To what extent can the growing involvement of the United States in Vietnam, in the years 1950-1968, be seen as an ideological crusade against communism?

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To what extent can the growing involvement of the United States in Vietnam, in the years 1950-1968, be seen as an ideological crusade against communism?

The growing involvement of the US in Vietnam in the years 1950-1968 can be seen as an ideological crusade against communism for various reasons. The main reason being the quagmire theory which increased involvement for presidents and got them further into the ‘mud’. Stalemate was also an important factor as it rejected any thought of withdrawal as the US did not want to lose respect/face. The commitment trap made the US become increasingly involved. However, it can be seen that the Cold war caused the US to ‘crusade’ against communism.

US intervention in Vietnam was stimulated by their hatred of communism which was a belief that went against freedom, free trade and democracy, everything the US said they stood for. The US refused and hated communism for many years as it was a threat to security, enterprise and liberty. The particularly disliked the idea of communism spreading even before it’s rising. Furthermore, McCarthy’s ‘red scare’ enforced US’s very strict capitalist views and its fear of communism spreading and forced a crusade against it. Therefore, in order to ease the threat of communism to the superpower status of the US, the presidents had to seem strong. At the Geneva conference, Eisenhower showed he was taking an independent, hard line to fight communism by refusing to cooperate with the communists. Vietnam was the USSR’s and China’s puppet as Southeast Asia was in danger. Truman lost China which furthered their commitment in Vietnam and deepened their ideology that they didn’t want to lose Vietnam to communism. Truman therefore helped the French to be a barrier against communism in Europe. Additionally, in his ‘Truman Doctrine’ speech he said that the US would help any country that resisted communism. Furthermore, Johnson thought Ho was becoming another Hitler, therefore saying it was an ideological crusade and that communism and fascism is the same danger for the world. All the US presidents were therefore anti-communist. All of these points show that it was an ideological crusade and it put forward the idea that the US were not going to negotiate with the communists by any means.

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The Cold War caused the US to ‘crusade’ against communism. The domino theory showed how high communism spreading was on the US’s agenda and it implied that the US planned to solve it. The domino theory was what all the presidents believed in and they feared being alone in a red sea, where they are unable to trade. As China fell to communism under Truman, this proved the domino theory could be taking place and the US had to make sure other countries around China (i.e. Vietnam) did not fall to communism. The losses in Cuba and Laos obligated ...

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