Was Kennedy Responsible For American Involvement In Vietnam

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President Kennedy was entirely responsible for American involvement in Vietnam? How far do you agree with Carters interpretation of Kennedy’s foreign policy? I disagree that John Kennedy was entirely responsible for American involvement in Vietnam, as before Kennedy even came into power, by the end of his presidency, Eisenhower had already got the United States involved, by giving support to the French military attempts, and by injecting billions of US dollars into the unpopular Diem government. This huge commitment had already made it harder for the USA to pull out; they had made obligations to prop up a democratic government, and this obligation would follow onto Kennedy and Johnson. Charles de Gaulle said in 1961 "The more you become involved out there against Communism, the more the Communists will appear as champions of national independence… you will sink step by step into a bottomless military and political quagmire, however much you spend in men and money" Eisenhower had already begun the sinking process, and Kennedy would act as a catalyst for a further descent. I believe that Kennedy was the person mainly responsible for American involvement in Vietnam, for example he was responsible for increasing the number of ‘military…show more content…
This failed badly and led to there being a 300% rise in NLF membership. Through helping Diem to implement a poor policy, it increased the North’s presence in the south, and gave Kennedy further reason to amend his mistakes and send in even more men into Vietnam. Richard Nixon said ‘North Vietnam cannot defeat or humiliate the United States. Only Americans can do that.’ This again supports the quagmire theory that by getting more involved Kennedy was entering an irreversible situation which he had to follow through on. A situation of deeper involvement, problems and complexities that he ultimately

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