How useful are sources A - C in explaining why the U.S became involved in the war in Vietnam?

How useful are sources A – C in explaining why the U.S became involved in the war in Vietnam?

All the sources are useful to a certain extent in explaining why the U.S became involved in the war in Vietnam. They don’t explain fully why but they all have useful content that can be linked to the question. All the sources are written by Americans and this could be a reason why the sources aren’t completely reliable but we can’t be sure until we examine the sources. I’m going to examine the content in the sources and use my own knowledge to answer the question.

Source A describes the U.S fears of a Communist victory in Vietnam. The source is written by the U.S president Johnson so this is a major aspect why the source could be biased. He manages to present his opinions as facts so the source appears to be all factual but we know that it isn’t all true. Although the U.S feared the spread of communism throughout South – East Asia there isn’t much of a mention in the source. Johnson says how the U.S has offered support to the people of South Vietnam for their freedom to guide their own country in their own way. This can be linked with Johnson’s fear of the spread of communism as I think the source is taken from a public speech and this could be another reason why the source cannot be completely trusted because we don’t know whether Johnson was speaking the truth or just saying what he thought the U.S Population wanted to hear. The source was written just one month after the start of Operation Rolling Thunder. Operation Rolling Thunder was a frequently interrupted bombing campaign that began on 24 February 1965 and lasted until the end of October 1968. During this period the U.S Air Force and Navy aircraft engaged in a bombing campaign designed to force Ho Chi Minh to abandon his ambition to take over South Vietnam.