How Did The Vietnam War Influence American Foreign Policy

American foreign policy is not always characterized by its citizens' attitudes, leading to many disputed events throughout history, such as the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, which began in 1955, was both a civil war between North and South Vietnam and a proxy war involving other prominent nations, such as the United States ("Vietnam War"). In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized the direct involvement of the U.S. in Vietnam after a short clash between U.S. and North Vietnamese naval forces occurred, which led to the Southeast Asia Resolution being passed by Congress (Berman and Newman). While Americans may have been on board with such involvement in the 1940s and 1950s, where anti-communist policies and periods, such as the “Red Scare” reigned strongly among American politicians and legislation, by the 1960s,
The United States initially aided South Vietnam with economic and military support in hopes they would eradicate the communist threat within North Vietnam themselves. The United States put immense effort into eliminating any foreign communist presence because of President Eisenhower’s “Domino Theory,” which proposed that a communist government in any nation would spread communism to their neighboring nations (Berman and Newman). Despite being warned by state officials, such as George Ball, of the possibility of the United States entering a new war, President Johnson, a year after the Southeast Asia Resolution, deployed 50,000 to 100,000 men to Vietnam (Berman and Newman). Johnson even ignored the warning of the U.S. Defense Secretary, who warned that the possibility of victory is slim because "the level of guerrilla to antiguerrilla forces is unfavorable to the government" and revealed to the public that he increased the numbers of troops from 75,000 to