The Pros And Cons Of The Vietnam War

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Throughout history, the American people have, for the most part, stood united during times of war. The people of America always seemed to rally behind each other. Most people were either willing to fight in the war or willing to take up the responsibilities of those who left for war. The majority of Americans supported the decisions of our nation’s government. This was not the case during the Vietnam War. For the first time in American history, widespread revolt against our nation’s decision to fight in the war influenced the outcome. This is what saved our country and the lives of soldiers who were fighting an unwinnable war. 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 involvement in the war. With public pressure to leave Vietnam rising to an all-time high, President Johnson was met with another obstacle: the gold crisis. Because Johnson financed the war without proper taxing or Congressional consent, the economy entered into a crisis (Herring, p. 252-253). This made it increasingly difficult for Johnson to keep his promise of seeing the war through to a positive outcome. At this point, Johnson made a major shift in the war policy. He, along with his advisors, decided to move from Americanization to Vietnamization. This meant equipping the South Vietnamese with the right supplies and allowing them to fight for themselves (Herring, p. 246). In a speech on March 31, 1968 Johnson announced that the bombing in Vietnam would be drastically reduced. He also shocked the nation by saying, “I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your president.” (Herring, p. 258). This was the beginning of the end of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam

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