subject: America's Decision to Enter the Vietnam War [print this page] America's Decision to Enter the Vietnam War
To this day, three decades following the departure of the last American troops from Vietnam, the Vietnam War lives on in American historical memory. It lives on, not just as a senseless conflict in which the United States should never have involved itself but as one which effectively drained the United States' resources, led to the deaths of thousands upon thousands of American youth and culminated in the humiliation of the USA. The Vietnam War was never, at any stage of the conflict, popular with the American public and, indeed, the strikes and protests against this war are as much a part of US history as is the war itself. Given the undeniable unpopularity of the war, one can only assume that the United States' leadership had a rationale for involvement in this conflict. Accordingly, in order to arrive at an objective conclusion regarding the United States' involvement in this war, the political and historical context of the conflict shall be considered, following which the two alternate points of view shall be presented for determination of their respective strengths and weakness.
The Vietnam War has its roots in the Viet Minh's struggle for the independence of Vietnam from Japanese control during the Second World War. The leader of this struggle, Ho Chi Minh, was a communist national who, although independent of USSR control, maintained friendly and cooperative relations with Moscow. Despite alliance with the Soviet Union, however, the United States actively supported Ho Chi Minh's bid for independence and, in assertion and affirmation of its support, the United States even trained Ho Chi Minh's guerilla fighters, preparing them for the seizure of their country and the declaration of Vietnam independence following World War II.
Following the surrender of the Japanese Imperial Army in World War II, several factions emerged, demanding control over an independent Vietnam. The Japanese, however, awarded the Viet Minh control over the country and, on 2 September 1945, Ho Chi Minh declared his country's independence from French colonialism, expressing his confidence and hope in US support. There were several reasons for Ho Chi Minh's confidence. The first was the support which the United States had extended him in the training of Viet Minh guerillas. The second was the United States' opposition to European colonialism and support for independence. In other words, there was a string foundation for Ho Chi Minh's belief that the United States would support his government.
The United States' international relations' priorities and agenda, however, underwent a significant shift following World War II and it did not support the Viet Minh. The Cold War had begun and the United States, who perceived of the world as being divided into two camps, the communist and the capitalist camps, was determined to curb the power of the Soviet Union. It saw the Soviet Union as a real threat to the West, to the United States and was utterly convinced that should it allow Vietnam to fall to communism, it would be directly contributing to the growth of Soviet Union and would be facilitating the domino effect, wherein one country after the other would fall to communism. The United States did not simply change its strategy vis--vis Vietnam and its earlier support of Ho Chi Minh, but went to war in order to ensure that Vietnam did not fall to communism, hence Soviet influence.
Leadership of Vietnam became indeterminate. The United States was opposed to ho Chi Minh and Moscow supported him. Eventually, in the Geneva Conference of 1954, the country was partitioned until such a time hen national elections could be held and decides upon leadership. The United States chose Ngo Dinh Diem, an avowed anti-communist as the leader of South Vietnam. Diem, however, was extremely unpopular, added to which he was an autocratic dictator. Matter came to a head in 1955 when he effectively launched a war against all opposition factions, declaring all those who disagreed with him Viet Cong and communist conspirator. Shortly after, he held general elections, and the results were rigged in his favour. He declared himself President of the Republic of Vietnam. He was, however, exceedingly unpopular.
As Diem was unpopular and his popularity was increasingly the year, by 1960 North Vietnam determined that the time was right for the reunification of Vietnam. Hanoi, accordingly, authorized a military occupation of the Republic of Vietnam. Die did not have the military means to withstand the attack and, indeed, he had no popular support. Hence, the United States decided to intervene and by 1962 had 12,000 troops in the country. By 1964, the United States was trapped in the Vietnamese conflict and had begun to institute the draft.
The Vietnam War was exceedingly unpopular, as earlier noted and, added to that, the United States was caught in a war which it just could not win. Fighting continued to escalate as did the level of US involvement. The war lasted until 1973, at which time the United States withdrew, having accomplished very little.
Given the outcome and the causes of the Vietnam War, one question imposes itself upon us. That is, why did the United States involve itself in this conflict. The answer is ideology and the containment policy which the US was pursuing. The United States was determined to stem the spread and expansion of Soviet influence, as in communism and, indeed, had it lost Vietnam, it would have effectively lost one of its very last strongholds in a region which had effectively surrendered to communism. The expansion of communism in East Asia immediately impinged upon the United States' international influence and, further expansion would be interpreted as a Soviet victory. It was, thus, that the United States determined involvement.
Proceeding from the above, the reasons why the Vietnam War became a contentious and controversial issue are evident. It was not only that the United States was sacrificing its men, its soldiers, for ideology but it was doing so in support of a regime which was not popular amongst its own citizens. Indeed, by allying itself with Diem, the United States was allying itself with a brutal and corrupt dictator. To further exacerbate the issue of US involvement, the conflict was a civil war and, as a matter of fact, could even be identified as a war for the unification of a country which was partitioned on the orders of international actors. The Vietnam War, in other words, represented overt American intervention in the affairs of a foreign country, in a distant continent and, accordingly, lacked public support.
In retrospect, the United States should not have involved itself in the Vietnam War. It was a domestic conflict which, consequent to US intervention, was transformed into a proxy war between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a costly war and, significantly, a war from which the United States eventually had to withdraw with little to show for a decade of involvement.
