the US was trying to spread democracy and win the cold war, but in truth, the US was supporting a mini Hitler, and our strategy had little chance of
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.
It consisted of North Vietnam trying to make South Vietnam a communist government. The United States later joined this conflict because of the stress North Vietnam was putting on South Vietnam to become a government that America did not want. The main reason why America joined was because of a theory called the Domino Effect. America and Russia were going through what has been dubbed the Cold War. The Domino Effect is the theory that communism will spread from one country to another.
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.
By 1960 the American troops were sent in to fight a war that cost; Fifty-eight thousand Americans lost their lives. The losses to the Vietnamese people were appalling. The financial cost to the United States comes to something over $150 billion dollars. Direct American involvement began in 1955 with the arrival of the first advisors. The first combat troops arrived in 1965 and we fought the war until the cease-fire of January 1973.
The participation of the United States in the Vietnam War was Archer 2 the subject of much debate with the American public throughout the duration of the war. The war in Vietnam did not cause any direct harm to the United States. The conflict was between the Vietcong, rebel communists in North Vietnam, and the South Vietnamese. The U.S. became involved in preventing the attack. the spread of communism.
Most of the U.S. Advisers were in favor of a coup, with one of the chief demands being that Ngo Ninh Nhu be removed. It was belived that he was in charge of the secret police, he was also Diems most powerful adviser. The CIA came into contact with generals planning to remove Diem. The generals were told that the U.S. would not oppose such a move.
The reasons for the Vietnam War took place long before the war even began. For years, the Vietnamese had been under French colonial rule. But, when Communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh came back to Vietnam, he established a group called the Viet Minh, the goal of which was to remove all French occupation from Vietnam. So, the fighting started, and Ho Chi Minh tried to get the US to support them. But, being true to their policies of containment, the US started supporting France. The United States' thoughts about Communism's potential growth can be summed up in one basic idea: the Domino Theory. This theory stated that if one country in a region fell to Communism, the surrounding countries would soon follow. Because of this, the US committed to keeping the North Vietnamese contained once the French withdrew from Vietnam. But, the thing that really pushed the US into sending troops into Vietnam was the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. On August 2nd and 4th, 1964, the North Vietnamese fired upon two US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Following this, Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on August 7, 1964, which gave the president authority to send military troops into Vietnam without declaring war. So, President Johnson sent troops into Vietnam, which had already erupted into civil war, to aid the South Vietnamese.
The Vietnam War was the direct result of the First Indochina War, therefore it is also known as the Second Indochina War. But, in Vietnam today it is known as the American War because the United States directed the war from 1965 to 1968. The Vietnam War began in 1954. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong were fighting South Vietnam to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. The Vietnam War was one of the longest wars in history.
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 in Vietnam.
“The Vietnam war was a costly and very long conflict that eroded the communist regime of North Vietnam and its allies against the South Vietnam and its ally, us the United States of America (Unknown Source).” The Vietnam War began on the eve of 1959, causing a struggle between two of our major national forces. These two forces were attempting to unify the country the both love, 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 is known as the domino theory. The decision to enter Vietnam reflected Americas idea of its global role - the U.S. could not recoil from world leadership.
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.