Preview

American History

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
800 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
American History
Week 5 Ind. 1
Tabitha Brown
Everest University
Heather Geisler
6-29-13

“Beginning in the 1950s, maintaining a non-Communist South Vietnam became crucial in American efforts to contain communism” Goldfield (2010). “Communism is a very attractive theory, particularly for the poor masses of a developing country” Kallie Szczepanski (2010). “Communism is a system of government, like democracy or dictatorship. “The main point about it is that (in theory) everyone is equal; there is no single person of small groups of people who rule the others” Goldfield (2010).” There are also no social classes like the working classes, aristocracy etc. ” Goldfield (2010). ” It has been demonstrated that this system cannot work and usually becomes a dictatorship” Goldfield (2010). “In the beginning in 1949, fear of domestic Communists gripped America. The country spent most of the 1950s under the influence of a Red Scare, led by the virulently anti-communist Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy saw Communists everywhere in America, and encouraged a witch hunt-like atmosphere of hysteria and distrust” Kallie Szczepanski (2010).
“Following World War II country after country in Eastern Europe had fallen under Communist rule, as had China, and the trend was spreading to other nations in Latin America, Africa and Asia as well. The US felt that it was losing the Cold War, and needed to "contain" Communism” Goldfield (2010). “It was against this backdrop, then, that the first military advisors were sent to help the French battle the Communists of Northern Vietnam in 1950. (That same year the Korean War began, pitting Communist North Korean and Chinese forces against the US and its U.N. allies)” Goldfield (2010). The France was fighting in Vietnam to keep control of their colonial power. They were not worried about communism.
What was the nation's justification for its actions in South Vietnam in the 1950s and its determination to abide by the outcome of free elections there only if

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    My Lai Massacre Essay

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages

    From 1959-1975, America was involved in a prolonged conflict to prevent the spread of communism. Opposing forces were attempting to unify Vietnam under a communist government. In 1954, at the Geneva conference, Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel, splitting the country into communist…

    • 1475 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Hess argues that the threat of the USSR and Communism “left the US no choice but to stand up to the challenge posed by Vietnam”. Direct confrontation was impossible as the USSR was a nuclear power, therefore the only choice available was “a policy of containment”; previous success in Korea gives validity to this view. Hess states Vietnam was the centre of the “Domino Theory”, that a communist Vietnam “would inexorably lead to the collapse of other non-communist states”. All communist states were believed to be puppets of the USSR so an increase in Soviet allies would tip the global power balance against the US. Morris supports Hess, saying Johnson believed “the USA faced a communist conspiracy to extend communism across the globe”. Previous Soviet annexation of Eastern Europe gave evidence that a similar expansion would be repeated in South East Asia. The Red Scares of the 1950s showed how the US population considered the USSR an aggressive threat as policy matches public opinion containment was essential. Supporting this view, LBJ stated the US was to “assist the people and government of that country [South Vietnam] to win their contest against the externally directed and supported communist conspiracy.” Ostensibly this argument is valid as Marxism is an expansionist ideology. However the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) was predominantly nationalist, acting independently from the Kremlin, with Ho Chi Mihn believing that “nothing is more important than Independence and Liberty”. Evidently this language is far closer to that of American Enlightenment than Leninist Bolshevism, thus suggesting LBJ did have a choice as Vietnam posed little threat. However this cannot invalidate the Domino Theory which has overwhelming sources in support: as Robert McNamara stated, “The Domino Theory… was the primary factor motivating the actions of both the…

    • 2895 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    John F. Kennedy in Vietnam

    • 1990 Words
    • 8 Pages

    JOHN F. KENNEDY IN VIETNAM There are many critical questions surrounding United States involvement in Vietnam. American entry to Vietnam was a series of many choices made by five successive presidents during these years of 1945-1975. The policies of John F. Kennedy during the years of 1961-1963 were ones of military action, diplomacy, and liberalism. Each of his decision was on its merits at the time the decision was made. The belief that Vietnam was a test of the Americas ability to defeat communists in Vietnam lay at the center of Kennedy 's policy. Kennedy promised in his inaugural address, "Let every nation know...that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and success of liberty." From the 1880s until World War II, France governed Vietnam as part of French Indochina, which also included Cambodia and Laos. The country was under the formal control of an emperor, Bao Dai. From 1946 until 1954, the Vietnamese struggled for their independence from France during the first Indochina War. At the end of this war, the country was temporarily divided into North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam came under the control of the Vietnamese Communists who had opposed France and aimed for a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South. For this reason the United States became involved in Vietnam because it believed that if all of the country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia and further. This belief was known as the "domino theory." The decision to enter Vietnam reflected America 's idea of its global role-U.S. could not recoil from world leadership. The U.S. government supported the South Vietnamese government. The U.S. government wanted to establish the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which extended protection to South Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos in case of Communist…

