Vietnam: An American Ordeal (Sixth

Vietnam: An American Ordeal (Sixth Edition) by George Donelson Moss

Conditions in Vietnam during the time period lasting from the early 1940s and until the end of the Vietnam War are controversial, given that American and Vietnamese leaders alike have performed critical acts. George Moss's book "Vietnam: An American Ordeal" provides readers with a detailed account explaining the reasons for which the U.S. was determined to put an end to communism and why it did not succeed in its endeavor. A series of Vietnamese and American leaders have gathered the public's attention during the era, particularly due to their involvement in the war.

In a time when matters were unfavorable for the Vietnamese (given that outside forces wanted to impose their standpoint over the ruined country), most did not know what they actually wanted and it did not take much for them to favor a certain individual for the principles he or her put across. The French were considered to be mainly responsible for the precarious conditions in Vietnam consequent to the Second World War, as the administration system imposed by the Westerners appeared to be detrimental for the general well-being of the Vietnamese.

One of the main reasons for which the masses favored Ho Chi Minh was that he was an ardent critic of concepts promoted by developed countries, blaming the French and the Japanese for the devastating famine that took place in the state between 1944 and 1945. The Vietnamese revolutionary leader knew that the public only needed a small impulse in order to rise against their oppressors. Even with the fact that he did not approve of the West, he did not hesitate to employ a series of points presented in the American Declaration of Independence with the purpose of installing the independent Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

While Ho Chi Minh came forward with a recipe that came in accordance with most of Vietnam's requirement's during the 1950s, Ngo Dinh Diem chose a more divisive approach to the topic, promoting democratic concepts that came in disagreement with communist points-of-view. In spite of the fact that he gained limited support from the public, he compensated through his managerial skills and by installing a system that limited the public's power in the state. Surprisingly, most elements that assisted Diem in his struggle to become president of South Vietnam had little to do with traditional Vietnam. This involved his cooperation to the U.S. And the fact that he was a passionate Catholic supporting Catholic Vietnamese in the North, in spite of the fact that the Buddhist majority in the territory did not approve of them. Although Diem initially appeared to assist the Westerners in their efforts to install democracy in the country he proved to be corrupt, being more interested in his own well-being and in his financial situation than in conditions in the country.

The Vietnamese were determined to support theories relating to personal leadership because they could no longer accept being controlled by the French, the Japanese, or by the Americans. It was not necessarily a matter of who provided the most for the country at the time, but of who granted it independence. Because of the support it received from communist states in declaring its independence and because Western powers were against Vietnam's independence, the Vietnamese were sympathetic toward Ho Chi Minh.

Whereas the Vietnamese simply considered Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem to be individuals assisting them in their struggle to achieve independence, the Americans saw presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy as extensions of the people, characters who would passionately fight for the benefit of the U.S. Eisenhower was reputed for his diplomacy and for the fact that he did not express a desire the position of the U.S. By getting involved in a foreign war that would further attract debates in regard to the Cold War. In contrast, Kennedy saw the involvement of U.S. troops in a foreign conflict as the best opportunity for the country to emphasis its power and better its relations with other countries in opposition of communism. Eisenhower was well aware that the American public expected him to improve the way the U.S. was perceived by the international public and thus feared that an intervention in Vietnam would result in failure, similar to how the French did not manage to expand their sphere of influence in the country.