Furthermore, United States’ support in Vietnam was initially supposed to be limited to training support (source A). As even United States president, Lyndon Johnson, was aware of the potential escalation of the war in Vietnam if American military forces were to involve themselves in the Vietnamese conflict. President Johnsons statement that “… we could get tied down in a third world war” (source A) substantiates the idea that America feared the worldwide consequence of American support in Vietnam (Source A). Contrary to this however,
Kennedy in his speech first classifies his audience, which is not only America but the world into five separate categories, “old allies whose cultural and spiritual origins we share,” “new States whom we welcome to the ranks of the free,” “people in the huts and villages across the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery,” “that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations,” and “nations who would make themselves our adversary” - and then later addresses how he plans to keep up relations and deal with the problems that have arrived or shall arrive. Kennedy then uses a beautiful analogy by describing Soviet Russia and how Russia pushes the communism to less developed and third world countries like Cuba by stating “those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside” President John F. Kennedy uses the facts of the cold war to create propositions to possibly mend the relations between the USA and Russia: “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms – and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all
In the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson times were extremely confusing. Domestically, the civil rights movement was in full effect and the war in Vietnam was raging overseas. Another major implication on these two mens presidencies was the Cold War and the fight for democracy to rule over communism around the world. Thus, many of the stances these two presidents had on Vietnam involved being aggressive in the war and not letting communism defeat the “free” world. Their decisions were both aggressive and extremely stubborn when the scope of the war began to take shape.
In addition to general exhaustion from war, the American people wanted to focus on domestic equality before moving forward with global equality and democracy. Anti-Vietnam War protests were not necessarily unwarranted, as the anti-democracy Tet Offensive of North Vietnam resulted in the deaths of thousands of American soldiers, with the vast majority of states reporting over 100 war casualties in 1968 alone. (Document E) Economically, the Vietnam War was challenging to manage, as the department of defense budget once again rose to today’s equivalent of 450 billion dollars, adding to an already quickly growing, massive national debt. (Document G)
President Ronald Reagan, who served as the 40th president of the United States of America, is renowned for his foreign policy efforts aimed at preventing a second Vietnam War. The Reagan Doctrine, his foreign policy approach, was centered on a singular objective: preventing the reoccurrence of a conflict similar to the Vietnam War. To achieve this policy objective, Reagan had two main components in his foreign policy efforts: the Kirkpatrick Doctrine and Support for Low-Intensity Conflicts. The first component of his doctrine, known as the Kirkpatrick Doctrine, establishes authoritarian regimes as the lesser of two evils when compared to communist governments.
Kennedy’s failure with the Strategic Hamlet Program The John F. Kennedy Administration who inherited the responsibility of the Vietnam war from President Eisenhower, did not want to lose Southeast Asia to communism.(78) The fear of allowing the disease of communism to spread, fueled the Administration to take a more involved stance, supporting a regime that did not have the support of the people. From the beginning of his presidency until the year of 1963, the time of his assassination, the military personnel in Vietnam rose from 900 to 16,000. Robert Thompson, a member of the British Advisory Mission suggested a program called the Strategic Hamlet Program. This program was a way to protect the people from communism in Vietnam but instead caused
President Truman reflected on the importance of the United Nations and military involvement by stating, “… I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures…” (Document B). However, during this particular time period, America remained one of the only nations actively fighting against communism. Most European countries were subjected to financial duress caused by World War II, thus placing the burden squarely on America’s shoulders. This inexplicable lack of support not only made America relatively weaker, but also allowed communism to spread throughout areas in which they people were not even willing to fight for themselves.
The United States experienced many battles and disagreements that have influenced the world in many ways throughout its existence. In these cases, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B Johnson are both helping the country through difficult times through the State of the Union addresses. In the first passage, President Roosevelt explains how he believes that America can work together to prevent Japanese imperialism, and in the second passage, Johnson explains how America will fight to prevent communism in Vietnam and acquire peace. Although Roosevelt has mentioned some inspiring aspirations in his passage, the passage which includes part of Johnson’s speech sticks with one idea.
