Richard Nixon's Role In The Vietnam War
The Vietnam war was a troubling war that lasted from 1955 to 1975. It was located in North and South Vietnam and was fought by the U.S., South Vietnam, and North Vietnam. There was bloodshed from both sides and many innocent lives lost. The Vietnam war was not only a troubling time for Vietnam, but also the United States.
Richard Nixon was the United States president at the time of the war and was the one that pushed America into joining the war, but later failed. Nixon half-way towards the end of the war states, “ what the hell is vietnam worth to me? [...] what is it worth to this country” (Appy 4)? Nixon began to realize that this war meant nothing to him or the country. But at this point, Nixon became too scared to lose the war so instead he keeps fighting with all american power. Even though he no longer cares about this war, “Nixon ordered 132 …show more content…
carrier-based planes to bomb North Vietnamese military barracks.” The pentagon estimated that the attack would produce 4,500 vietnamese casualties” (Appy 4). Nixon was no longer concerned in the amount of casualties but he was concerned in not being the first president of America to lose a war. Every american wanted this war to be over so “In November that year (1972) Nixon would run for re-election. The leading democratic challenger, senator, george McGovern of South Dakota, was calling for immediate and total withdrawal of American troops, planes, and warships. He claimed the south vietnamese army, the ARVN, was hopeless” (Fleming 1). Everyone wanted the american involvement in the war to end and this hopefully new president could do that. Instead,
Richard Nixon held office, but was later thrown out. Nixon’s failure to run this country and embarrassment for not winning the war so soon lead to “In August of 1974, Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment” (Fleming 8). Rather than be impeached and become humiliated, Nixon stepped out of office. It was very clear Nixon was more concerned on not being the first president to lose a war. Sadly for Nixon, his hopes for the war lead him to be impeached while still having no reason to be apart of the war.
Americans had no purpose or reasoning for coming and fighting in the war. Appy G. Christian states that “Realities within Vietnam were never enough to justify our presence” (6). America was never personally attacked by North Vietnam nor did we have any justification for us being there, so we had no personal reason to put our men on the line for South Vietnam. America’s only reason to join the war was, “At best, Bundy believed it might be a ‘Stimulant’ that would ‘encourage’ the south vietnamese to build a more ‘effective government’ In other words, the U.S. was bombing the North to buck up the south.” (Appy 5). Our excuse for joining vietnam was to “encourage their government”. That should not have been a reason to put our men’s lives on the line for south vietnam’s better government. When america decided to bomb the North, “Bombing failed on every account. Far from weakening the will of the north and the viet cong in the south, it depended their rescue and incited others to join the anti-american cause” (Appy 5). Even the south Vietnamese started to question our presence in the war and joined the anti-american cause. They wanted us out of this war when our tactics stopped working. “Everyone sensed the battle of An Loc was reaching its climax.” the americans wanted this battle
3
over so, “ The americans redoubled their punishment from the sky” (Fleming 5). Even though Americans were winning the battle, it became clear total war was beginning to happen. We deployed all of our bomb and wanted to show no mercy to the Northern army. With some wins and some losses, america still had lots of bloodshed and no hope for South Vietnam to become stronger.
Vietnamization was the only war plan and reason for americans to be stationed, and fighting in the Vietnam War. Vietnamization goal was “to gradually transfer responsibility for the fighting to the south vietnamese, betting that - aided by a handful of american advisers on the ground and he might of U.S. airpower - their troops could stand against the veteran battalions of north vietnam” (Fleming 1). We sent in all of our troops to somehow aid that country so that one day they could aid themselves. With no hope left for this war “U.S. President Richard M. Nixon gambled his presidency on a program called ‘vietnamization’”( Fleming 1). Richard Nixon believed so highly in this plan of vietnamization that he was will to give up his presidency for it. He later faced impeachment for this belief, but in his mind he was worth it. Hopefully for nixon, “An Loc was the first chance to test it in a major battle. To the surprise of both sides, Vietnamization worked” (Fleming 1). Everyone was surprised when the south vietnamese army started to fight back without the help of the United states. The republic of south vietnamese began to fight the north and won without america’s help. Vietnamization was the only plan and hope for this war, thankfully some of the plan worked.
