Harry Truman is an important figure in relation to Vietnam as it was him who made the decision to oppose communism throughout the world. In relation to US support for France, the Truman administration concluded that the French were invaluable allies against Communism in both Indochina and Europe, and therefore deserving of American assistance. However, many articulate Vietnamese were unhappy with French rule, which resulted in a small Vietnamese nationalist group in espouse of Communism grown up in exile under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Consequently, Truman offered $10 million to support the French military effort, and established a US Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Saigon. This assistance then increased, as by the end of the year, the US had given France $100 million, along with aircraft, patrol boats, napalm bombs and ground combat machinery.
In my opinion Operation Rolling Thunder (ORT) was a massive failure. As the US did not meet its official aims and objectives of stopping the spread of communism to Vietnam. It caused a lot of inexperienced soldiers to lose their lives. Also having a major effect on America its self as the country battled to juggle money to afford the cost of the war. But one of the hardest battle’s for the US was to keep their own countries support.
The failure of foreign policy in the years 1514-1525 can be attributed to many things. The combination of Henry's isolation from European affairs and the fact that his attempts to raise tax were ultimately unpopular failures, meant that he had no way to impose himself upon Europe. Even when he did manage to scrape together the finances needed for a strong foreign policy his reliance on his allies led to disaster. As soon as Henry took the throne in 1509, it was obvious that he was a king that wanted to fight a war. However, wars generally led to very expensive costs to the country.
In many ways Kennedy did increase US involvement in Vietnam to benefit and protect the south, one of the reasons being Kennedy’s awareness of the limitations and weaknesses of the South Vietnamese Army. The instability of a demoralised army would lead to further political problems and make it very difficult for the south to defend its self from the north. However the USA still needed to protect its own vital national interests. The spread of communism was still a growing concern and a massive threat to the USA which argues that the reason USA became involved with the south was to protect USA from the spread of communism rather than to help the people of South Vietnam. Kennedy and the USA was committed to containment meaning the US foreign policy was predicated by the commitment to protect freedom wherever it was under threat which was applied perfectly to South Vietnams situation.
He had incredible ideas of massive change for world peace and he found the conclusion of “The war to end all wars,” to be the best time to introduce his ideas and attempt to make the world safe for democracy. Wilson’s crusade for making the world safe for democracy led America to support the US’s entrance into the war. It was also seen by many Americans that France and Britain were fighting good fight against evil and America felt that they should be assisting, if not fighting that evil along side France and Britain. The desire to implement his ideas in the world influenced his decision to enter America into the Great War. When the war finally ended, many of his 14 points were rejected because of France and Britain’s need for revenge.
Because the American government openly supported the Christian Diem, the South Vietnamese were almost as against American involvement as the North Vietnamese by the time of the Tet Offensive. The Americans’ failure to keep the North Vietnamese at bay only added further tension between the United States and the people they were trying to help. Back in the U.S., protest was growing to the point that full engagement in Vietnam was becoming difficult. Opposition to the draft was an extremely crucial form of protest. Literally, “tens of thousands fled to Canada or Europe to avoid the draft” (Wills 29).
The hawks and doves were complete opposites, the hawk’s argument concluded that America must win the war in Vietnam in order to contain communism in Southeast Asia and preserve the nation’s prestige (Davidson-Gienapp-Heyrman-Lytle-Stroff, 2005). The doves on the other hand wanted the conflict in Vietnam ended immediately and the troops returned home. The political and social outcomes facing the United States because of the conflict in Vietnam ranged from a growing distrust of the decisions being made by the political leaders to the ever increasing cost of the conflict in Vietnam. The growing distrust helped to fuel the student unrest because the younger generation decided to voice their opinions and take a stand for those
It is correct that he supported the American Revolution, which nearly bankrupted him- but without his support, America may not have won Her independence. When he ascended the throne, Louis inherited a country in terrible debt. The people of France also deeply resented his grandfather and the nobility who were seen as despots. So he started out on a bad foot. Men named Turgot and Malesherbes
At this time Kim Il Sung's made a national address in which he stated "The war which we are forced to wage is a just war for the unification and independence of the motherland and for freedom and democracy." The Americans took this act as a sign that Kim II Sung was utilising a communist take-over, thus in October of the same year America, with UN sanction, invaded North Korea. The Korean War became the first American war ever waged solely as an ideological war. "For the first time in the nations history Americans were asked to fight and die to contain an idea". The Korean War was extremely popular domestically because it was part of the Cold War.
These groups were determined to prevent integration at all costs. In 1957 the principal of Little Rock High School was getting death threats and threats to bomb the school. Yet another cause was that Eisenhower had little faith in the measures to support the Black community in the south because a change in heart was required and you can not enforce that. He felt that enforcing these laws may make matters even worse. When Eisenhower finally did something and sent the 1,000 paratroopers, a lot of the people in America were extremely annoyed, the west and north were angry that it didn't happen sooner and the south were angry that it happened at all, and disowned Eisenhower as a southerner.