But one of the hardest battle’s for the US was to keep their own countries support. In this essay I will be exploring the main factors of the Vietnam war between 1960-1975, looking at how they changed before, during and after ORT. Before ORT took place the aims of the US Government were to stop communist taking over South Vietnam (SV). As they feared that the Domino Theory would affect countries who were still capitalist. The rise in communist countries was increasing as other countries close to each other would follow the same route as nearby countries.
In 1961, after Kennedy was elected he recognized the problem. “Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place” (Nalty 76). America did not want Russia to have the ability to aid the Communist North without a defense brought by South Vietnam. It was not as much about the U.S. stopping North Vietnam per say, but rather America stopping the spread of Communism around the World. This was called by the U.S. as “The Domino Effect.” As former American President Eisenhower said, “You have a row of dominoes set up; you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly” (Nalty 314).
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.
I was initially shocked in reading this chapter. The United States first aided France in keeping Vietnam captive, then even when France ended their own war, the US continued to stay, determined to get a hold on the country. The worst part of this is the lies that the government spread to ease and reassure the people that they were doing this to help the people of Vietnam from Communism. The US set up their own
He was against the Mexican War declared by American Government, as it was unjust to colonize other nations (United States itself was separated from British colonization through revolution). For this misdeed, he was imprisoned for a night. Although the crimes and the length of imprisonment of Thoreau and King were not same, both shared the same motive. Jacobus has pointed out that both Thoreau and King were willing to suffer for their views, especially with punitive laws denying civil rights to all citizens (King, 211). Socrates, a great philosopher in human history, also had followed the same path of breaking unjust laws.
Harry Truman is an important figure in relation to Vietnam as it was him who made the decision to oppose communism throughout the world. In relation to US support for France, the Truman administration concluded that the French were invaluable allies against Communism in both Indochina and Europe, and therefore deserving of American assistance. However, many articulate Vietnamese were unhappy with French rule, which resulted in a small Vietnamese nationalist group in espouse of Communism grown up in exile under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Consequently, Truman offered $10 million to support the French military effort, and established a US Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Saigon. This assistance then increased, as by the end of the year, the US had given France $100 million, along with aircraft, patrol boats, napalm bombs and ground combat machinery.
Beginning in the 1950s, maintaining a non-Communist South Vietnam became crucial in American efforts to contain communism. What was the nation's justification for its actions in South Vietnam in the 1950s and its determination to abide by the outcome of free elections there only if those elections yielded a non-Communist leader? For a long time the United States were in fear of the threat of communism stemming from a direct attack and the aspect of the Cold War, played a vital role in the fears. In the beginning the Vietnam War was first thought to be just another Cold War between northern and southern Vietnam. While the United States was nervous of Communism consuming the entire globe.
The American Government leaders were afraid that the Communist forces would take control over Vietnam. If Vietnam fell, it would then lead to nation after nation falling to Communism. The United States strongly opposes to the political and economic system that Communism encompasses. After fighting the war for independence from France, Vietnam was split in half in 1954. After France withdrew from Vietnam, the Vietnamese Communists took over control of North Vietnam.
This disconnection between the government and society shouldn’t be happening because we should know why we have to send our loved ones out to another country to fight for a “cause” that the government thinks is right. Next to war is the conspiracy that the government is tapping our phones and listening in to our conversations. If this is true the thought of this being an attempt of protecting is a bit crazy. For instance, 1984, the main character Winston says that everyone is being watched through a television kind of thing and that they cant commit thought crimes. Thought crimes being bad thoughts about the government or Big Brother.
Many people ask the question, “Why did the U.S. even care about the Vietnam conflict, let alone fight a war there?” One Reason for U.S. involvement in the Vietnam conflict was that the U.S. feared the Domino Theory. The Domino Theory is where if one state falls to communism, then all the other states around it will fall into communism too. Because the U.S. feared this, they responded with containment. Containment means to keep communism from spreading to other countries. Another reason for U.S. involvement is imperialism, which was left over from WWI and WWII.