American Involvement in Vietnam There Were a

American Involvement in Vietnam There were a number of reasons for America's involvement in the Vietnam War, and none of them are easy or give the entire picture of the situation. The War was so contentious and so costly to young American's fighting overseas that it continues to cause contention and argument even today. The remnants of Vietnam, the Vietnam Vets homeless and aged, are a constant reminder that sometimes intervention does not pay.

That Vietnam was a mistake seems to be the common view now, but at the time it seemed as if it was inevitable that America become involved, or watch Southeast Asia turn into a long, wandering arm of Soviet influence. Indeed, there were Soviet links in North Vietnam, so some of the worry was certainly founded. The Soviets were funding the North Koreans, and supplying them with most of their military might, from MIG fighters to weapons and ammunition.

Americans and much of the world were deathly afraid of the spread of Communism, and felt it was worth anything to keep it from spreading, and so, the Vietnam War seemed justified to many. Americans entered Vietnam solely as "advisors" as early as the 1950s, when South Vietnam was struggling to throw off the imperialistic French government, who still ruled the area. The South Vietnamese had good reason to want to crawl out from under French influence.

They felt the French had corrupted their culture and their country, and the French did not understand their religious beliefs, their needs, and their wants. The ultimate motive was to keep Communism from spreading, but there were certainly other political motives. Initially, when advisors went to Vietnam to help the French in 1955, it was to serve an ally from World War II and to adhere to the NSC-68 that called for return aggression in the face of any aggression by Communist forces anywhere.

Initially, there was not strong support to send fighting forces to Vietnam. This changed in 1964 when the North Vietnamese attacked a U.S. ship in South Vietnam's Gulf of Tonkin. Called the "Gulf of Tonkin Incident," it propelled the U.S. into full-scale war against North Vietnam. President Johnson sent the first Marines to Vietnam in 1965, and the forces escalated from there. Troops were finally pulled out in 1973, and South Vietnam eventually fell to the North, making all the 58,000 U.S. casualties seem meaningless and for nothing.

The troops escalated from 1965 until 1972, and it seemed sometimes that Washington and the Pentagon simply felt that the more American might they threw at the War, the better chance of victory. However, many American fighting tactics simply were not effective in the jungles of Vietnam. The North Vietnamese, called the Viet Cong, used guerilla tactics in the jungle that caught many Americans off guard. They knew the terrain and the Americans did not.

Americans were fighting a losing battle, but many experts felt the best thing was to send more manpower. The troops increased, and there were American victories, but more troops could not win the War, and that became evident before President Nixon finally bowed to pressure and brought the forces home. Domestic criticism was incredibly important in shaping the involvement and the eventual withdrawal of troops. As more soldiers died, more Americans began to feel the War was not winnable and unwanted.

Millions of young people protested the war on city streets and college campuses. In fact, John Kerry was not an anomaly after he returned from the War and began to protest about what was going on in Vietnam. Many veterans who came home felt the War was wrong and the U.S. should get out of Southeast Asia. The voices got louder, and much of the media joined in. Each night, most network television anchors solemnly noted the number of U.S.

deaths in Vietnam each day, keeping the War vivid in the American people's minds. This War was really the first war that was televised so heavily, so more Americans actually saw what was happening in Vietnam and began to disapprove. The War ended for a number of reasons, but one of the most important was the voice of a growing majority who felt it was wrong and vocally protested to the government. Eventually, the voices got so loud that President Nixon had to listen.

As with the Iraqi War, there was criticism from other countries, too. Many of the European nations who had been our allies in World War II did not agree with the American involvement in Vietnam. In addition, of course the Soviet Union did not support American involvement, they wanted at least some of the spoils for themselves, it seemed. However, in retrospect, North Vietnam took over South Vietnam and rules with a Communist doctrine.

It certainly had ties to the Soviets, but it did not "add" territory to the Soviet Union, and it did not fall when the Soviet Union fell in 1990. Therefore, while there may have been ties, they were not exceptionally binding, and the Communist regime continues in Vietnam. American involvement did not make America popular around the world. It made us look like an aggressor, and when the War ended in defeat, it made us look as if we struggled.

This was the first major defeat America suffered in a foreign war, and that may be another reason that so it still causes so much contention and discussion. Of course, it did not make American popular with the Soviet Union either, and it strained already strained relationships. The Soviet Union and the U.S. saw each other as aggressors and enemies for much of the Cold War, and the Vietnam War just added fuel to the fire on both sides.

The Soviets were sure we were building up forces to eventually attack them, or bomb them with nuclear bombs, and the Americans were sure the Soviets wanted to take over the world. It was a bad.