Laos was threatened by Communist insurgents and Prince Sihanouk of Cambodia had renounced aid from the US and demanded neutrality in any further conflicts. Left-wing insurgents were threatening Thailand and the British were having similar issues in dealing with threats in Malaysia and Borneo. Sukarno. Leader of Indonesia, had started to show an interest in the Indonesian communist party, much to the ire of America. While the more sophisticated of the US advisers realised that the domino theory was too simplistic in an increasingly non-linear world, split not just by ideology but also historically through ethnic and nationalist conflict, this didn't mean that the USSR and China would exploit any weakness shown by the USA.
At the same time they tried to create a strong non-communist South Vietnam under the leadership of Diem. By the late 1950s, the communist rebels in South Vietnam declared a revolutionary struggle against Diem, so as to reunify Vietnam under communist rule. In turn, by the 1960s the USA became more and more alarmed at this prospect, leading to further intervention in Vietnam to stop this. When Kennedy was inaugurated he inherited many crises around the globe, the most pertinent was the loss of Cuba. After the well known Bay of Pigs fiasco, he felt he was advised that he needed a foreign policy success.
However, you shouldn't make the assumption that devotion to ideology was all that was behind Cold War animosity; countries tend to be more complaint trading partners with countries that share their political systems and both Stalin and the Cold War Era presidents in the US knew this. The tension eventually built, but no one wanted to go to actual war again after the colossal massacre of WWII, hence the term Cold War. 2. Describe and explain the ideological differences between the United Stated and the Soviet Union. In 1917, Russia became a communist country with an agenda of converting the world to communism.
After that, nation after nation might fall to Communism. Communism is a political and economic system that the United States strongly opposed. Vietnam had been split in half in 1954, after fighting a war to gain independence from France. When French forces withdrew the US felt they needed to take matters into their own hands but the Vietnamese Communists gained control of North Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the North Vietnamese Communists.
To help counter that threat Truman started secretly sending money as well as supplies to help back the French forces against Ho Chi Minh's forces (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). This led Ho to seek help from China and the Soviet Union, which made Ho favorable towards communism (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). Although the United States was not directly involved in the war until 1955, they did still indirectly play a role in the move against Ho Chi Minh's forces. In an attempt to regain control, France left the French educated, strongly anti-communist Bao Dai in control of the region ("Vietnam War"). This enraged Ho Chi Minh, and his forces immediately rose up seizing the northern city of Hanoi, creating the Democratic Republic of Vietnam ("Vietnam War").
The United States got involved in the Vietnam War from 1954 -1964 to prevent and contain communism. In Vietnam, an independence movement under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh rose to challenge French rule. The United States helped France by giving financial and military aid. The US had moral and ethical reasons to stand up and face unethical leaders that oppressed other weaker people and to contain the spread of communism. Communism is horrible because the government controls every move you make and you have no say in what happens in your life.
After the second world war, the Soviet Union occupied several countries in eastern Europe by not allowing them to have free elections. By doing that they created a buffer zone in order to protect their ideology. The government of America saw it as a violation of their pledge and the possible spread of the disliked ideology all over the world. This motivated the States to put their energy into an arms race and to be ready for a Soviet invasion, which actually never happened because this might not even have been the goal of the Soviet Union. In his work, Fleming explained that if the Soviets wanted to attack the united states of America they had done it because they had all the necessary equipment but at that period the nation was more interested in its inner politics than conquering the world.
During 1957 and 1965 they have some problems with the government and North Vietnam send their troops to fight against the government. After this the war started. The North Vietnam has the support of other communist countries for example the USSR and the South Vietnam have the support of the US, this because the US was anti-communist. The US sent equipment and troops to South Vietnam, because they were going to help them win this war against the communism. When the war started many American people was against it and want this to end son as possible.
Richard Nixon’s election to Presidency of the United States in 1968, marked a turning point in American foreign policy and a new strategic approach to the war in Vietnam. It was a war he had inherited from his predecessor, Lyndon Johnson. Domestic support for the war had diminished significantly, with national outpourings of opposition. This prompted Nixon to make his famous ‘silent majority’ speech, where he outlined his position on Vietnam, “After all, we became involved in the war while my predecessor was in office. I could blame the defeat which would have been the result of my action on him and come out as Peacemaker…But I had a greater obligation than to think only of the years of my administration and of the next election.
There were several factors that created this general distrust. One of these factors included America’s continued presence in Vietnam when funding was out of the country’s budget. On top of warfare spending, President Johnson implemented and Congress supported a number of much needed domestic programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Federal Education spending (“Great Society,” 2009). However, as taxes were not raised to help support these new programs, President Johnson’s Great Society agenda resulted in inflation and an incredible contribution to the federal debt. Another event that impacted the public’s view of government dishonesty during this time was President Nixon’s involvement with the infamous Watergate scandal which eventually led to his resignation on August 9, 1974.