No conflict since the Civil War more divided Americans than U.S. involvement in the Civil War in Vietnam. American involvement in Vietnam resulted in deep divisions in U.S. society and remains a dark time in history and consciousness for many Americans. There were divisions within American society over the issue of America’s participation in the Vietnam War. Because of the unsure motives for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and strong opposition toward it, the basic concept of patriotism underwent reexamination by many Americans During the period from 1954 and 1973, United States officials from President Eisenhower to Nixon were convinced that they had to “save” Vietnam from Ho Chi Minh and his communist brand of nationalism. The pursuit of this goal proved to be damaging to national interests. Many consider American involvement in Vietnam as part of the 1960s Cold War, actually the United States was involved since foreign policy had incorporated some degree of participation in Vietnam’s nationalistic struggle since the 1940s. In the late 1940s, the U.S. had assumed a large part of the cost of France’s effort to regain control of Vietnam.
The price escalated during the early 1950s and by 1952 the U.S. took on roughly one-third of the cost of the war; between 1950 and 1954 American contributed $2.6 billion to France’s war effort. Although France was aided by the US, they were unable to defeat Ho’s Vietminh, and in 1954 the war reached a crisis when the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu. President Eisenhower refused to supply military aid without the consent of Congress and Great Britain, and then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson openly opposed spending America’s money (and soldiers) to perpetuate colonialism. However, Johnson would, as President, “inherit” President Kennedy’s decision to send not only money but men to Vietnam to aid the South against the communists; this decision would lead to his failure to seek re-election for a second full term in office as public protest against what would become, “unwinnable” war.
The Term Paper on Why Did The United States Get Involved In The Vietnam War?
... American President who lost a war. Endnotes: 1. President Eisenhower. Robert J Mac Mahon; Major problems in the history of the Vietnam War. ... The initial reasons for U.S. involvement in Vietnam seemed logical and compelling to American leaders. From Washington’s perspective, by ... support the French position in Vietnam when France agreed to a partially-independent Vietnam under Emperor Bao Dai as ...
Under John F. Kennedy’s leadership, American assistance to South Vietnam increased and the government took an active role in shaping both government policy and military action in Vietnam. Kennedy committed more than 16,000 troops and money to Vietnam as of 1963 – positioning the troops as “advisors” to South Vietnam’s government and military. Lyndon Johnson further expanded American involvement and the death toll of American troops grew steadily. As stated in our text book, public support for America’s participation in Vietnam was very similar to that for the war in Korea fifteen years earlier. The initial stages of the ground war generated some enthusiasm, as Americans felt a certain sense of pride in their nation’s power. As the months turned into years, and the cost in lives in dollars escalated, and no particular goal was achieved, public support was lost. A student protest movement, in which the emerging Civil Rights Movement and anti-war protest merged somewhat, focused attention at home on growing discontent with America’s foreign policy.
Johnson’s failure to seek re-election is just one indication of how deeply this growing discontent affected American politics. Officials divided into two camps, of “hawks” and “doves,” according to their feelings regarding the war. Every night, the television news programs carried footage about the war and America’s losses – the “body count” – which made it increasingly clear that the war was “going nowhere,” and that American troops were not “winning.” Television played a huge part in the 1960s of the United States in Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson succeeded in getting almost unlimited authority to wage war in Vietnam from the Congress using the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This legislation, passed after the North Vietnamese sunk American ships off the Vietnamese coast, was passed almost in the heat of the moment and reflected wounded American pride as much as Congresses’ willingness to accord Johnson extraordinary powers similar to those given to Roosevelt in World War II.
The Essay on Why Did the Us Lose the War in Vietnam?
... president Lyndon Johnson sent American troops. The US government had subsidized and politically simulated the establishment of the state of South Vietnam, to ... history of the United States of America has taken place in Vietnam during the Cold War. “The US fear of a communist ... this essay, the main arguments of why America lost the war and what guerrilla war is, will be evaluated in terms of ...
General William Westmoreland, attempting to fight a conventional war against guerilla forces, sought and received increasing supplies of men and materials throughout the 1960s. Nevertheless, as public opinion turned against the war, Westmoreland found himself vulnerable in his military activities by an increasingly reluctant and divided government at home and a more and more vocal public opposition toward the war. Part of the problem according to Moss, while General Westmoreland did obtain the 300,000 additional troops he needed from Johnson, he could not develop an effective strategy against forces that simply did not follow traditional rules of combat. Though the war was “thoroughly Americanized” by the late 1960s – with American troops during most of the fighting and American generals creating strategy and American dollars paying for it all, American policy made it difficult to carry out a possible offensive. Vietnam represented what clearly can be said to be a defining moment in America’s history.
It was an unpopular war, fought on terms the military did not understand, and disadvantaged by the political divisions of the government. Many soldiers at home and abroad expressed their own frustration, adding fuel to the fires of conflict. Though Richard Nixon, after his election, moved toward “Vietnamization” of the war, his primary goal was American withdrawal. By 1972 he simply wanted to end the war with as little embarrassment as possible. This he accomplished, but not without difficulty. Despite America’s millions of dollars and investment of American lives, North Vietnam won a complete victory over the South. In this case, public policy shaped foreign policy and reserved military action. Johnson, like many other typical “Cold Warriors,” saw in communism a direct threat to the security of the United States, no matter how distant the communist presence might be. He believed that it was necessary to prevent the spread of communism on any and all fronts in order to preserve democracy here and abroad.
The Essay on Communism And America Soviet Union
The word communism has always been a sort of taboo word to say. Even today we call people commies to make fun or tease people. Why did all this start? How did communism become a bad a word? Well communism has always been feared since the birth of our nation. It was the form of government that the majority of Americans did not want. Communism is basically a theory or system based on the ownership ...
This belief led him and others who supported American involvement in Vietnam to overlook a critical fact, though China and the Soviet Union were involved with Hanoi, the struggle between North and South in Vietnam was still very much an internal political conflict. Although the China and the Soviet Union were helping North Vietnam, they were in no position to become part of the American War in Vietnam. Soviet Union could not withstand economic and other pressures, even China was slowly turning to a more open market economy and being confronted by demands for greater personal independence by its people. The shifting world of the 1960s and 1970s collapsed along with the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall – a symbolic demonstration of the end of the Cold War.
Vietnam did “fall” to communism; America did withdraw and enter into an agreement that Johnson swore would never become a reality. The United States has not been attacked by communist powers and it doesn’t seem like it will happen anytime in the near future. Looking back, this nation’s unsuccessful struggle in Vietnam seems to have been just that – an exercise in senselessness that cost more than it “won.”
References
Hass, K. A. (1998).
Carried to the Wall: American Memory and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Berkeley, CA: Univ. of California Press.
Kissinger, H. (1969).
American Foreign Policy. New York, NY: Norton.
Lamb, K. A. (1978).
The People, Maybe. N. Scuitate, MA: Duxbury.
Perret, G. (1989).
A Country Made by War. New York, NY: Random House.
The Essay on Canada’s Involvement in the Vietnam War
The bloody Vietnam War of the 1950’s was fought by the brave American troops with the help of the Canadian citizens. Though, sources claim that Canada had a limited amount of contribution in the war, facts state otherwise. The Vietnam War took place during the Cold War era where a military conflict had occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from November 1 1955 to April 30 1975. Canada became ...
Martin, T. (1994).
America’s Mission. Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press.
Roberts, R. and Martin, J. K. (1989).
America and its People. New York, Harper Collins.
Roush, G. (2003).
Statistics about the Vietnam War. The History Channel, Viewed on Jan 10, 2003: http://www.vhfcn.org/stat. html
