If the USA had not got involved then the Soviets might have felt strong and confident to push their luck further causing even more problems for other Capitalist countries. In addition the US felt despite being wealthy, they might have gradually disappeared from the world’s political superpowers.
Thus, to Kennedy it was crucial that he demonstrated his faith in the Truman Doctrine by getting involved in Vietnam.
Furthermore, Containment was specifically crucial to Vietnam. This is because the US believed that Vietnam was the first ‘domino’ in the Domino Theory.
That is the expectation of all surrounding Asian countries (i.e. Cambodia, Laos, Japan etc.) would fall under Communism rapidly if Vietnam was to be taken over by a communist force.
The US feared this greatly because of the enormous size of Asia and the power it would’ve possessed if united. Moreover natural resources produced in Vietnam and the rest of Asia could’ve been cut off by communists and be used for their use only. Consequently, countries in desperation would’ve allowed themselves to communism in order to have access to those resources.
If such great power was to build up on the Eastern side of the world then USA could’ve next been in danger of an attack as well as the demolishment of Capitalism in the USA.
Kennedy both feared and accepted the Domino Theory and so avoided it by getting involved with the first domino and making sure it wouldn’t fall.
However in 1963, Kennedy was assassinated and so Johnson took over presidency. As most presidents his manifesto promised his nation a lot of improvements, but most importantly he focused on achieving Johnson’s ‘Great Society’. This was an objective to improve healthcare and tackle issues such as unemployment. However, the increased crisis in Vietnam meant that he spent a lot of his time dealing with problems that occurred there. This put a delay on his Great Society; so in order to end the war as quickly as possible, he had to increase financial and military aid in Vietnam. For this reason, USA became more involved in Vietnam.
Another reason for the involvement of America in Vietnam was the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. This was a supposed attack by North Vietnam towards the US naval force who was intending to spy on North Vietnamese radio transmissions. This attack was seen as an insult and challenge for the USA. Johnson did not want to ignore it because it would make them look weak and also it meant for him that he would have a reason to increase military aid by a large amount and hopefully bring the war to an end; hence get more involved in Vietnam.
To conclude, I believe that the main reason for which the USA became increasingly involved in Vietnam was the Truman Doctrine. Without the Truman Doctrine the USA did not have a sufficient enough reason for them to get involved in Vietnam. In addition, the US felt that being the major capitalist superpower, they had the responsibility to stand up to the growing threat of communism. Finally, if the US would have ignored the doctrine then it would have only exposed their weakness, causing communist countries to take advantage. This could have lead to further problems which they avoided by adhering to the Truman Doctrine.
By Yasmine Mohamed-Ali
