American Involvement In The Vietnam War

America’s involvement in the Vietnam War took place over a span of decades and is rife with controversy. The war began after the preexisting relationship with the Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh was put aside for fear of communism spreading in South-East Asia, and continued in a seemingly futile effort to keep the communists from gaining power. The war continued mostly due to a tangled web of political schemes, but finally ended due to mass public outcry and lack of success for either side. Before the war in Vietnam, America had dealings with the Vietnamese. During World War II, members of the Office of Strategic Service (OSS) worked with members of the Vietminh. The Vietminh provided information to the OSS and in return the OSS provided weapons
The information provided by the CIA was uncertain at best and indicated that the community insurgents were making progress. The Americans put pressure on the leader of South Vietnam, General Khanh, to increase military action. In addition, President Johnson followed McNamara’s suggestion of “maintaining an advisory role while expanding current policy” (Hall, 16). But, the lack of aggressive military action under Khanh’s leadership aggravated American politicians and was a major point in the debates that occurred through the spring and summer of 1964. Another key factor in the debates was that if the United States government became more active in Vietnam the American general public would disapprove and there would be backlash against the government (Hall, 17). However, in August of that year Johnson was given the perfect opportunity to use military force against North Vietnam when two American naval ships were attacked by the North Vietnamese – although it was later proven that only one ship was attacked. The American government claimed that these attacks were unprovoked, and Johnson submitted a resolution to Congress. This resolution, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, allowed Johnson to actively begin military action in Vietnam. This was the beginning of the Vietnam War (Hall,
Nixon slowly began to beginning to decrease the number of American troops in Vietnam in after over a year of negotiating while fighting (Hall, 59). However, during this time Nixon continued to threaten North Vietnam. Nixon stated that if Ho Chi Minh agree to his terms in the negotiation that he would take “measures of great consequence and force” (qtd in Hall, 60). However, Ho Chi Minh did not alter his terms. Nixon continued to threaten further military action, however due to fear of outrage from the American public, he backed down. Despite this anti-war protests continued to gain in number. Nixon reprimanded the anti-war protesters on national television because he believed that their actions undermined his power in negotiations with North Vietnam (Hall, 60). This in turn provoked even more anti-war