Why did the united states become increasingly involved in Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s?

Vietnam coursework question 1

In this essay I will be writing about why America got involved in the Vietnam War, between the 1950s to the 1960s. This was a steady and slow process with many deaths all because of communism. It was very costly and bloody. This essay will focus on political reasons, military reasons and economy reasons.

Firstly the political reasons. The involvement in Vietnam started off with the cold war, when Russia and America the emerging super powers after WW2, two different styles of living had emerged the capitalists (America) and the communist (Russia), both with two different beliefs. The cold war was a war of words, America hated the fact more countries was becoming communist, in Europe and Asia, they saw this as a “domino theory” affect. Eisenhower thought if Vietnam fell to communism it wouldn’t be long until Cambodia would fall then Thailand then Malaysia. Their desire to “contain” this new threat was so great that they ended up in a bloody and costly war with Vietnam between the 1950s and 1960s. The history of Vietnam was that it was under French control in the 1880s the French called Vietnam indo-china. In WW2 the Japanese attacked Vietnam and gained control of it, after WW2 the French come back to Vietnam in 1945 looking to control it once again but find that the Vietminh have taken a large amount of the land who are controlled by Ho Chi Minh who just wants Vietnam to be independent. The French find them selves in a war with Vietnam. The Americans then get involved by helping Ho Chi Minh as they felt sorry for him but quickly change sides after finding he is a communist and wants Vietnam to become communist. In the early 50’s America got directly involved in the war between France and the Vietminh and were providing, weapons and $500 million a year. The French got this help by persuading the Americans they were combating communism. A 8-year guerrilla warfare occurs between the French and the Vietminh. 1954 The French make a heavily fortified base Dien Bien Phu they waited for Giap (general of the Vietminh) and the Vietminh troops to attack. Navarre the French general didn’t think the Vietminh had heavy guns and with a surprise the Vietminh opened fire on the French with their artillery destroying the base and the Vietminh broke through the remains of the French lines and won the battle. The French then left Vietnam agreeing to most of their demands. This conference was held at Geneva and a treaty was signed called the Geneva peace agreement. As a result of this a portion line was set up dividing the south and north of Vietnam. This line was also demilitarised. America did not sign this; they saw this as giving into communism and hated it completely. America supported the non-communist South Vietnam while the communist Vietnam the north was still ruled by Ho Chi Minh. “It was generally agreed that had a election been held, Ho Chi Minh would have been elected premier. At the time of the fighting, possibly 80 per cent of the population would have voted for the communist Ho Chi Minh as their leader.” President Eisenhower writing after the Vietnam War. Diem refused to hold the elections because he couldn’t be sure he would of won although supported by America he new the country was in favour of communism and made the excuse of the people in the north would not be aloud-free elections. In 1954 the SEATO treaty was set up to stop communism countries signed on faithly saying they would not turn communist. America show their support in the battle of communism by breaking off the Geneva agreement. America’s puppet Diem was becoming increasingly unpopular in South Vietnam. Many people thought his regime was corrupt as he set his family and Christians to positions of power, And as Vietnam was a Buddhist country. Protests were made, which were Buddhists setting them selves on fire outside of government buildings. Though he was still supported by the Americans purely because of his hate of communism. Diem was later on assassinated through fear that the US will withdraw their support. Three weeks later President JFK was also assassinated, Diem’s successors are still not much better then Diem himself. Then new president is now Lynden B Johnson elected in 1963 he knows very little about Vietnam but when he decides to take a trip out their, he fought it was “the biggest damn mess I ever saw.” Their determination had risen to combat communism but their cost of battling communism had also risen. America had become so involved in Vietnam it would be impossible to get out again. These political reasons are all very important on why America became so involved in Vietnam.

This is a preview of the whole essay

Military reasons were another important reason why America became so involved in the Vietnam War. The Vietcong were a large group of communists in the south of Vietnam; they posed a great threat to Diem and his government because they could overthrow him any time. Diem was now living in fear with the Vietcong right next to him and any minute they could strike and overthrow him. To battle communism in Vietnam JFK sent in military advisors to train the ARVN. In 1954 there was 17 advisors, in 1961 there was 685 advisors and in 1963 JFK had sent in a total of 16000 advisors. They trained the ARVN in the use of conventional weapons to combat an unexpected attack from the north. US involvement increased rapidly in Vietnam they increased economic aid to $1.6 billion a year for Diem. They supplied Diem with weapons and military advisors to train the ARVN. A strategic hamlet programme was set up making certain villages fortified to stop communists entering the country and trying to spread the communist faith. These villages were as good as useless as in 1/8 were secure from communism. The Vietcong started to step up their attacks as attacks on the bases Tongking and Pleiku. Although the attack on Tongking was a US submarine vessel was sunk. The US used this as an excuse to bomb back. As for the attack on tongking in august 1964 Johnson agrees to bomb the Ho Chi Minh trail in LAOS in December 1964. Which was a major supply route for the Vietcong. February the 6th-7th 1965 the Vietcong attack the base a pleiku. On the 11th of February 1965 America have a joint attack with the ARVN to bomb key targets of military importance to north Vietnam. As you can see The Vietcong increase their activity and so does Johnson. Operation Rolling Thunder was a all out bombing attack from planes on key targets in north Vietnam. In December 1964 The first batch of US marines were sent into Vietnam, 16,000 of them. Advisors were taken back to America. Two years later the number of marines had grown to 268,000 and then in 1968 it had grown to a total of 500,000. The US have now found themselves directly involved in the conflict. These are vital reasons on why America became so involved in the Vietnam war

The economic reasons in Vietnam were the first reason why America became involved in the war. The first direct involvement America had in the Vietnam War was helping France with money. $500 million a year, which helped the French, try to win back “Indo-China” When Diem took power over the south of Vietnam The US then start to pour money into Diem’s regime $1.6 billion a year Which was very costly for the Americans. Of course America needed weapons for the war so the weapons manufacturers all over America were making tons of money, which did the American economy, good. North Vietnam was being supplied with money and weapons to. They were getting it from Russia and China who were helping for the Communist aid. These were the economic factors of why America was so involved in the Vietnam War.

I think the most important reason of all on why America got so involved in the war was because of the cold war and the battle between communisms. America were so scared of Russia and the communists they wanted to prove a point and they found Vietnam the perfect place to prove the point, that communism will not b allowed to spread Through Vietnam they tried to prevent the “domino Theory” by “containment methods in Vietnam.