USA's involvement in Vietnam War

C/W

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

There are several reasons why the USA became involved in Vietnam in the 1950s and 1960s. They were, there was a Cold war going on between USA and Russia, fear of communism was another motivation for USA to become involved, the assassination of President John F Kennedy was also a major factor, the assassination of JFK brought the arrival of a new President; Lyndon Johnson and finally North Vietnam attacked US warships this was one of the biggest factor.

The reason for all the fighting and wars in Vietnam all because of the way the country was going to be run. It was just after WWII and Japan had control of Vietnam. But before this Vietnam had been part of Frances colonies and they wanted it back. So the French went into Vietnam with a plan to once again take what was once theirs. At the same time the Cold war between USA and Russia was going on. The democratically run America wanted all the countries to become democratically run while on the other hand Russia wanted all the countries to become communist. USA feared that communism was spreading across the world and they had to act now to stop it. This was called a “domino theory”, if one country falls the countries around it will follow. As USA was an ally of France and they knew that if France regained control of Vietnam it would be run as a democracy so they supported France with the finance, USA paid for 80% of all cost. If they had never given this support France would not have gone into Vietnam as they had just come out of WWII severely damaged and the French people would have gone against the government. Soon France had enough and was forced to retreat after defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu by the North Vietnamese army (Viet Minh) which were led by a man called Ho Chi Minh who was a communist leader. Following this, the Geneva Conference separated the country into two. North Vietnam set up by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam led by the American-backed Ngo Dinh Diem.

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America then turned its attention towards South Vietnam and in helping them to defeat the Viet Minh. Ngo was an increasingly embarrassing ally and was hated by most. Ngo’s opponents in the South set up the National Liberation Front. Its military wing, the Vietcong, was supported with troops and weapons supplied by Ho Chi Minh’s government. America had sent in military advisors to the South Vietnamese army as they were in disarray, the advisors sent in by President J F Kennedy help the South Vietnamese army get organised and teach them about tactics. As the war went on the more advisors were getting sent into Vietnam. President J F Kennedy was a strong believer of not getting involved in the war. JFK was assassinated in November 1963 and this was when the war changed. The new President, Lyndon Johnson was more of a hands on person, he sent in 10 times more the amount of troops that were already in Vietnam.

In August 1964, two American ships were fired on by North Vietnamese gunboats in the Gulf of Tonkin. This is a major turning point in the war as America send in battle troops to fight. President Johnson had persuaded the Senate to give him wide powers to expand the war. When an American military base was attacked in early 1965, Johnson used his powers to start bombing raids on North Vietnam. The aim was to cut off supplies from the North to the Vietcong and the demoralise the North. But the raids failed to achieve either goal. USA was very determined to win this war and at one point the number of troops in Vietnam reached a peak at 542 000 in 1969. The USA used chemicals like Agent Orange which caused distraught throughout Vietnam and caused mass destruction to the lives of the Vietnamese people, still till this day.

President Johnson, after meeting top advisers, announced fresh peace negotiations and the reduction of air strikes in North Vietnam. He also made the decision not to stand for re-election that year. It was the beginning of the long process of American withdrawal from Vietnam. In 1973 a peace treaty was signed by North Vietnam and the USA.

So the main reason in my opinion that USA got involved in Vietnam is the fear of communism spreading around the world and making its way into America.

Dalvir Dhillon 11SZ