After the well known Bay of Pigs fiasco, he felt he was advised that he needed a foreign policy success. The arena in which he was to succeed was to be Vietnam. President Kennedy wanted to be strong in Vietnam, to show off America's power. The president's role in the Vietnam War remains the most controversial aspect of his public
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.
Although the Tet Offensive was unsuccessful for the North Vietnamese Army, they showed that United States had seriously underestimated them and their capabilities. The United States boasted prematurely that the war was nearing its end and the North Vietnamese were all but defeated. However those statements were discredited by the media who brought the Tet Offensive into the homes of millions of Americans which resulted in the highest disapproval of any war amongst American citizens in the history of the United States. In addition the Tet Offensive also showed that the North Vietnamese were willing to fight until the last man and that regardless of how many casualties they suffered, they would fight the United States until the end. SGT Jordan Alvarado SFC Delong 13F ALC Class 017-13 19 July 2013 The
Fearing a communist overtake in Southeast Asia, the United States began to send troops to Vietnam in the 1950’s. The US avoided a direct attack on Vietnam or the Soviet Union as to evade the possible outbreak of WWIII. South Vietnam was supported by the United States; Northern Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union. The Viet Cong, the political organization/army of the Northern Vietnamese in favor of communist rule and domination, issued many attacks against the anticommunist Southern Vietnamese territory, majority of which resulted in copious amounts of death and damages. Upon seeing the underestimated strength of the rivaling powers, the United States had to rethink their strategies and tactics used when dealing with the USSR and Vietnamese powers.
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. Furthermore, when President Nixon began his presidency, people believed he would work to bring an end to America’s involvement in the Vietnam. Yet, this was not the case as Nixon increased bombing raids and authorized the invasion of Cambodia. When the war started, the American people were led to believe that the war was a necessity to ensure the protection of the nation as a whole.
In January 1905 Russia was forced to surrender their Port Arthur naval base in the north of China and in the months after the Japanese army defeated the Russian army in Manchuria. These defeats massively undermined the support for the Tsar and his regime. A series of further defeats in late 1905 made the Tsar and his regime even more unpopular the made him look even weaker and gave a large encouragement to the revolutionaries. Although the Russo-Japanese war was a main factor to the outbreak of the 1905 revolution it was not the factor that kicked it off, if you like. It was certainly a factor that accelerated the revolution.
One key reason why the US became progressively involved in Vietnam was the fear of the Domino theory. The Domino theory was arguably the most significant cause for the escalation of US support in the Vietnam War. The Americans feared that if they left the corrupt South Vietnamese government alone, the whole country would collapse to communism and ultimately spread to neighboring countries such as Laos and Cambodia. The most important reason as to why the United States became increasingly involved in Vietnam was the long-term effect of the Domino Theory. The Domino Theory was the belief that once one country had fallen to communism, its neighbors would do the same.
Paper #2 The Tet offensive proved to be the turning point of the war, delivering a fatal blow to political support for the war in the United States. Even though Tet was a disappointing defeat for North Vietnam in strictly military terms, it exposed the bankruptcy of U.S. war policy and aims in Vietnam, and paved the way for America’s eventual humiliation. The most surprising aspect of the Tet offensive was that it was not really a surprise at all. Yet the episode shows how even a superior force can be taken by surprise both militarily and politically when it lacks the initiative in war. Since the North Vietnamese had the initiative instead of the U.S., it was possible for their elaborate campaign of deception to succeed in maintaining the element of surprise, even though the U.S. discovered numerous details of the attack to come.
But United States leaders had other concerns. No sooner had World War II ended, then a "Cold War," between the forces of democracy and communism began (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). Long years of fighting had devastated the democratic nations of Western Europe, which left the communist Soviet Union as the dominant power in Europe and Asia (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). The Soviet Union had already over run most of Eastern Europe; now they seemed determined to spread communism all around the globe (Schomp The Vietnam War 5). 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).
Just thinking about, why would the Americas attack us in the part of the country they are trying to protect and defend? I was sent along with 20 to half thousand troops to attack Song Be, which is a South Vietnamese provincial capital. The battle seemed to take forever. Highly skilled southern troops were at our feet. We took every blow we could at them.