It became very prevalent that Richard Nixon and the White House wanted to keep the U.S.’s presence in Vietnam as quiet as possible. Nixon states as telling his advisor to bomb north
4
vietnam, “Execute or reprisal policy with as low a level of public noise as possible” (Appy 5). Nixon’s goal was to have the public view out of the war as possible and he did this because he didn’t want the public to know really how involved we were. When the media found out what was really happening, “The president told the media that it did not represent a change in U.S. policy” (Appy 5). Regardless on how the media felt nixon continued to bomb north vietnam. He did what he thought was right and did not listen to the citizen or advisors at all. Nixon’s advisor said his, “only concern was that some citizens might ask why we were bombing north vietnam when it was the viet cong who initiated the attack on U.S. forces” (Appy 4). George Ball and president Nixon did not want any suspicions on why they were bombing north vietnam. So they lied and told the public what they wanted to hear. “Therefor, the public announcement should clearly state that north vietnam was responsible for the attack at Pleiku” (Appy 4). Nixon and Ball lied to the public so they would not ask questions why Nixon was bombing North Vietnam. So they lied to the media so everyone would think we were there for the right reasons. Nixon keeping america in the dark made it even more suspicious and more concerning on why we were there.
South Vietnam has shown that their country has had very corrupt and poor leadership. In the middle of the war, “Having laid siege to the presidential palace in saigon, had offered Diem safe passage out of the country as they carried out the coup that would end his nine-year reign over south vietnam” (Kenny 1). South vietnam was very weak and had very poor leadership. Even their own president was taking money to abandon his country and flee to another country. When their president tried to flee the country they were, “Captured the following morning, Diem
5
and his brother and political lieutenant, Ngo Dinh Nhu, were killed during the ride to military headquarters” (Kenny 1). The leader of south vietnam and his family were very unloyal to their country so, they decided to flee the country rather than fight north vietnam. When the U.S. abandoned south vietnam their government collapsed, “But three years later, betrayed by the
U.S. withdrawal, General Le Van Hung killed himself, and President Nguyen Van Thieu of south vietnam fled to the U.S.” (Fleming 7). When america withdrew its help to south vietnam their important leaders could not lead anymore.The U.S. thought that vietnamization would help, but in turn it did the opposite. Despite all america’s efforts to help South Vietnam, we could not fix their broken leadership and government.
North Vietnam and the viet cong had very high expectations of controlling An Loc and winning the war. For example, “An Loc sat on a paved highway, route 13, just 65 miles from the south vietnamese capital, saigon. For general Vo Nguyen Giap, commander of the north vietnamese army that made the city significant” (Fleming 2). Since An Loc was so close to the capital of south Vietnam, Giap decided to invade. When general Giap found out about An Loc’s location, “The centerpiece of giap’s plan was to capture An Loc and claim it as the provisional capital of the revolutionary south vietnam” (Fleming 1).Giap had his eyes set on capturing An Loc and it became the center of his plan because he wanted to turn this city into North vietnam’s communist capital. For instance,“Communist politicians would muster there, while giap raised a tank lead army to ramble down route 13 to saigon after disgusted, war weary americans” (Fleming 2). Giap would leave his advisors in the city while he lead a raid down route 13 and he would shoot anyone that got in his way with his tanks. “ On may 15th, the NVA launched
6
another attack, but it was a pale imitation of previous assaults. The attackers seemed content to exchange random sniper fire in the ruins” (Fleming 7). Giap and his army began to shoot at random places where citizens were because they no longer cared about the south vietnamese citizens. Since the Viet cong was so strong they, “had cut through a double apron of barbed wire, slipped past inattentive south vietnamese guards and blown up parked helicopters and light reconnaissance” (Appy 1). The viet cong wanted America gone and out of the country, so they decided to blow up our planes. The North Vietnamese was very strong and so set on prevailing in the war they went to any cost to defeat their enemy.
North Vietnam had no problem killing the innocent citizens of South Vietnam.
