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.
The Domino Theory was the belief that once one country had fallen to communism, its neighbors would do the same. The Domino Theory was very important for the Americans if they were to win the Cold War, as they had to keep as few countries from going communist as possible. If South Vietnam were to fall communist, its neighbors in South East Asia may do the same including India, Laos and Cambodia. As much of South Asia was swamped in poverty, communism looked an attractive prospect for the peasants who owned very little wealth. The idea of shared wealth and land seemed very appealing for the population and were extremely important reasons as to why the United States became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam.
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. Cold War Considerations: Western Europe and the USSR De Gaulle's France was challenging US leadership in both Vietnam and Europe. Anti-American riots tore through Panama which was merely the most obvious show of increasing hostility to the USA in the western hemisphere. There were fears that one of the two Communist superpowers might be tempted to use this, forcing the USA to get involved in other local conflicts against their will. Vietnam and the survival of the South were considered a central part of the maintenance of a stable world order, and LBJ in particular said that if Chinese aggression could be contained in South East Asia then it would “give the pole on
However, the USA in the 1950s believed that if South Vietnam (which was not controlled by Ho) fell to Ho, this would mean communist expansion. This was because the American administration believed in the domino theory, i.e. once a country falls to communism, this will mean that Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, etc will start to fall to communism. In turn, the USA under Eisenhower drew a line in Vietnam to stop Ho reunification attempt. At the same time they tried to create a strong non-communist South Vietnam under the leadership of Diem.
Additionally the conflict in Korea allowed the USA to demonstrate its military capabilities to the world, as Kennedy said, he wanted to prove America’s credibility and Vietnam was the perfect place to illustrate this and, in the bigger picture, help to increase UN credibility. However, despite US concession to accept containment as an accomplishment, North Korea remaining communist can be seen as an American failure. In 1950, the US made the decision to invade North Korea. This switch to rollback policy shows that their goals were higher than just containment. They were defeated by Chinese ‘dragon’ attacks, which in December 1950 caused the most humiliating retreat in US history, totalling 300 miles.
He created the Vietcong, and soon he followers began to grow and grow. Ho Chi Minh was the leader from the North of Vietnam, although using vicious methods, majority of the Vietnamese people agreed with him and his views for Vietnam to be an independent state- to be left alone by larger countries, such as France (twice) and China, who had already tried to dominate over them but alas had lost. But America persisted to assist the South, due to President Truman, helping the French, which he believed it was their duty so that ‘Indochina does not go behind the Iron Curtain’ (Vice President Nixon). Soon, the Vietcong were faced by a greater threat- America. A great force, with riches, soldiers and weapons pumping all these good into South Vietnam, however; Khrushchev (Russian leader) aided the nationalist turned communist North.
China had already become communist and Vietnam seemed to follow. This put pressure on the American government to respond to the spread of communism. Public support of the Vietnam war up until 1968 was good. The Public had been told that they were winning the war by the president and the media supported this. The military reported large body counts on a weekly basis which helped to reinsure the public’s belief that the American’s were winning.
President Kennedy increased US involvement in Vietnam for many reasons, varying from his strong hatred of communism to his need for proving the doubters that thought he was an insufficient president wrong. Historians such as Sanders, Betts and Bornet argue and stress several factors that lead to increased US involvement, stating that some factors had a greater influence over Kennedy’s involvement in Vietnam. For instance, Kennedy’s campaign rhetoric, the domino theory and insurgency in the 3rd world are all other explanations for Kennedy’s decisions in Vietnam, but some reasons have more significance than others. Kennedy was born in to a wealthy, Irish Catholic, democratic family. His catholic family loathed communism, he was taught to hate it as it went against his religion and jeopardised his family’s wealth.
In this sense, the Korean War is highly significant because it displayed the new terms of post-World War Two conflict and how difficult it would be to fight a contained War due to the snowballing effect of communism around the world. This is foreboding of future paranoia such as McCarthyism and the US involvement in Vietnam. To expand on this, it is clear that the Korean War made the US more militant and the evidence is in the four-fold increase of military expenditure. This allowed the US to lay the
Communists or the KDP also saw the opportunity that Hitler saw but with the democracy on its way out there was only room for one government, and Hitler new this. The ploy had so many advantages to Hitler that it would be hard to see how Hitler could not have been involved. This one event allowed him too effectively dishevel his main adversary, the foremost blockade that stopped Hitler’s dictatorship. How he went about “blaming” the communist for the event and thus eliminating them, was also a catalyst for all the events to come. By convincing Hindenburg that there was a large communist threat the country was put into a state of emergency and, with Hindenburg’s backing, Hitler was allowed to pass decrees to govern Germany anyway he liked, with the financial backing of krupp and bosch etc, which in this case is fortunate for the question at hand.