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The Vietnam War: The War In Vietnam

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The Vietnam War
The war in Vietnam was the United States ' longest war and certainly one of the most contentious. The fighting between the United States and the government of South Vietnam on one side and North Vietnam and the Viet Cong (VC) on the other lasted from the mid-1950s until the mid-1970s and spread into Laos and Cambodia, the two other countries of Southeast Asia.

The United States first became significantly involved in Vietnam in 1950, when it began supporting France monetarily in the latter 's effort to defend its colonial presence in Vietnam. Within the context of the Cold War, this assistance to France was extended as part of the effort to contain communism. Despite American aid, which had totaled $2.5 billion by 1954, the …show more content…

By late 1967, U.S. forces had dealt serious blows to the communists, but the fighting continued unabated. President Lyndon Johnson launched a public relations campaign emphasizing that progress was being made in order to bolster public support. In the midst of this campaign, the communists launched the massive Tet Offensive on the Tet (New Year) holiday in 1968. Although American and South Vietnamese forces prevailed, the shock and scope of the attacks stunned the American public and convinced a demoralized Johnson not to run for reelection.

Richard Nixon was elected in 1968 largely because he promised to end the war and achieve "peace with honor." To do this, he announced that he would "Vietnamize" the war. This meant that the responsibility for the fighting would be shifted to the South Vietnamese so that U.S. forces could be disengaged. While this was being done, the fighting raged unabated. Neither massive bombing of both South Vietnam and North Vietnam nor the expansion of the war into Cambodia and Laos brought the war any closer to an …show more content…

Dissatisfied with the bloody stalemate, North Vietnam launched a massive invasion of the south in the spring of 1972. Although initially successful, North Vietnamese forces were turned back by a massive application of American airpower. Nixon proclaimed Vietnamization a success. Meanwhile, Henry Kissinger had been conducting secret peace negotiations with communist representatives in Paris. By October 1972, they had forged a tentative peace agreement. However, President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam voiced violent opposition to the terms and the North Vietnamese angrily walked out of the negotiations. Nixon ordered a massive bombing campaign against Hanoi and Haiphong. After 18 days, the North Vietnamese agreed to return to the negotiating tables, but the agreement that was worked out was not substantially different from the one that had been agreed upon before the

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As Johnson’s presidency ended, the Republican Party won and representing President Richard Nixon. On 1973, the United States Air Forced received an orders from President Nixon to decimate the industrial and military target in North Vietnam. As the North Vietnamese attended the Paris Peace Talks the United States granted their promising words of stopping the bomb. Few months later, President Nixon delivered a speech to the nation stating that United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong were at peace because of signing the Paris Peace Accords. On the brighter side, the accords was a victory to the United States and South Vietnam which it was known as the V-Day.

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Nixon wanted to end the war just like every other American. He had many plans for this war and one of them was called Vietnamization. Vietnamization was a policy that would replace U.S. troops with South Vietnamese troops and supply them with supplies and weapons (Rubel 182). It was a way to retreat U.S. troops and end involvement in the war. Even though he ended involvement in the Vietnam War by withdrawing U.S. troops, he decided to bomb enemy forces in Cambodia (Lillegard 71).

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Post World War II America was one of the most militarily active periods in American history, having been involved in three wars, spanning roughly from 1947 to 1992, in order to stop the spread of communism. Overall, the United States permanently broke its previous isolationist policy in an attempt to promote democracy throughout the world; however, the wars proved to have serious negative effects on America. America was impacted by the military involvement in the Cold War, the Vietnam War, and the Korean War. Shortly after the end of World War II, America and Russia, the two super world powers emerging from the war, divided various parts of Eurasia—namely Germany and Korea—between themselves. Following America’s decision to maintain world

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With the US military helping South Vietnam against the North Vietnam. The South Vietnam didn’t not feel like they had support under the Western’s power, which South Vietnam didn’t because Nixon was trying to help the South Vietnam, but no involving US soldiers to fight in the war. Although, Nixon made the Vietnamization policy to stop US involvement it cause more of a uprise for the US position in the war. The New Economic policy and Nixon Doctrine both policies made by Nixon was only towards his presidency and not actually stopping the US involvement. Nixon said it would make a change in the US involvement to better but instead Nixon didn’t follow up upon his campaign promises.

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The Tet offensive, which took place on the 31st of January 1968, had huge significance on the political landscape of America, and public opinion on the war in Vietnam. After the Tet offensive, public support for the war plummeted, and with ever increasing support in the anti-war movement and protests, the war in Vietnam was no longer justifiable to the American public. As a result of this president Johnson stepped down from running for re-election, leaving an anti-war democrat running against an anti-war republican. This meant that Nixon was elected, which arguably ended the Vietnam War, due to his change in tactics.

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