The United States was involved in the Vietnam War in the 1960s in order to support South Vietnam’s fight for an economic and cultural ties to the West. On the other hand, North Vietnam supported the ideas of a communist economy. However, the United States’s involvement in the war caused a million of dollars and lives lost, lost of faith towards the country’s government, and divided the nation instead of uniting as one. More than three million people in the war died, and out of those three million, 58,000 were Americans. The Americans and the people in South Vietnam had fought for their beliefs of a modern Westernized country while North Vietnam had fought for a communist economy. With this being said, the president, John F. Kennedy, believed in containing communism (Source C) and …show more content…
When Americans realized that the war costed in losing many lives, they changed their opinions on the war and believed that the war had more negative consequences than bringing honor to South Vietnam. With this being said, Americans turned sharply against the ideas and beliefs of the Vietnam War (Source F). They were ready for the soldiers to come home to their country, and Americans also protested against the decisions of being involved in the war due to the belief in that continuing to fight in it was not worth the risks. Also, the people lost their faith in the government when Kennedy decided to increase the size of the army, the decision was not made public as it broke the agreements made at the 1954 Geneva Agreement (Source C). In addition, the war costed approximately $167 billion (Source E), and the United States had to pay for these debts and losses for the war. Therefore, Americans of the United States lost their faith and trust in the government due to the huge debts and lives lost along with many secrets that were sealed during the
The period from 1960’s to 1970’s was a hardship time for Americans because of Vietnam invasion. In an attempt to contain and defeat communism, the United States, oblivious of the enemy capability and filled with pride, invaded Vietnam at a cost of large financial expense and human lives. North Vietnamese military supported by forces of China and the Soviet Union fought the American force ferociously and was able to force America to end its invasion in 1975. As with most other third world countries, Vietnam also has a long history of colonization by European powers.
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,
The Vietnam War was a conflict between the Vietnamese government that was under French administration and the pro-communist Vietnamese citizens who were fighting for independence from foreign influence. The United States’ armed forces entered into the conflict in support of the colonial administration in an attempt to stop the spread of Chinese and Soviet influence and communism in the region. The Vietnam War is arguably the longest war, lasting 11 years, from 1964 to 1975, and costing the lives of more than 58,000 Americans and countless numbers of Vietnamese. U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War came about when communist North Vietnam sought to unify an anti-communist South Vietnam (Benson, Sonia, et al., 2009). As the war escalated and the
The Vietnam war took a major death toll in Vietnam, United States, South Korea, Thailand, New Zealand, and Australia. Just in the U.S., “more than 58,000 American soldiers were killed while more than 150,000 others wounded”. On both sides, there were almost 2 million civilians dead and 1.1 simply on the Vietnamese side. The My Lai Massacre, where soldiers brutally killed Vietnamese children and mothers, presents an example where the war mentally changed the soldiers in the war in a very horrendous way. On the other hand, the United States took brutal losses in the Tet Offensive, where the Vietcong slaughtered over 100 towns and twelve United States air bases.
As we discussed in class, Nixon ended the war by pulling troops from South Vietnam, which led to the Fall of Saigon, where many innocent people were left behind and taken by North Vietnam. The US spent billions of dollars on the Vietnam War, just to lose. The US could have used that money to benefit its citizens. It also left a lot of innocent South Vietnamese citizens, who helped the US, behind. Many of those people could have been saved, but they weren’t.
The Vietnam War was a war the United States should have never been involved in. The “Domino Theory” was a direct cause of the war. The war resulted in much death; innocent civilians and young Americans were killed. The Vietnam war also resulted in rioting, distrust for the United States government, and the loss of many lives. 58,000 Americans were killed and 300,000 were wounded.
Ed Sanders said, “The Vietnam War was like a wound that would never heal.” This war was a political battle between North and South Vietnam that occurred after North Vietnam threatened to take over the south with communism. America decided to help South Vietnam fight because the Truman Doctrine stated that America would help any country being taken over with communism. The Vietnam War was a significant event in history due to the amount of casualties on both sides, billions of wasted dollars, and the outcome of the war.
Many Americans opposed the war on moral grounds as they were dismayed by the devastation and violence of the war. Although, others claimed the war was going against the independence of Vietnam. Other reasons included the fact of people feeling like it lacked objectives and was unwinnable. However, the antiwar movement grew into an unstoppable force. Many people protested the war by means of persuasion by the “Vietnam Veterans against the War.”
The Vietnam War, a bloody and gruesome war, spanning for about 20 years, took the lives of millions of people, and it was a war unlike no other, and it affected the public opinion of the US people in a very negative way, forcing them to almost turn against the government at one point in our history. It was one of the first public wars, where people all of the world, especially in America, were kept up to date and witnessed many of the tragic events unfold, right in their living rooms. It was a war of changing viewpoints and opinions, as many Americans began to question American military, power, authority and leadership. The vietnam war was also one of the most gradual wars the US has ever been involved in, where as starting from just some assistance
With communism on the rise, America is forced to contain communism to stop the domino effect of communism from taking over. With communism taking over the united states is forced to join the war in Vietnam. This war was one of many, but controversy strikes this one hard. The Vietnam War was controversial for a variety of reasons. While the Vietnam War was originally supported due to the containment of communism and the domino effect it sparked controversy due to the credibility gap and the united states army draft.
Opponents, both political and not, were vocal about their disgust and distrust with the government and presidential
To what extent did the United States involvement in the Vietnam War impact America socially, politically, and economically? In document 1, this shows the major bombing and fighting campaigns of the Vietnam War. The bombing and fighting started in north Vietnam and went down South Vietnam, which includes the Ho Chi Trail and the Sihanouk Trail. These trails and these bombing were an important part in the Vietnam War.
The Vietnam war was preceded by a very turbulent time in our history with problems here in the states such as racism, women’s rights, and a president being shot. But in Vietnam they were going through a civil war, which they had done before, but not to this extent, this time they got the U.S.S.R. involved. It was communist Russia and North Vietnam against South Vietnam. The U.S. started to get
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.
Before his time in office, the tension was escalating between the North and the South of Vietnam. The North supported Communism and wanted to spread it out to the South and all of Southeast Asia. A war started from this tension but America's involvement came later. Once America had realized the North’s intentions, they feared that Communism would spread over to America and the idea of their Democratic society being taken over by Communism scared them the most. America had to intervene so they decided to support the South.