Why did the USA become involved in Vietnamin the 1950s and 1960s?

Why did the USA become involved in Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s?

In the 19th century France owned a huge part of South East Asia. This area was known as Indo- China. During the Second World War, Japanese troops occupied this area. Local people did not want to be ruled by foreigners so they organised resistance groups. One of them was the Viet Minh. It was mainly a communist group, led by Ho Chi Minh.

Japan surrendered on August 15th 1945. Soon after that Ho Chi Minh announced that Vietnam was an independent republic. The French wanted to keep Vietnam in their empire so French troops returned to Southern Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh’s Viet Minh was not going to let the French retake Vietnam without a fight. War broke out between the French and the Viet Minh in 1946. The USA did not approve of France fighting to get its colony back. However they gave over $1 billion to France to help them win. Despite all the money, the French lost the war. In 1953, they tried to trap the Viet Minh by setting up a camp at Dien Bien Phu. However due to the Viet Minh the French could not get supplies into the camp. After two months the French were defeated and the survivors put into prison camps. After another two months an armistice was signed and the French agreed to leave Indo China. The peace talks were held at Geneva. They agreed that Vietnam would be split into two parts. The north part became a communist republic, controlled by the Viet Minh, and the southern Vietnam became a republic led by and Ngo Dinh Diem. It was hoped by the North Vietnamese that when elections were held the country would be united again under communist leadership. The USA didn’t want this to happen, and continued to give financial and military support to the south, as they had done to the French to help prevent the spread of communism. This is one of the reasons why the USA got involved in Vietnam. They feared the spread of communism. This is stated in the dominos theory. This theory basically explains that if Vietnam were to turn communist then it would spread to Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand turning the whole of South East Asia communist. USA did not want these countries to turn communist because as they were an industrial country they did not have a good supply of raw materials. This is something Indonesia had and the USA needed. If Vietnam turned communist Indonesia would be one of the next targets therefore making it an independent country stopping trade with USA leaving them with no materials.

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Diem’s government was mainly made up of Roman Catholic landowners. Diems rule was harsh and his government was unpopular with the peasants, many of whom were Buddhists. His government was also extremely corrupt: the money the Americans sent to help Diem’s government was used to bribe Diem’s friends. The USA sent arms too; some of them were even sold to the communists. By 1960 whole areas of South Vietnam were in open rebellion. That same year the NLF (National Liberation Front) was set up to oppose Diem; its members were mostly communist and received help from Vietnam. The South Vietnamese government called them the Vietcong. A war was developing between the government and the Vietcong. President Kennedy became very concerned as the American money and arms had not saved the South Vietnamese government so he sent more advisors. Eventually Diem was overthrown and killed and soon after Kennedy was assassinated. The new president Lyndon Johnson decided to increase American help to the South Vietnamese. The US navy patrolled the coast of Vietnam, guarding it from the NFL soldiers. The North Vietnamese retaliated and attacked an American destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin. This was a minor incident that was exaggerated for the benefit of Johnson. Johnson used this as an excuse to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving him the authority to ‘take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression’.

The Tonkin Resolution was a major reason why USA got involved as it allowed Johnson to fight a war against the North Vietnamese. However he did not want to go ahead with the plans to defeat the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese government until he had the justification of the American people. His justification came on the 7th February 1965 when the Vietcong attacked the US base at Pleiku .ten aircraft at the base were destroyed, eight US advisors were killed and over a hundred others wounded. This was the ultimate excuse for the US to get involved in the Vietnam War.

As you can see there are many reasons why USA got involved in Vietnam. The main reason of them getting involved was stated by US president Eisenhower in the dominos theory

‘You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock over the first one. What will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. Asia has already lost some 450 million of its people to communist dictatorship. We simply can’t afford greater losses’ the Americans did not want this to happen because of their need for raw materials, as they were an industrial country, so they got involved with the war financially and also helped them by giving the French arms. They got involved with Vietnam even after the peace settlement because although the South part of Vietnam was still capitalist they feared that Ho Chi Minh would be elected in the elections causing the whole country to turn communist. Therefore USA decided to take control and become fully involved in the war as they believed the South Vietnamese army had no chance because their government was corrupt and inefficient due to the waste of US money. They continued to train the army by sending advisors; however the president at the time (president Lyndon) had plans to start a war between the USA and the Viet Minh, and after the Tonkin resolution, he had the permission to go along with it. This was all in desperate measures as because of a result of the cold war, the USA was a capitalist country and individuals ran private businesses, so they needed the raw materials from these countries again giving them the authority to involve themselves in Vietnam. Also another reason is because of the Truman Doctrine, this was the containment of the expansion of communism. This is linked with the dominoes theory as they basically state the same kind of thing, if one country falls to communism it will spread. America did not want communism to spread so they involved themselves in the war to contain the spread of it. However another reason might have been to undermine communism and spread capitalism all over the world. All of these are reasons why the USA got involved in Vietnam they all link with on another as the main purpose of them getting involved is to stop the spread of communism and to perhaps spread capitalism.

Sulaiha Ali 10KA

History

Vietnam coursework question 1