    • 1990 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    In 1949, Mao Zedong led the Peoples Revolution, which established a Communist State in China. Communism has now been introduced to Asia. In this period, after World War II, Communism was a popular ideology being introduced throughout the world. Vietnam was one of the many countries under the threat of Communism. At this time, Vietnam was a French Colony. As time went on tension started to come between the French and the Vietnamese people. As tension increased so did the fighting between the French and The Vietnamese. Finally in 1954, The French decided that they could no longer withstand the revolts of the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese were now free of French rule. However, many problems still remained in Vietnam. After the war there was a conference to discuss the troubles in Vietnam and all of the other troubles in Asia. That conference was called the Geneva Conference. Vietnam sent two delegations to the conference. One of the delegations represented Viet Minh (which was Communist in their leanings) and the other represented Bao Dia's government, which was backed by the United States. Both claimed to represent all of Vietnam. At the conference there was a discussion about dividing Vietnam at the 17th parallel to solve the troubles between the two delegations. Now there were two Vietnams. One, in the north, was under Communist rule and the other, in the south, was not. While the Geneva Conference was being held, the United States was already concerned about Communism being spread. The United States then decided that the only way to solve the problems would be to contain Communism including in Vietnam.…

    • 1552 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Justifying Vietnam

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In chapters 3 and 4 of Robert McMahon’s Major Problems in the History of the Vietnam War, there are a number of reasons given for the increased American involvement in Vietnam from the late 1940s to the mid 1950s. McMahon includes several documents in these chapters that point to three main reasons used to justify our role in Vietnam.…

    • 791 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Red Scare Research Paper

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages

    When news broke out that communism was in America, the public was astonished and feared what communism in the U.S. government would do. Many politicians baffled on why they were even trying to run for office. What they did not see coming was the popularity that would follow communism in the future. The fear did not come from the Communist Party itself, but the obsession of a small group of people with power to stop the Red Scare that spread rapidly in the America in both the early 1900’s and 1940’s.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “We will not make the same old mistakes,” Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger proclaimed of Vietnam in 1969. Although Kissinger and Nixon wished to withdrawal from Vietnam under honorable conditions and not abandon the South Vietnamese, their policy suffered similar flaws as the administrations’ preceding them. Nixon’s ‘comprehensive peace plan’ was no better than Johnson’s so why would the North Vietnamese Army relent now? This resulted in four more years of bloody warfare in Indochina, a marked increase in domestic strife and a peace settlement that permitted American extrication but was neither honorable nor lasting. The North continued to demand the total and unconditional withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Vietnam and called for the establishment of a government from which the U.S. backed Thieu, would be…

    • 2548 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The Vietnam War began on the 1st of November, 1955, and ended on the 31st of April, 1975. It was a war fought predominantly in Vietnam, but small battles did occur in areas of Laos and Cambodia. During these twenty years of unfortunate enmity, hostility and combat, the South fraction of Vietnam, fought against the North. The South of Vietnam was predominantly Capitalist, their allies strictly anti-communist, a political ideology which exorbitantly contradicted that of the North sector, which was completely and utterly Communist. This essay will focus on whether or not the United States had plausible justification when entering the Vietnam War.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Another reason for America going over to fight in Vietnam was because the U.S. did not want communism to spread throughout the world. The American government hated communism and did not want to see any more in America. In article, Andrew Rotter states that “Communism scorned democracy, violated human rights, pursued military aggression, and created closed state economics that barely traded with capitalist countries.” Communism was seen to be a terrible thing and America was willing to do whatever it took to not let communism spread throughout the world, no U.S. president would want to lose a country to communism. This is why Truman sent the aid to the French to try and help stop Vietnam because America knew if Vietnam would win, communism might be taking over.…

    • 507 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Us History

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages

    1. The authors of the Articles of Confederation established a decentralized political system mainly to…

    • 676 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    American History

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages

    3. The Farmer's Alliance of the late nineteenth century was most similar to the Grange in its:…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    us history

    • 255 Words
    • 1 Page

    This “Causes-Course-Consequences,” or CCC, chart is another excellent way to summarize important information from history. In it, you identify the cause or causes of a particular event and what happened during the event, called the “course.” Then you identify the outcomes, or “consequences,” of the event. It will help you remember the significance of many historical events and help establish connections between them.…

    • 255 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    American History

    • 347 Words
    • 1 Page

    There are many events that led the 13 colonies from a newly independent country to a transcontinental nation and many reasons how and why the US became stronger after its independence. The US benefited from its independence and this build a stronger nation.…

    • 347 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    us history

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1.Transcendentalist means The quality or state of being transcendental. It means to when someone finds themself through nature and being in solitude.…

    • 288 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Domino Theory In Vietnam

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The domino theory was very important, and significant for the reason of involvement in the conflict In Vietnam for USA. The US had encountered many tragedies with communism, in the cold war fighting the Soviet Union, turning of China to Communism and the spread of communism to Eastern Europe during the World War, which was huge evidence that Communism could easily be spread. However what mainly sparked the hatred of communism was the red scare in the 1920s which showed the destruction that communism can do, and the extreme effect that might occur if it spread ever further. So in the essay I will talk about how extreme the domino theory was as a result for the US involvement in Vietnam, and other factors relating to US involvement.…

    • 1381 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays