Why was USA involved in Vietnam War?

Ngo Dinh Diem was a fanatical catholic. As communism hated religion, Diem hated what entire communism stood for. This is why he got America's support - he had a poor record on human rights but his rule was in the era of the US desire to ‘contain communism’ and anybody who was anticommunist in the Far East was likely to receive American backing, regardless of their less than savory background. Ngo ruled as a dictator along with his brother - Nhu. Their government was corrupt and brutal but it was also backed by America.

In 1960 The National Liberation Front was set up in South Vietnam. It aimed to overthrow Diem, get rid of the Americans and reunite North and South Vietnam.  In the same year John F. Kennedy became the President of the USA. He increased the number of military advisors from 100 to 1600 by 1963. He also helped to equip the South Vietnamese Army. In 1961 The US spent nearly $270 million in military support for Diem.  At the same year J.F. Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson became the new president of USA.

Diem’s unpopularity was so great that in November 1963, the South Vietnamese Army overthrew and killed him. The confusion at a political level in South Vietnam and the abuse of peasant’s rights within the agricultural community were two reasons for the spread of communism within the south.  Such a development alarmed the American President, Lyndon Johnson, who had asked his military chiefs to formulate plans with a full-scale war break out. The one proviso the chiefs-of-staff had was that America had to be seen as the victim rather than the aggressor. Johnson’s version of ‘The Domino Theory’ was slightly different: ‘If you let a bully come into your front garden one day, the next day he’ll be up on your porch, and the day after that he’ll rape your wife in your own bed.’ He wanted a more aggressive war against the communists; he didn’t think the South Vietnamese government was able to keep the North Vietnamese out of the South. That is when the American involvement increased.

        The Gulf Tonkin Incident occurred in 1964, the name was given after two American ships were attacked by North Vietnamese gunboats while they were in international waters. In response to this, the American Senate gave Johnson the power to give armed support to assist any country requesting help in defense of its freedom; this was known as a “Gulf of Tonkin resolution”. As a cause of North Vietnamese attacks, air strikes were justified In March 1965, the first American ground troops landed in South Vietnam and by December 1965, there were 150 000 stationed in the country. The Bombing of North Vietnam had already started in February 1965. This bombing was known as ‘Operation Rolling Thunder’, which required bringing in more troops. After the first troops landed in Da Nang, reinforcement of ground troops was requested. In 1965, the war between North Vietnamese and USA began. As it continued US military involvement was increasing, as there were more North Vietnamese attacks.

1965 was the year when America became fully involved in Vietnam War. The reason for this was mainly the ‘Domino effect”, that Americans were so afraid of. This was a theory of the countries falling into communism, like countries in East Europe and Soviet Union. As a cause of this fear, the “Truman Doctrine” was declared when Truman was elected as new president of USA. The Doctrine justified any US intervention in other countries, if they are seen as oppressed and in need for rescue. USA saw Asian countries under the threat of communism and was keen to help them. They also saw Ho Chi Minh as a victim of Mao Tse Tung, which influenced North Vietnamese leader to become a follower of communism. Yet, that was a wrong assumption.

The US involvement in Vietnam was guided by the idea that Vietnamese need to be saved from communism. Throughout the years, the US involvement was escalating, since it started with purely financial support, which in 1954 changed as US sent ‘political advisors’ and in the end US got involved with military force. Not only that USA failed to stop the spread the communism, which was the reason for getting involved in Vietnam, but it also brought them economic problems, loss of lives, negative reactions from its own people and a defeat in a country miles away from USA.