VIETNAM WAR The French ruled Indochina, including Vietnam and other countries from 1880-1945. The leaders of Vietnam Ho Chi Minh establish the Viet Minh to fight the French and gain independence. The Vietnam declared independence from France in 1945 after wwII but the French refuse to recognize their independence and fought back against the Viet minh. The U.S then sends support to France, to prevent communism. Then Vietnam splits at the 17th parallel, France leaves and the U.S stays, JFK sends troops, LBJ then escalates war after JFK assassination, on July 1964 LBJ approved to attack on North Vietnam coast.
These two platoons went through a dozen camps killing hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese citizens, because this was such scandal, know one knew about it until it was released by the Pentagon on November 13, 1969. (Prados 184) On March 31, President Johnson, in a television address, announced a partial halt to the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam, a call to North Vietnam to begin peace talks. On May 13, formal peace talks between the United States and North Vietnam were openly held in Paris. (Karnow 523) In August, Richard Nixon was nominated for the presidency by the Republican Party. On October 31, 1968, President Johnson announced a complete halt to the bombing of North Vietnam.
How accurate is it to say that Eisenhower and Kennedy must share responsibility for the escalation of US involvement in south-east Asia in the years 1954-63? Throughout their history the Vietnamese people suffered foreign interference and conquest. This began with the early French interest in the 17th century and by the late 19th century France had conquered Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, which were collectively known as French Indo-China. This French capture was highly supported by the US government. Harry Truman is an important figure in relation to Vietnam as it was him who made the decision to oppose communism throughout the world.
While the United States was nervous of Communism consuming the entire globe. President Eisenhower believed in the “domino effect”, meaning that if you fight and succeed in stopping communism in one country others are sure to rise, stand and follow suit. China became a communist country in 1949, therefore, the United States forked out 2 billion dollars to support anti-communism. The Truman Doctrine was written and put in to effect stating that the United States would do any and everything in its power to put an end to communism spreading to any further country. Following a victory over a battle with the French, North Vietnam in 1954, set ways into communism and in turn proceeded to try and reign over the now divided Southern Vietnam.
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.
The U.S. decided that Diem's actions could not be tolerated and Diem was killed on November 1st, 1963 by his own military generals. Then, John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Lyndon B. Johnson took his place. When Ngo Dinh Diem was alive the South was unstable, until June 1965 when Nguyen Cao Ky became president. President Lyndon B. Johnson raised the level of U.S. involvement in the war. On August 7th, 1964, the U.S. Senate approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave President Johnson the choice to escalate U.S. involvement in the war for what happened to the USS Maddox, w. America needed to act fast, but by 1965 Viet Cong controlled about 60 percent of South Vietnamese land.
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
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
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
Americas politics, America used Diem as a way to stop to spread of communism in Vietnam, they supported him in becoming Vietnams first president and to set up an Anti-Communist government at the same time, this was another way for the us government to stop the spread of communism the American government also stopped a Vietnam vote for either capitalism of communism America when to extreme measures to stop this from happening. In 1964 the us navy reports of an incident involving two American destroyers and several Vietnamese gunships, this is what lead to the us declaring full out war on Vietnam and the Viet mihn, it stated that Viet gunships fired