Us Involvement In Vietnam War

Where is Vietnam? “Vietnam, is a nation in Southeast Asia on the eastern edge of the Indochinese peninsula. Vietnam had been under French colonial rule since the nineteenth century” (“Vietnam”, History.com). Vietnam was divided into two separate parts: North Vietnam and South Vietnam. These two parts were separated on the seventeenth parallel by Communist rule in the north, and Democratic rule in the south. The most popular language in Vietnam is Vietnamese. During the Vietnam war, Vietnam’s population was roughly around forty million. Today Vietnam’s population is around ninety two million (“Population”, Worldbank.org). Vietnam has grown exponentially since the war.

North Vietnam was under the control of Ho Chi Minh who was in favor of communist

American air power dwarfed North Vietnamese and, in theory, such dominance should have had a decisive say in the outcome of the Vietnam war. Americas air power had three bases. There were U.S troops based in South Vietnam, such as the one in Danang. Planes flew from bases in Thailand and Pacific islands such as Guam. At the start of the bombing campaign against the North Vietnamese, President Johnson wanted restraint and caution. He had gone into an open window with the North Vietnamese to see that America held the higher ground. This would have been lost if there would have been indiscriminate rounds on the North which resulted in loss. As it became clear that the bombings of military targets was not stopping the North Vietnamese government from supplying the NLF, the number of targets that could be bombed was increased to include bridges, rail lines, and other communication systems. America's primary targets were the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong. Both were heavily defended and while B-52 bombers were reasonably safe as they flew so high, lower flying bombers or fighting bombers were less safe. Between 1965 and 1968, Over 1,400 U.S warplanes were shot down over North Vietnam with many of these aircraft were involved in Air raids on either Hanoi and Haiphong. (“War in the air,

The increasingly unpopular war had created deep rifts in American society. President Richard Nixon believed his strategy, which was building up South Vietnam's forces and withdrawing American troops, would help the South Vietnamese to defend against North Vietnam and to take the communist country over. (“Vietnamization, History.com”). America soon found out that the Vietnamization had its doubts and flaws from the start. When President Nixon entered office in 1969, America had been sending troops to Vietnam for the past five years. During those five years, over 30,000 American troops lives were lost. The U.S military made little progress in defeating Viet Congs guerrilla allies. While facing tremendous pressure from the war in Vietnam, President Nixon found a way to bring american troops home without making it seem like America was abandoning the South Vietnamese to the communist country of vietnam. President Nixon made calls to order the immediate withdrawal of the U.S troops and to publicly desired to achieve “peace with honor” in Vietnam. Toward the end, Nixon and his advisors developed a strategy called Vietnamization. On November 3, 1969, Nixon nationally televised his speech to the american people and emphasized how his approach to “Americanization” of the war that had taken under his presidency. (“Vietnamization,