The US hated the Russians because they pulled out of World War 1 so their Communist Revolution could take place. This made the War for Germany slightly easier as they were suddenly only fighting on one, Western front. This was the reason why the Russians were not invited to the T.o.V. The US also disliked the USSR because they signed the Nazi-Soviet pact with the Germans. However, I feel this is quite unjust as the US was the ones who rejected the Russians, forcing them to sign a treaty with the Nazis.
What the whole Russia-America thing boils down to is Communism vs. Capitalism. Communism is all about, well, not making money, where Capitalism promotes money and the dog-eat-dog world. It stands for rugged individualism, where Communism tries to make everyone even and stands together. The work of Karl Marx shows Communism is not such a bad idea, but when it falls into the wrong hands (as in George Orwell’s Animal farm, which it has done, it cannot doesn’t work. The US did not want the further spread of communism. During WW2, Russia had accumulated land on their route to Berlin. They weren’t simply going to give this back. They were made communism states, or ‘satellites’. The land was in Eastern Europe, and the Russians kept on taking more in this area, including Hungary, Romania, Poland and Czechoslovakia. This was called the domino affect, and to prevent it spreading further, the US helped Western Europe out with the Marshall plan, loaning money to them. This basically meant those countries allegiance to the US. The Americans needed to replicate this in Vietnam.
The Vietnam War was part of the Cold War. There was no actual fighting between the US and the USSR, but they used other countries to do it for them. The Berlin Blockade and the Korean War were examples of this. The Vietnam War was another.
Ho Chi Minh was a Viet national who had seen his country tarnished by foreigners; he and his people did not like them, in 1954, with the help of the Vietminh, he kicked the French rulers out of the country. He had witnessed the Communist spread in Europe and he tried to adopt that to Vietnam. The North of Vietnam supported Ho Chi Minh, where the Capitalist South, didn’t. The US saw this and could see another, Far-Eastern Domino Affect happening, just as it did in Europe, if the US didn’t act soon. At the Geneva accords in 1956, Vietnam was split in to two countries, at the 17th parallel. The southern, US-supported, capitalist and corrupt President was Diem. He was extremely unpopular because of this treatment to Buddhists and his ‘strategic hamlets’ (Fenced off living areas to keep out the Vietcong, a communist guerrilla group), but the US supported him even more, as they had to, to keep him in power.
John F Kennedy was the President of the US. He was, in military terms, a dove. This meant he would not rush into things and would talk before fighting. The USA’s involvement in the war was not a lot. Then JFK was assassinated, making the vice-pres, president. This man was a military Hawk; he would act on the war. His name was Lyndon B Johnson. He thought he would be joining ‘a bitch of a war’. He would not be wrong. This was a short-term cause.
Another major short-term cause was when some US Warships were patrolling around the Gulf of Tonkin, on the coast of Vietnam, when one; the Maddox, was attacked by Northern Vietnam boats (which were probably supplied by the Chinese or Russians). The Maddox was hardly touched and the boat, along with others, returned fire, easily destroying the opposition. There was also an incident at an American base, Plieku, where American soldiers were massacred. This was the catalyst, the Americans had to strike back LB Johnson was given a ‘Blank Cheque’ by congress, and in 1965, they launched operation Rolling Thunder, a bombing campaign. They then introduced more US troops to fight. All of these things escalated the US into the War.
By this point the US was too far into the war to pull out. They simply could not lose to a small, mountainous country. Even then, the spread of communism would be too strong. If the South fell, surely Cambodia and Laos would too. Then it would spread to Burma, Thailand and India. There was too much at stake. They could not pull out at this late stage and lose to a peasant nation. I have talked about many reasons for the US involvement, but what the ultimate and Long-term reason was the Cold war against the USSR. As Lyndon B Johnson said, it was ‘a bitch of a war’, which lasted a further 8 years.
