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.
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.
The Vietminh fought for their freedom. As the Vietminh began to defeat the French, the French did not prevent the communist North Vietnamese from reaching South Vietnam. (use source #1) According to the “Statement Issued by the White House”, the President assigned an ambassador to Vietnam “to coordinate the operations of all US agencies in that country. “Since the conclusion of hostilities in Indochina, the US Government has been particularly concerned over developments in Vietnam.” Even as early as 1954, before the Vietnam war had began, the US was concerned about what was happening. The US saw that the situation in Vietnam was something that needed to be flagged and
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
(b) How far was President Kennedy determined to use military forces in South Vietnam in order to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia? There is two sides to each argument in this answer one side will show how determined Kennedy was to using military force and the other side would be to show how he tried to use other options. Firstly I am going to describe how I think that Kennedy was determined or willing to use military force. Firstly he started out by carrying on Eisenhower’s plans for guerrilla warfare by training the South Vietnamese army and giving them supplies and equipment to try and fight the war like that instead of using American troops even though he criticised Eisenhower’s soft defence against communism but still carried on with some of his plans. After the failure of that he introduced things such as the strategic hamlets (Agrovilles) which were villages that were surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by troops, to isolate National Liberation Front (NFL) guerrillas from political recruits and other responses.
The Vietnam War is just another event or period of time in American history, or so some think. Wars affect both the people on the battlefield and the society at home. This era of the Vietnam war was no different. The war in Vietnam began in 1957 and ended in 1975. The communist government of the North wished the United States to stop their support of the South Vietnam efforts against communism.
The Vietnam War or Vietnam conflict to some was perhaps one of the most intriguing conflicts in the history of modern America. Some suggest it was justified in stopping the spread of communism, while others feel that it was a waste of American lives that encourage an age of civil rebellion. To first understand the war one must first understand, the history leading up to the conflict. Prior to Americas involvement in the war in 1960 the French occupied what was then called indo-china up until 1954. In 1950 communist nations such as china recognized the Vietminh state, which in turn gave support to the viet-cong.
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.
Why Did USA Enter the Vietnam War? USA’s contention from the start for entering the Vietnam War was pretty simple, it was their domino theory which gave them an idea for participating in the Vietnamese war, which was also known as the Indochina war. The domino theory was a theory based from the 1950s to the 1980s which speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. The domino theory was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War to justify the need for American intervention around the world. Before America joined the Vietnamese war, France invaded Vietnam and made Vietnam a colony.
Truman supported the French in the battle against Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh. Truman believed that Stalin and the USSR backed the Vietminh. Truman thought that if he backed the French this would contain communism and follow the Truman Doctrine. Eisenhower increased involvement because he believed in the Domino Theory. This meant that if one country fell to communism so would the ones around it.