It could not have been a worst time for such a weak diplomatic leader. Johnson’s temperament allowed the momentum of Kennedy’s plan with Kennedy’s holdover advisors and his personal hard nosed determination to fight Communism would only lead to the escalation of Vietnam (Hamby 1992, 267). And therefore the obscuring of this massive influx of new social programs that introduced a greater role for the government. Overshadowing the very controversial Vietnam War, the legacy of the Great Society is not just how a massive number of social legislative action changed the role of the government’s responsibility concerning poverty, medical care and educations. The Great Society was truly a legislative dream beyond any liberal’s imagination.
The hysteria that there were communists in the United States was common, and Mccarthy would use this elicit fear to ruin people’s careers and gain power. Much of the panic also came from the fact there were Russian spies in the United States and they were able to steal American secrets. In March of 1954 (Document A) Eisenhower gave a speech addressing the large amount of “hysteria” in the country, addressing the fears of Americans from internal sources; more specifically he is addressing “Unwise Investigators” such as Mccarthy, and the fear people have of being accused of being a communist, and the fears of communism spreading to America, considering the communist spies that were already present in the United States. George Kennan's policy was to stop the spread of communism by using the method of “containment”, this policy would carry on through the next decade. Americans were desperate to stop the spread of communism at all costs, and would take military action and engage in two wars (Korean & Vietnam), in order to halt the spread.
President Lyndon Johnson 's continued support for the South Vietnamese was a culmination of misunderstandings and misconceptions throughout the war. Johnson inherited a difficult issue from Kennedy, and his choices were few and crucial. The United States entered the war confident of, if not certain of, success. However, a small-scale military effort quickly expanded into a vast military crisis. Events of Vietnam locked the United States onto a path of immense military intervention and ultimately destroyed Johnson 's presidency.
The threat of Greece and Turkey falling to communism was a great fear in the U.S. government because of the Domino Theory. The Domino Theory was the idea that if Greece and Turkey were to fall to communism then the Middle East and perhaps Europe would also fall. The only way to stop the Domino Theory was for active U.S. intervention in the World. During the Truman Doctrine speech, President Truman said in his speech that the United States needs to help the “free peoples of the world” otherwise “we may endanger the peace of the world—and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own nation”(Edwards, Congress and the Origins of the Cold War). President Truman’s speech had a huge impact on U.S. foreign policy for the next 40 years as the U.S. continued to intervene in other places such as Korea and Vietnam.
President Eisenhower strongly believed in the “domino” theory, and this idea was present in US for more than a decade. Vietnam was economically significant to the United states , also “the specific value of a locality in its production of materials that the world needs” .Nevertheless, in February 1954 he refused to send troops in the Franco-Vietnamese War and in respond to that he said “ I cannot conceive of a greater tragedy for America than to get heavily involved now in an all-out war in any of those regions”. The president, wanted to improve the relations between USA and the USSR and in July 1955, he proposed the “open skies” policy, in which both sides can interfere with each other’s air military programs. However, the outcome was not
1. What problems did the United States face in the Vietnam War? As the United States struggled against communism in Vietnam, it would face many problems. In the late 1950’s President Eisenhower and later President Kennedy sent military supplies and advisers to South Vietnam. Despite the American aid the Vietcong grew stronger with support from North Vietnam.
America’s fear of communism stretched beyond the western hemisphere; the Domino Theory became popular in the 1960s as the Vietnam War was increasingly seen as a threat to democracy in Asia. The Domino Theory is the belief that a communist victory in one nation would start a “chain reaction of communist takeovers in neighboring states. ”(Domino Theory) In the Vietnam War, this theory was used as a justification for American involvement. Communism, as understood by the American people, was a threat to peace and liberty.
