The Domino Theory

The Vietnam War was similar to many other wars. Although the war didn’t have a formal start it went on the same. America has been involved in Vietnam for more than 25 years (“Comment”). “U.S involvement in Vietnam began with Eisenhower.” Vietnam split into North and South in the late 1950’s. American involvement of the Vietnam War truly started in 1954 . Ho Chi Minh was the leader of North Vietnam while Emperor Bao lead the south. Ho ruled North Vietnam under communist ideas (“Vietnam War”). Therefore, this made him a communist leader. Later Ngo Dinh Diem made Emperor Bao abdicate because Diem wanted to rule the south with anti-communism views. North Vietnam was a communist country and this made America feel like other Asian countries might

Eisenhower feared that communism would spread to other countries but countries cannot be considered “dominoes,” so the domino theory is false. The domino theory was then reintroduced during the Vietnam War and the Kennedy administration (“Vietnam War”). Many people see the domino theory as something entirely true. They think the theory is applicable because of the blood shed in Vietnam and its surrounding countries because of the spread of communism (Moïse). The American government saw Ho Chi Minh as one of the playing pieces in the game of communism. The only problem was that Ho’s intentions weren’t to spread communism but to gain Vietnamese independence. Eisenhower’s own theory was that communism could spread as far as Indonesia. The theory was more believable in the 1960’s than in the 2010’s. “In a February 1965 Harris poll, an overwhelming majority (78 percent to 10 percent) said they believed that if the United States withdrew from South Vietnam, “the Communists would take over all of Southeast Asia” (Moïse). This shows how many people believed a theory that wasn’t entirely true. They believed it because it was endorsed by many but especially presidents. Many loved President Kennedy so when he said he truly believed it it persuaded people to believe the same. Though this brought Americans together in the same state of mind it separated the people from their

These protests against the Vietnam War were made to change the mind of the government. These protesters wanted America to not be involved in Vietnam any further so they decided to peacefully protest. These protests split the government from its citizens. These protests affected more than just the government and citizens but the splitting of families. It split parents and children physically by sending their children to a different country to fight for the country’s freedom. It also brought along parents having different views from their children. These new ideas were brought by the dramatic change from the 60’s to the 70’s. This new decade of the 70’s brought along a freer spirit. These new, free-spirited people had many names. A few include hippies and flower children. These people felt that there needed to be more peace in current life. So the Vietnam War went against everything they stood for. While most protests were peaceful some ended violently. They ended violently not because of the protestors but instead because of the government. Protests at colleges weren’t uncommon. It was uncommon for them to end like they did at Kent State. As the students were protesting the National Guard was called in to force the students to disperse (“Kent State”). The students refused to leave and this caused the National Guard to become irritated. They ended up pulling out their weapons and fired. This caused four students to be