United States Involvement In The Vietnam War

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David Kenny Vietnam is in South-East Asia, and was a country 9000 miles from the United States. Vietnam today is known as Conga Hoa Xa Hoi Chu Nghia Nam (socialist republic of Vietnam). Its capital is Hanoi. There are many reasons why the Americans became increasingly involved in Vietnam war. A main one being the French. They had influenced Indo-China since before world war II. Japan, in WWII, tried to get hold of Indo-China so they fought the French for it. At the beginning of the battle, it was the French and Vietminh vs Japan. Japan were on their way to victory so France decided they had no chance of winning and decided to think about surrendering. Japan, being communist, were trying to make Indo-China communist and due to the American…show more content…
inland policy created on March 12, 1947 by President Harry S Truman. In his speech to Congress, Truman declared that the United States, as "leader of the free world", must support democracy worldwide and fight against communism. The approach was conceived with the help of George Marshall and Dean Acheson, two influential associates of Truman, which generalized his hopes for Greece and Turkey into a doctrine applicable throughout the world. The Soviet Union was clearly at the heart of Truman's thoughts, but it was never directly mentioned in his speech, Truman was attempting to solve Eastern Europe's instability while making sure that communism would not spread to nations like Greece and Turkey. “It is important to note that the Greek Government has asked for our aid in utilizing effectively the financial and other assistance we may give to Greece, and in improving its public administration. It is of the utmost importance that we supervise the use of any funds made available to Greece; in such a manner that each dollar spent will count toward making Greece self-supporting, and will help to build an economy in which a healthy democracy can flourish.”(Trueman 1947) Many Americans were against the Truman Doctrine, as they felt that the United States could not handle the situation by itself. The Truman Doctrine represented the harsh aspect of containment policy, and the Marshall Plan was the soft side. The declaration…show more content…
This made the shock even greater. The Tet Offensive was a military campaign during the Vietnam War that began on January 31, 1968. Forces of the National Liberation Front for South Vietnam, or Viet Cong, and the People's Army of Vietnam, or North Vietnamese army, fought against the forces of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam), the United States, and their allies. The purpose of the offensive was to strike military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam and to spark a general uprising among the population that would then topple the Saigon government, thus ending the war in a single blow. The operations are referred to as the Tet Offensive because they began during the early morning hours of 31 January 1968, Tết Nguyên Đán, the first day of the year on a traditional lunar calendar and the most important Vietnamese holiday. Both North and South Vietnam announced on national radio broadcasts that there would be a two-day cease-fire during the holiday. In Vietnamese, the offensive is called Cuộc Tổng tiến công và nổi dậy ("General Offensive and Uprising"), or Tết Mậu Thân (Tet, year of the

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