Thomas Poozhikala D period 3/26/12 Vietnam and Johnson 1. Why did President Johnson increase America’s military presence in Vietnam? What was the Gulf of Tonkin resolution? Johnson increased America’s military presence in Vietnam because he and his advisers believed that an excalation of American force would drive the enemy to defeat with a minum loss on both sides. Therfreo he ordered immediatiely to have bombing raids agisnt military installations in North Vietnam and ordered his troops to land.
The Vietnam war was between North Vietnamese versus the United States and the South Vietnamese army. The United States became involved in the Vietnam war because it believed that if all the country fell under the Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. This belief was known as the “domino theory” . The US therefore supported the South Vietnamese because there beliefs where non-communism. The government they set up was failing so in 1965 the United States send in troops to prevent collapse of it.
Fearing communism the United States government committed their troops to defend South Vietnam. Still, North Vietnam overpowered the South and the United States ended up having to send in more and more troops to fight South Vietnams battle. The U.S. troops had no choice but to view the Viet Cong and North Vietnam as their enemy in order to survive helping the South Vietnamese. The length of the war and the high number of casualties turned many United States citizens against the war. Finally, defining who the enemy was in the Vietnam War completely depends on who you ask.
1 The USA was deeply hostile towards the Soviet Union and fearing a spread of communism, adopted a policy of containment. 4 In Vietnam the target of containment was Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh front he had created in 1941. Ho and his chief lieutenants were communists with long-standing connections to the Soviet Union. 5 Hoping to halt a takeover by the communist North Vietnamese (led by Ho Chi Minh) 6, US officials chose to support the anti-Communist prime minister of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem1,. As opposed to the other superpower, America got directly involved, sending not only financial aid1 but actively participating in the military effort.
During this difficult period, the communists returned to protracted guerrilla warfare and political struggle. Morale declined among communist sympathizers and Saigon government supporters alike. In elections held in South Vietnam in September 1967, former generals Nguyen Van Thieu and Nguyen Cao Ky were elected president and vice president, respectively. Kennedy’s successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, pledged to honor Kennedy’s commitments but hoped to keep U.S. involvement in Vietnam to a minimum. After North Vietnamese forces allegedly attacked U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964, however, Johnson was given carte blanche in the form of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and began to send U.S. troops to Vietnam.
* 4. Outline the plan, method and scope of the offensive To this end, a multiphase plan was developed: in the first phase, the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) would launch attacks on the border regions of South Vietnam to close those regions to American observation. Following this, a second phase of widely dispersed attacks by the Viet Cong directly into the major centers of the country would cause the collapse of the government and would prod the civilians into full-fledged revolt. With the government overthrown, the Americans and other allied forces would have no choice but to evacuate, leading to phase three attacks by the Viet Cong and PAVN against elements of the isolated foreign forces. * 5.
Why Did USA Enter the Vietnam War? USA’s contention from the start for entering the Vietnam War was pretty simple, it was their domino theory which gave them an idea for participating in the Vietnamese war, which was also known as the Indochina war. The domino theory was a theory based from the 1950s to the 1980s which speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The domino theory was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War to justify the need for American intervention around the world. Before America joined the Vietnamese war, France invaded Vietnam and made Vietnam a colony.
Another lesson that the movie taught me was that you can choose which side you want do be on, the good or the bad. Ellsberg started on the bad side, by helping the government to find ways to attack the Vietnamese, like through the bombing campaign, (The Most Dangerous Man in America). As time dragged on, and Ellsberg read the pentagon papers, he realized that he was on the bad side of the war. Ellsberg then realized that America was murdering innocent Vietnamese, and sought to end the war for the greater good. These lessons help people to live their lives with new meaning, and become more conscious of themselves and others, no matter what denomination they
-The Vietminh fought back against the French-dominated regime and slowly increased their control over large areas of the countryside. -As fighting between the two sides escalated, France appealed to the U.S. for help. -The U.S. opposed colonialism, but the independence movement in Vietnam had become entangled with the Communist movement. -American officials did not think France should control Vietnam, but they did not want Vietnam to be Communist either. -Two events convinced the Truman administration to help France—the fall of China to communism, and the outbreak of the Korean War.
The War That Changed The Nation: The True Reflection The Vietnam War started on November 1, 1955 and ended on April 30, 1975 (Wikepedia 1). The cause of the war revolved around the simple belief help by America that communism was threatening to expand all over the South-East Asia region (Wikepedia 2). The North Vietnamese government and Viet Cong viewed the conflict as the colonial war, fought against France and the United States back them up, and later against Vietnam. However, the Case Church Amendment was passed in 1973. The capture of Saigon by the Vietnam People’s Army in April 1975 marked the end of the war (Wikepedia 3).