United States efforts to contain communism in Vietnam

Vietnam

Intervention of Communism in South Vietnam

has participated in the events taking place in Vietnam because it wanted to put an end to the ongoing communist revolution going on in the country in the 1950's. In theory communism presents itself as a very attractive concept, especially for the core masses of a country which is at its developing stages. It presents itself as a society where equality is maintained everywhere, where the in the masses nobody is richer or poorer than the other, where employment is distributed equally and people share the outcome of the labor they have done and where the government ensures a safety net for its people so that proper medical care and employment opportunities are provided. However as it is known to all that the concept of communism does not work in real life or in practice, because in the practical world the political leaders are more concerned about themselves and are better off without taking upon themselves the headache of the ordinary man (Duiker, 1996).

The U.S. Efforts in maintaining Non-Communism

All through the 50s and the 60s, the developing countries throughout the world including Vietnam were in the efforts of developing a communist-based government. In the homeland, U.S. had been in a grip of fear since the cold war in 1949, due to the domestic grip of communism in America. U.S. had spent the entire of 1950s under the fear of the Red Scare, which was under the command of the virulent Senator Joseph McCarthy. According to McCarthy, he saw communists everywhere in the U.S., and hence had created a witch hunt type hysteria and atmosphere in the country where distrust followed everywhere. On the international front, following up with the effects of the World War II almost every country after country throughout the world was spreading the communist rule, including China, Latin America, Africa and well as Asia. Hence the U.S. was going through a feeling of insecurity of losing the cold war and hence at the time of Vietnam felt the need to "contain communism." The evidence of the communist victory in the civil war of china in 1949 and also its intervention against the United Nation in Korea had shaped the U.S. China policy a strong captive of the Cold War political scenario. The over exaggerated geopolitical aim of the U.S. intrusion in Vietnam was to stop the spreading concept of communism, in Vietnam and also in South East Asia (Mitchell, 1996). To accomplish this project the U.S. initially started to support the anti-communist government known as the Republic of Vietnam which was in the South of the country, against the communist takeover in the north. In this case the south was facing extreme attacks: a communist-led revolutionary insurgency within its own borders and the military power of its communist neighbor and rival, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam which was in the north of Vietnam. In order to stop the South of Vietnam from falling to the communist led government, the U.S. initiated a major war in the South East Asia (Cable, 1991).

Conclusion

The question which is still asked in the U.S. is why and how the war was fought in Vietnam. The debate always boils down to the fact that whether the U.S. used their military power to attain control of atleast the south of Vietnam or was the war fought according to the promise made which was to bring peace in the region and free it from the communist rule.