The Vietnam War: Alain Enthoven

The American’s setback in Vietnam War is already tattooed in their history. It triggered shameful criticism both to General William Westmoreland and the US government. Even today, many Americans still ask whether the American effort in Vietnam was a sin, a blunder, an indispensable war, a noble cause, or an idealistic campaign (History Learning Site, 2015). Instrumental to this campaign was American General William C. Westmoreland who engineered the build-up and consolidation of U.S. military forces in South Vietnam. He is considered to be the primary reason why he was not able to win the war in Vietnam as he overestimated the American people’s patience and tolerance of friendly losses.

During the Vietnam War, President Eisenhower placed CIA operatives and many different military advisers into Vietnam. President John F. Kennedy was the one to finally make the decision to send American soldiers over to Vietnam so that we could fight. President Lyndon Johnson announced and ordered the very first authentic combat by American troops, and finally, President Richard Nixon was the one who ended the war all together. Unfortunately for America, despite all the decades of resolve, whopping amounts of money, over 60,000 American lives and injuries, the United States had still ultimately failed to achieve all of its

Ngo Dinh Diem was the president of South Vietnam who was an anti-communist. President Kennedy increased his financial aid to Diem to diminish the accusations of “soft democracy.” But before Kennedy was assassinated, he claimed that the war was “their war.” In the end, Kennedy wanted remove the troops from South Vietnam. Some Americans agreed with Kennedy’s path, to return home from war, but many others supported President Lyndon Johnson’s approach, to send more troops.

saw the war in Vietnam as a battle of the Cold War, the Vietnamese saw it as a civil war instead. Unfortunately, President Johnson failed to empathize with the Vietnamese the same way President Kennedy was advised to do so with the Soviets during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Even though constructivism would fail to explain this decision in world politics, Realism manages to explain it well. The U.S. saw the Soviets as a threat to their own security, both due to their growing economy and their military capabilities. Seeing as the Vietnamese were communists, in the eyes of the U.S., the Soviets had just gained an ally in the South-East Asia region.

By definition, “mission command is the exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land operations,” according to ADRP 5-0. Mission command is about knowing when to change the task to fit the purpose. This paper is intended to analyze the mission command of one side of the battle, focusing on the commander’s role in the operations process. The Battle of Bunker Hill was the most important battle of the American Revolution because of Colonel Prescott’s superior command and control.

”I... request Your Excellency to...supply my place. No one is more aware than myself of my inability for the duties of my position.” General Lee could almost be seen getting down onto his very own two knees and pleading to the president that he wasn’t good

For most people, there comes a time in their life when they have to make a decision to choose the easy option or the right one. For Richard Nixon, this decision had the potential to cost many their lives. When Nixon took office on January 20, 1969 America was fighting someone else’s war. The war in Vietnam had been going on for 4 years by the time Nixon was inaugurated and there were no plans for peace underway. The negotiations in Paris between the United States and North Vietnam had reached a stalemate and neither party was ready to agree to the others terms.

Nixon wanted to end the war just like every other American. He had many plans for this war and one of them was called Vietnamization. Vietnamization was a policy that would replace U.S. troops with South Vietnamese troops and supply them with supplies and weapons (Rubel 182). It was a way to retreat U.S. troops and end involvement in the war. Even though he ended involvement in the Vietnam War by withdrawing U.S. troops, he decided to bomb enemy forces in Cambodia (Lillegard 71).

• George McLellan (1826-1885), U.S. Army officer, railroad president and politician ,major general during the Civil War (1861-65) • George Brinton McClellan was born on December 3, 1826, into an elite family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A studious child, McClellan made the decision to enter military service at age 15 • Army of the Potomac in 1861, worked with Abraham Lincoln . • In 1862, McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign unraveled after the Seven Days Battles, and he also failed to decisively defeat Robert E. Lee’s Confederate Army at the Battle of Antietam later that year. Frustrated, Lincoln removed him from command of the Army of the Potomac in late 1862 • McClellan opposed the outright abolition of slavery, though he was equally committed

H.R. Mcmaster, author of Dereliction of Duty: Lyndon Johnson, Robert McNamara, The Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam. McMaster explains who was responsible for the Vietnam war and why. H.R. McMaster wrote Dereliction of Duty to provide information to the public on what really happened during Vietnam, wanting others to know what the military leaders did. Also believing that if you go into the military you should know about previous issues and happenings that occurred to provide the best work. McMaster began digging deeper into the Vietnam war and the people behind it all in America.

With the US military helping South Vietnam against the North Vietnam. The South Vietnam didn’t not feel like they had support under the Western’s power, which South Vietnam didn’t because Nixon was trying to help the South Vietnam, but no involving US soldiers to fight in the war. Although, Nixon made the Vietnamization policy to stop US involvement it cause more of a uprise for the US position in the war. The New Economic policy and Nixon Doctrine both policies made by Nixon was only towards his presidency and not actually stopping the US involvement. Nixon said it would make a change in the US involvement to better but instead Nixon didn’t follow up upon his campaign promises.

Thousands of Americans soldiers died in Vietnam. The war had cost so much that President Johnson was forced to cancel multiple programs including his social reform program. America had failed to contain communism and many people lost confidence in our country. It was nearly 20 years before America again tried to police the world. However, the domino affect was proved wrong because the loss of South Vietnam to communism did not immediately effect what happened in governments of other countries.

The top reasons that United States of America lost in Vietnam War was because, corruption, climate and the lack of interests. The people in the United State of America did not support the war and certainly did not appreciate how the government decided to put their hands in the foreign countries. The young soldiers when they first arrived Vietnam their bodies did not adjust to the temperature and weather in Vietnam. When the United State government sent supplies and money over to the South Vietnamese military the money went to the pocket of the people in the upper power. Back in the 1960s the technology that United State of America had was way more advanced than Vietnam.

The following events would put him in a disadvantage. In August 1964, North Vietnam allegedly attached American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. Congress authorized he president to use force, he did. In 1965 President Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnam.

A man in that high of a position should make better decisions on the battlefield. General George McClellan no longer deserves his position after the events that occurred on September 17 near Antietam Creek. I hope I am not the only one shares this opinion and that President Lincoln hears our opinion and reacts with at least a demotion. I also believe