How accurate is it to say that Eisenhower and Kennedy must share responsibility for the escalation of US involvement in south-east Asia in the years 1954-63? Throughout their history the Vietnamese people suffered foreign interference and conquest. This began with the early French interest in the 17th century and by the late 19th century France had conquered Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, which were collectively known as French Indo-China. This French capture was highly supported by the US government. Harry Truman is an important figure in relation to Vietnam as it was him who made the decision to oppose communism throughout the world.
This was ultimately a success however, a complete disregard of the Nuremburg Laws, that is if they were applied to US presidents due to the overthrowing of a non-hostile government for self-indulged reasoning (Hatch). This showed President Eisenhower’s abuse of his power; however he is never tainted by his actions due to its success as well as the fact that during this era, the second Red Scare as in effect and the fear of Communism was at a high. Eisenhower used this fear as an opportunity to wield his power to its zenith and use the public’s fear as an excuse to do
He came to office promising peace and honor through Vietnamizaiton. However, he actually expanded the war by getting involved in Cambodia and pulling his coup and secret war there. LBJ had been fighting an air war in Laos, while Nixon decides to escalate it. The US got involved in Cambodia because of its supply port. The attack in Cambodia was far more public than Laos and had a much bigger impact, thus losing more credibility for the US.
He announced his plan of “Vietnamization” which was a strategy which replaced American troops with Vietnamese troops. Vietnamization was supposed created so that the responsibility of the war would fall into the hand of South Vietnam. It allowed American troops to return home slowly. In the same year, President Nixon had planned to secretly bomb Cambodia with an effort to eliminate the Communist camps that were present over there. In 1970, troops started to invade Cambodia which infuriated people because Nixon had promised peace.
Although source 6 describes Henry and Wolsey’s foreign policies as failures, David Gross ell does go on to write that Wolsey succeeded in bringing glory and honour. This is reinforced by other successes in their foreign policies, for example the field of cloth of gold which extravagance impressed the likes of many, and showed other possible allies the extent of Henry’s supposed wealth. This can also be seen in source 4, depicting fountains flowing with wine. However, as far as their foreign policies are concerned, by and large they were a massive failure, as seen in source 5 “never saw the time so needful for the King’s Highness to call his council”. Other examples include Henrys betrayal by Charles, the uproar caused by the Anglo-French alliance and the Amicable Grant.
North Vietnamese soldiers intruded Cambodia and used the country as their refuge. At the same time, a communist movement, the Khmer Rouge, began pressuring the government as well. In 1970, the Khmer Rouge started anti-Vietnamese riots, and Sihanouk was overthrown by General Lon Nol. The Vietnam Peace Agreement of 1973 set removal of foreign forces from Cambodia, but the fighting did not end. The people of Cambodia hated their corrupt government, so they followed the lead of the Khmer Rouge.
It had also failed politically. Not only did the USA fail to stop South Vietnam going Communist, but the heavy bombing of Vietnam's neighbours Laos and Cambodia actually helped the Communist forces in those countries to win support. By 1975 both Laos and Cambodia had Communist governments. Instead of slowing it down, American policies actually speeded up the domino effect in the region. It was also a propaganda disaster.
John F. Kennedy was increasingly worried disclosures detailing his much-rumored womanizing. Almost everyone in the media dealing with un-relative things in relation with society. Prior to Kennedy’s election to the presidency, the Eisenhower Administration created a plan to overthrow the Fidel Castro regime in Cuba. Central to such a plan, which was structured and detailed y the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) with minimal input from the United States Department of State, was the arming of a counter-revolutionary insurgency composed of anti-Castro Cubans. U.S. trained Cuban insurgents were to invade Cuba and instigate an uprising among the Cuban people in hopes of removing Castro from power.
The importance of the Cambodian genocide is seen through the history behind the Khmer Rouge, the activities of the S21 prison and the victims of the S21 prison. From 1975 to 1979, a Marxist dictator named Pol Pot took over the Cambodian government. His communist group, the Khmer Rouge became in charge of the country and renamed it Democratic Kampuchea. Pol pot was trying to build an agrarian utopia where there was no capitalism.. He wanted to purify society.
With the takeover of Eastern Europe and Communism spreading fast. Churchill and Truman had to start liberating as money countries as they could, as fast as they could. They succeeded. In the countries that the Red Army "liberated", communist-dominated governments took power. The Communists made sure that they controlled the army, set up a secret police force and began to arrest their opponents.