Vietnam Dbq Analysis

The Vietnam war is known as the longest war in the U.S. history. It was situated in Vietnam, a country located in the southeast of China, during the cold war. Vietnam was a French colony and like in most colonies, the natives (Vietnamese people) were not treated right; Ho Chi Minh, that later became north Vietnam leader, asked for help to western countries, which was denied. The Soviet Union offered to help Vietnam, however, in order to do so they had to become communists, the country was divided into North Vietnam (communist) and south Vietnam (democratic), eventually North Vietnam wanted to take over South Vietnam. The U.S. got involved in Vietnam to keep communism from spreading, thus the country was divided because not all Americans agreed with the participation in this war, and the division between Americans made the U.S. foreign policies to change.

The United states got involved in the Vietnam war to contain communism. In Document 1 president Harry Truman says, when a country is ruled by the minority with a government that uses terror and oppression, the rights of the majority are being violated, and the United States ' policy must aid them. In communism, the basic human rights are not respected by the government, and the United States have

The foreign policies changed after the Vietnam war; as a consequence of the division in the American society and the lives lost in Vietnam, the Congress passed the War Power Acts that stated that only the Congress can authorize the use of the military, and only in a situation where the country is in danger (Document 7). Many congressmen that served in Vietnam were less likely to use the military without the American people 's support (Document 8), and Americans ' trust in their government was going through a downfall after the Vietnam war. Besides, many Americans didn’t know what they were fighting for when they were being drafted. Therefore, for the U.S. to get involved in other countries ' affairs, would be more