The American policy of containment was in tatters. It had failed militarily. The war had shown that even America's vast military strength could not stop the spread of Communism. The US had lost its first war in History. It had also failed politically.
It has hurt our credibility across the world and caused a loss of faith in government by its citizens. Although the necessity of the war is argued by many, it is only done in an analysis of its occurrence. Had it not happened and the world possibly fell under Communism, then we would be arguing the exact opposite. The United States did what it felt it had to do at the time, given the information it had. To go to war in Vietnam was a risk the US felt it had to take in order to contain Communism, thus securing its economic prosperity and worldwide dominance.
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.
Aiming to win back support from the American’s, as many people did not support the Vietnam war due to the bad media that was publicised. This was the first War to be so publicised and it shocked many of the people back home. This lead to Anti-War protest, which became one of the US governments aims to stop. However they still stuck to the aim to try and contain Vietnam from the spread of communism and supporting the SV defeat the VC in nearby country Cambodia. On the other side the aims of the NV government and their terrorist organisation the VC did not alter as they still aimed to persuade the SV government to vote for Vietnam to become a communist country.
The VC were found where they wanted to be found” This was not the conventional war that the Americans were used to. The Viet Cong knew they could not beat America using their own tactics as their resources would not sufficiently match those of America. However, very significantly, even when the Viet Cong did use
The Vietnam Soldiers Secret Enemy COMM/215 June 4, 2012 The Vietnam Soldiers Secret Enemy Usually when someone thinks of a soldier’s enemy, they expect them to be wearing a uniform and carrying military weapons. Sometimes the enemy is disguised, and they may be carrying cameras and microphones. Even though they have freedom of speech, the media's exaggeration of military facts was almost criminal. Their lies caused more casualties than the American public realizes. The country's support for the military was being affected negatively, and the soldiers fighting in the war were unaware of the lies being spread by the media back home.
The outcome was a major military victory for South Vietnam, but it was a great political victory for North Vietnam. It proved how determined the Vietcong was. It also showed the American people how costly the war would be. This was later noted to be a major turning point in America’s public opinion on the war. It made people begin to lose hope in our ability to win the war, and led to increased questioning of the President’s tactics for the war.
Dulles and Eisenhower knew the United States couldn’t handle a ground war because of lack of soldiers and they were also trying to save money so they created the “massive retaliation” strategy. Massive retaliation was using the threat of nuclear warfare (“massive retaliatory power”) to prevent Communist aggression.” Many argued this strategy provided” a maximum deterrent at bearable cost.” (1283) Although Massive retaliation was also very weak because it put the U.S. in an “all or nothing” position.
It can be said that there was significant military success due to the several militant achievements, for example; the US was able to restore ROK to its former state, prior to the invasion by the DPNK. However, this was only achieved through the use of a large scale American force (300,000 + troops), along with the enlistment of 14 other nations. Through this the famous Incheon Landing was able to take place, whereby, the US reclaimed ROK from DPNK, as well as capturing Pyongyang. This was successful militarily, because it meant that the US was able to push back the North and prevent the South from being taken under a Communist rule. The Incheon Landing was hugely significant, because it showed that even though General MacArthur faced many risks, due to the geographical nature of the task, by successfully reclaiming the area, he was able to show that US was indeed a powerful force in terms of its military feats.
The South Vietnamese Allies had poor morale, they were badly paid, and they exploited US aid for financial gain. The US military had poor leadership from officers, they were frustrated because they had a lack of knowledge of the area and they had an inability to identify their enemy. These are the main reasons that the US failed to defeat the North Vietnamese Communists. The US became gradually involved in the war in Vietnam. Truman supported the French in the battle against Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh.