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Impacts of the vietnam war on the united states
America’s involvement in vietnam from the 1950s until 1965
American involvement in Vietnam
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Furthermore, United States’ support in Vietnam was initially supposed to be limited to training support (source A). As even United States president, Lyndon Johnson, was aware of the potential escalation of the war in Vietnam if American military forces were to involve themselves in the Vietnamese conflict. President Johnsons statement that “… we could get tied down in a third world war” (source A) substantiates the idea that America feared the worldwide consequence of American support in Vietnam (Source A). Contrary to this however,
“Why and in what ways did the United States change its foreign policy from 1918-1953?” Since World War I, the united states had always had a problem with forcing its foreign policy. Throughout the past 100 years, the foreign policy has changed depending on public opinion and what was going on in other parts of the world. One of the largest changes in the foreign policy occurred from the end of World War I (1918) up until the ending of the Korean War (1953). Essentially the U.S foreign policy evolved from isolationist “prevention of war” to interventionism “protective containment of communism”.
Lyndon Baines Johnson, who reigned as president from 1963 to 1968 in the US, sparked a profound impact on the Vietnam War by escalating the involvement of the United States through The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and implementing the controversial strategy of Operation Ranch Hand. As a result of the passing of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, Johnson obtained the authority to utilise a range of defensive measures that he considered essential in promoting international peace and securing Southeast Asia. This discussion will encompass how the interaction between the measures that Johnson enforced and the logic surrounding them ultimately transformed the Vietnam War in 1955. Lyndon Baines Johnson significantly impacted the Vietnam War by utilising the Gulf of Tonkin
They both used the policy of containment. Eisenhower created a theory called the “Domino Theory.” The “Domino Theory” was a theory that stated that if one country became communist then their neighboring country would become communist too (Ayers 950). It was made for awareness to prevent communism. The strongest Military efforts included brinkmanship and massive retaliation.
There was one more main idea president Eisenhower wanted to get across to other countries and that was that together the world is stronger. Globalization was very important to the president he wanted to have stable trade route and help enhance the well being of the rest of the world. Of course the president wished to also have relationship with other countries that was not just one sided he wanted other countries to help if when they could. During his inaugural speech the president said, “Assessing realistically the needs and capacities of proven friends of freedom, we shall strive to help them to achieve their own security and well-being. Likewise, we shall count upon them to assume, within the limits of their resources, their full and just burdens in the common defense of freedom.”
Eisenhower was the first president to use the term "Domino Theory". By early 1954, many U.S. policymakers that the french were failing in their attempt to re-establish colonial control in Indochina, which they lost during WW2 when the Japanese took control of the area. The Vietnamese nationalist, led by the communist Ho Chi Minh, were on the verge of winning a stunning victory against French forces at the battle of Dien Bien Phu. In just a few weeks, representative from the world’s powers were scheduled to meet in Geneva to discuss a political settlement of the Vietnamese conflict. U.S. officials were concerned that a victory by Ho’s forces and an agreement in Geneva might leave a communist regime in control of all or part of Vietnam.
Eisenhower avoided war in Indochina in 1954 when he decided not to authorize an air strike to rescue French troops at the crucial battle of Dienbienphu. After the French granted independence to the nations of Indochina, which were Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, Eisenhower used U.S. power to help create a non-Communist government in South Vietnam, an action that had disastrous long-term consequences. During his last years in office, Eisenhower also "waged peace," hoping to improve U.S. Soviet relations and negotiate a treaty banning nuclear testing in the air and seas. The Soviet downing of a U.S. reconnaissance plane ended any hope for a treaty before Eisenhower left
To illustrate, Nixon sent a message to those opposing America by stating,” If I conclude that increased enemy action jeopardizes our remaining forces in Vietnam, I shall not hesitate to take strong and effective measures to deal with that situation. This is not a threat. This is a statement of policy which as Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces I am making and meeting my responsibility for the protection of American fighting men wherever they may be '' (Nixon). This quote both delivers historical significance and perfectly exemplifies the leadership Nixon displayed, which caused the other nations and Americans to realize that the consequences of a precipitous withdrawal of American power would be devastating to the spirits of Americans in the long term. this specific quote demonstrates the dominance President Nixon showed to those who are supporting the Communist campaign of the North Vietnamese government.
troop from South Vietnam during the Vietnam war and having the Vietnamese government be responsible for their own country and war resolution. Nixon then had to face many problems and used detente in order to ease relations with foreign countries. For example, Nixon visited China because he wanted to improve relations with China over the Cold War and the administration wanted to have strategic and diplomatic rapprochement with the country. Moreover, he also dealt with the Mutual Assured Doctrine, which was a policy that spoke on nuclear weapons being able to wipe out both the attacker and defender. On May 1972, Nixon and Brezhnev from Moscow, limited anti-ballistic missiles into two departments with the SALT I agreement.
Contextualization and introduction The Vietnam War served as a major turning point of the Cold War, during which the American public split in its support of the conflict. As a proxy in the superpower conflict between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR), the US entered to support the South Vietnamese who were at war against the communist North. To support the South and its Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the United States sent military advisory, conducted airstrikes, and committed ground forces with the hope of curbing the growth of communist ideology in the Asian sphere of influence through a communist defeat.
(Funk & Wagnalls). Even though Eisenhower was able to end the war in Korea, he wasn’t able to find a way to end the cold war during his 8 years in office. Dwight was anti-communist and supported his secretary of state, John Foster Dulles. Even though Dwight worked endlessly to stop the wars, people still disagreed with his actions. “Eisenhower did not intervene militarily in Vietnam to save the French (1954) or in Eastern Europe to aid German and Hungarian revolts against Soviet domination (1953 and 1956).”
After Kennedy’s assassination Lyndon Johnson inherited the White House and took the approach that dictatorships should not be appeased. Johnson was reluctant to become involved in Vietnam due to his political interpretation and policy direction are known as “Containment” and his belief that there was a threat of world domination by Communism which had become a very common Cold-War view among American politicians during this time period. But he continued on to help provide economic and military aid and even authorizes covert actions to prove to enemies that America will take a tough stance in Vietnam. As president, he felt he had to take all necessary measures to protect the U.S. from any attack a and to prevent any further
The vietnam war and its relations to the domino theory: was connected to all presidents who were in offices during the early 50’s to the mid 70’s due to its high tensions that arose before the war all the way to the end of the soviet union’s reign in the mid 90’s. The theory states that if one country in the asian countries falls into communism, then other countries will as well. Vietnam as well as other countries had been fighting wars against communism which made it split between north and south. The vietnam war was caused by communism and the U.S. intervened to stop communism. Later it would be worried by Dwight D. Eisenhower as well that the spread of communism be inevitable.
Johnson initially listed eleven possible ideas in his State of the Union speech, but when it came time to draft the legislation, he only had one main component and had to quickly add five other programs to make the initiative seem sufficient to battle a “war”. In addition to the domestic war, President Johnson also made significant improvements in the power of the presidency during the Vietnam War. Johnson believed that the Constitution gave him the authority to commit troops to the war, but thought it was desirable to gain Congress’ approval so he would have their support throughout the length of the conflict (Milkis & Nelson 2016, 365). Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, which gave Lyndon B. Johnson the power “to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” during the Vietnam War (Milkis & Nelson 2016, 365). The additional authority to make any and all military decisions without requiring additional approval from Congress gave the U.S. presidency more power than it ever had before.
The United States believed that it was their responsibility to contain Communism. They wanted to stop the spread of communism across the world. They saw that Vietnam as the start of the spread of Communism so it contributed as one of the reasons of going to war. The Domino theory was a theory that if one country in a region falls to Communism that the surrounding countries would fall to communism as well. The U.S. also saw the Domino Theory in Vietnam.
