Zinn’s attitude throughout the entire chapter leads me to believe that he disapproves on extreme levels of the actions taken by the US during this time. On the Tonkin “attack”, he says, “It later turned out that the Gulf of Tonkin episode was a fake, that the highest American officials had lied to the public—just as they had in the invasion of Cuba under Kennedy,” (Zinn 476). The Americans, according to Zinn, worked exhaustingly to control half of Vietnam and oppose the National Liberation Front which worked to make the people free. Terrible accounts of murder, torture, and neglect are told, and it seems from Zinn’s perspective, this was an event that could have been avoided had the American government not been created with an instinctual itch for action. I was initially shocked in reading this chapter.
This meant that having the in state building showed that the US wanted to be involved in the Communism situation and Vietnam was the closest place to be. Eisenhower made Vietnam to be a victim of the Cold War as the Cold War had increased the worries about communism. The Geneva Accords had stated that no foreign troops or alliances were allowed in Vietnam the US defied this by making alliances with France and attempted to make alliances with Britain, but they didn’t want to get involved in the war. This could suggest that the war was Eisenhower’s because if he had signed the Geneva Accords then Vietnam wouldn’t have split and there would have been no war. Once
history. Fearing the spread of communism, President Kennedy committed the people of the United States of America to defending the fledgling democratic government of South Vietnam. Despite its arguably noble intentions, the war in Vietnam would prove the greatest challenge to American democratic idealism since the Civil War. The war was fought in Vietnam from 1959-75, involving the North Vietnamese and the National Liberation Front (NLF) in conflict with the United States, Australian, New Zealand forces and the South Vietnamese army. The conflict’s roots took shape in July 1954, when France was forced out of Vietnam after one hundred years of colonial rule.
Nixon • Republican president elected in 1968 and 1972; resigned from office in 1974 due to Watergate scandal • Promised he would reduce U.S. troop levels in Vietnam, but force levels remained high and Nixon actually expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia • Pursued a plan he called “Vietnamization” to push the South Vietnamese army to shoulder the bulk of the fighting • In the first months of his second term, the last U.S. combat soldiers left Vietnam EVENTS 1963 Buddhist Protests • Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk, set himself on fire in protest against South Vietnamese government policies, including religious intolerance • Other Buddhists followed his example in the following months • His suicide shocked and confused many Americans and created doubt in their minds about U.S. support for the South Vietnamese government 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution • Gave President Johnson the power to take any military action he deemed necessary to defend South Vietnam against the Viet Cong • Passed in response to an unconfirmed attack on the USS Maddox off the coast of Vietnam 1968 Tet Offensive • Occurred on 31 January, beginning of Vietnamese Tet
Berman is unrelenting in his blame for Nixon and his administration with their lack of “Peace with Honor” in Vietnam. In my opinion, this excerpt from Professor Berman’s No Peace, No Honor: Nixon and Kissinger, and Betrayal in Vietnam provides strong supportive evidence as to why there was no honor with America’s withdrawal from the Vietnam conflict. Nixon and Kissinger were ceaseless in saying that Congress cost them victory in Vietnam. They use Congress as a scapegoat basically. They both reinforced their beliefs in the Paris Peace Accords time and time again.
\pard\nowidctlpar\nooverflow\sl274\slmult1\ri17\tx720{\b\ul\dbch\af1\loch\af0\hich \f0\lang1033\fs24\kerning28 What happened:{\b0\ulnone \par}} \pard\nowidctlpar\nooverflow\sl274\slmult1\ri17\tx720{\dbch\af1\loch\af0\hich\f0 \lang1033\fs24\kerning28 In 1975 Pol Pot was the ruler of Cambodia. He was a communist but became corrupt with his ideologies and imprisoned his own people as slaves. He forbade religion, education, individual homes and hospitals. He declared a war on his own people. He captured and tortured the middle class.
Pol Pot was able to claim the Khmer Rouge was fighting for Cambodian independence and against imperialism with the new changes. This stand was supported by the people. The Cambodians appeasment to the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot’s ideology was the only option they had in order for them to be free out of Imperialism for good. For Asians, to be anti-imperialism is to be anti-capitalism. And after gaining the capital, Pol Pot declared “Year Zero.” Pol Pot created the Cambodia Genocide, to help create his new society.
After major losses by French forces in Vietnam, U.S. became involved in trying to ensure the success of the non-communist South Vietnamese government. American presidents believed in the domino theory, that if if one country in Asia fell to the communists, the others would also become communist. Thus the United States intervened actively in Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand and Laos. 2. "How the U.S. Got
The French were not involved in this war but a played a role in how and why it started. After World War II the French had control of Vietnam, The French rule was harsh and once Ho Chi Minh came to rule he tried for independence from French and as this happened communism came about. The U.S.A was worried about the spread of communism in Asia and believed that they too should have a democratic government. What sparked the interest of the United States was the “Domino Theory” which meant that the goal of communism was
To stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia, the United States use its military to support Vietnam. The French ruled most of Indochina, including Vietnam, from the late 1800s until World War 11. French rulers restricted freedom of speech and jailed many Vietnamese nationalists. Others fled to China and began an organization under Ho Chi Minh. He formed the Vietminh, trying to win Vietnam's independence.