Part of The Student Room Group

  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

Vietnam Coursework: Question One

Extracts from this document...

Introduction

Question One: How useful are sources A to C to explain why the United States became involved in the war in Vietnam? Source A is an extract from a speech called "peace without conquest". The speech was delivered to the American people on 7, 1965. By this point, Operation rolling thunder was well underway. The source could be interpreted as the official view from the government on why it was so important for America to fight in Vietnam. The source states several reasons for the USA's involvement in Vietnam making it quite useful. The source shows that the USA had "a promise to keep", since 1954. This makes reference to SEATO (South East Asia Treaty Organisation), which was set up by President Eisenhower in September 1954. It was a South East Asian version of NATO, and aimed to block further communist gains in the Asia. SEATO was originally part of the Truman Doctrine, which aimed to promote the containment of communism. The USA felt very loyal to SEATO as they felt very threatened that more countries would become communism after China did in 1949. The source is also useful because it states that the USA was there also to "strengthen world order". This links back to America's role as "world's policemen" The USA had put it upon them to try to keep the world in order and promote freedom to all. ...read more.

Middle

He is also concerned about staying in power as the source is also taking from 1964, election year. The source is also useful as it tells of Vietnam being "the biggest damn mess". This makes reference to the chaos in South Vietnam at this time. During the early 1960s Vietnam was a complete mess. The Vietcong were continuously murdering top officials in the south as they intensified their campaign for an independent communist Vietnam. There were many military coups and in 1963, Ngo Dinh Diem was murdered by his own officials South Vietnam now had no real leader. Also the source is useful as it mentions the domino effect, which was also highlighted in Source A. the source says "Of course if you start running from the communists, they may chase you into your own kitchen." This shows how Johnson was so concerned about the rapid spread of communism and the Domino effect; he was even beginning to worry that Western Europe would begin turning to communism. Even though it may be suggested that because the source was taken from a private conversation it is more useful than Source A. the source also has many limitations. The source is taken from election year election year, this was also the year when President Johnson gave his great society speech. Due to this Johnson is very aware of his public image at this time, as he did not want to loose his place in the White House. ...read more.

Conclusion

Because Chomsky is looking back in hindsight it makes the source limited and 'its official truth now' meaning that he is sympathising with the US public as they all were now aware of the Vietnam true nature of the war. In conclusion all the sources suggest reason such as the domino effect, America's role as world policeman and SEATO and for the USA's involvement in the War. Each source is useful and limited, but out of all the sources, source B is the most useful. Source A is the official reason for why the USA became involved and was taken the election year and therefore would contain limitations in order to please the American public and win the election. Source B on the other hand is from the same election year but is the unofficial reasons. The source is taken from a private conversation and underlines the pressures Johnson had to face, from the president himself. Source C is also limited because it is taken after the war and could be argued that Chomsky was highly influenced by his knowledge. Source B is the most useful to explain why American became involved in the war because it gives the most truthful view from Johnson to why the USA entered Vietnam. However from the sources it becomes evident that the threat of communism spreading across Asia and the repercussions of the domino theory are the most important reason the USA entered Vietnam, rather than the wanting to promote freedom and preserve the interest people of Vietnam. ...read more.

The above preview is unformatted text

This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Vietnam 1954-1975 section.

Found what you're looking for?

  • Start learning 29% faster today
  • 150,000+ documents available
  • Just £6.99 a month

or


Not the one? Search for your essay title...
  • Join over 1.2 million students every month
  • Accelerate your learning by 29%
  • Unlimited access from just £6.99 per month

See related essaysSee related essays

Related GCSE Vietnam 1954-1975 essays

  1. Did the power of television force the US to leave Vietnam?

    of the war in Vietnam which they were able to see via Television. Also other countries all over the world such as Britain were seeing the effects of the war. The Vietnam War was the first war to be highly televised and this was a major reason for America losing support and thus in the end leaving Vietnam.

  2. vietnam coursework

    America could not allow South Vietnam out of its control because it would undermine American influence in the area. My conclusion on each of the sources is: Source A is useful because it is by the American president at the time (Lyndon Baines Johnson)

  1. How useful are sources A to C in helping to explain why the United ...

    we are not given another point of view from which we can form an opinion which is not biased. The source does show feeling in terms of desperation but this feeling would not have been portrayed when President Johnson was giving the speech.

  2. Escalation of American involvement in Vietnam

    This showed that USA failed to win the hearts and minds of South Vietnamese people. The other reason, that led USA to failure in Vietnam, was that Vietcong had short and effective supply routes, whilst US had a long supply routes, therefore resources like weapons and other supplies had to travel a long distance to reach Vietnam.

  1. Evaluate the effectiveness of Diem's regime politically, economically and socially

    Opposing political groups began to rise such as Binh Xuyen, Hoa Hao and Cao Dai which were soon crushed because of a newly launched campaign, To Cong Campaign, which was used to denounce communists. People that went against this were arrested, tortured and imprisoned.

  2. Why are there different views about the influence of media on the course of ...

    The public would have put the government under pressure to withdraw as to try and secure the parties future by not losing possible votes. However on the other hand this source could be biased as it was said by Vietnam veteran Tom Hain.

  1. using the sources available, why did America loose to Vietnam?

    was broadcast on colour televisions this would have triggered a huge uproar in the united states creating anti-war movements lowering the public's morale and would seize to back up the war and turn against it, this would then make troops going there not want to which would then in turn lower the soldiers morale.

  2. How useful are the sources A to G for explaining why there was an ...

    experience in the Vietnam War and McCarthy also reflects upon the intimacies of his encounter with the Vietcong. Whilst describing one event that occurred early on in his tenure as a rifleman, we see that - as with many other U.S.

  • Over 160,000 pieces
    of student written work
  • Annotated by
    experienced teachers
  • Ideas and feedback to
    improve your own work