When North Vietnam was fighting the south in the battle of An Loc “The shells (of gun bullets) massacred some 100 men, women, and children who had taken shelter inside hoping god would protect them.” (Fleming 3) North vietnam did not care who they hurt or injured so they open fired on everyone. They had no mercy so they fired on innocent citizens just to win the battle. In hope of making it out alive,“Several groups of desperate civilians tried to escape the city. But the North Vietnamese artillery slaughtered them the moment they emerged into the open fields” (Fleming 6). When the North vietnam was not even shooting at the army, they open fired on citizens. They wanted to make sure that the southern citizens felt their terization. When people began to feel how much this war was actually affecting them: “A Buddhist Monk inflamed the crisis in vietnam, both figuratively and literally, by dousing himself with gasoline and lighting a match” (Kenney 4). Filled with fear, this monk decided to kill himself just to prove a point.
This
7 monk opened the eyes of the citizens to show they what was really going on. Sadly no one was safe during this terrible time of fear from the North Vietnam.
In conclusion, during the most depressing time in Vietnam’s history, americans decided to intervene and do what they thought was best. Americans risked their lives to build a stronger government and put their trust in a not so trustworthy president. And we soon learned, with all these lives lost, Vietnam was troubling for both countries fighting in the war.
Richard Nixon was the United States president at the time of the war and was the one that pushed America into joining the war, but later failed. Nixon half-way towards the end of the war states, “ what the hell is vietnam worth to me? [...] what is it worth to this country” (Appy 4)? Nixon began to realize that this war meant nothing to him or the country. But at this point, Nixon became too scared to lose the war so instead he keeps fighting with all american power. Even though he no longer cares about this war, “Nixon ordered 132 …show more content…
carrier-based planes to bomb North Vietnamese military barracks.” The pentagon estimated that the attack would produce 4,500 vietnamese casualties” (Appy 4). Nixon was no longer concerned in the amount of casualties but he was concerned in not being the first president of America to lose a war. Every american wanted this war to be over so “In November that year (1972) Nixon would run for re-election. The leading democratic challenger, senator, george McGovern of South Dakota, was calling for immediate and total withdrawal of American troops, planes, and warships. He claimed the south vietnamese army, the ARVN, was hopeless” (Fleming 1). Everyone wanted the american involvement in the war to end and this hopefully new president could do that. Instead,
Richard Nixon held office, but was later thrown out. Nixon’s failure to run this country and embarrassment for not winning the war so soon lead to “In August of 1974, Nixon resigned rather than face impeachment” (Fleming 8). Rather than be impeached and become humiliated, Nixon stepped out of office. It was very clear Nixon was more concerned on not being the first president to lose a war. Sadly for Nixon, his hopes for the war lead him to be impeached while still having no reason to be apart of the war.
Americans had no purpose or reasoning for coming and fighting in the war. Appy G. Christian states that “Realities within Vietnam were never enough to justify our presence” (6). America was never personally attacked by North Vietnam nor did we have any justification for us being there, so we had no personal reason to put our men on the line for South Vietnam. America’s only reason to join the war was, “At best, Bundy believed it might be a ‘Stimulant’ that would ‘encourage’ the south vietnamese to build a more ‘effective government’ In other words, the U.S. was bombing the North to buck up the south.” (Appy 5). Our excuse for joining vietnam was to “encourage their government”. That should not have been a reason to put our men’s lives on the line for south vietnam’s better government. When america decided to bomb the North, “Bombing failed on every account. Far from weakening the will of the north and the viet cong in the south, it depended their rescue and incited others to join the anti-american cause” (Appy 5). Even the south Vietnamese started to question our presence in the war and joined the anti-american cause. They wanted us out of this war when our tactics stopped working. “Everyone sensed the battle of An Loc was reaching its climax.” the americans wanted this battle
3
over so, “ The americans redoubled their punishment from the sky” (Fleming 5). Even though Americans were winning the battle, it became clear total war was beginning to happen. We deployed all of our bomb and wanted to show no mercy to the Northern army. With some wins and some losses, america still had lots of bloodshed and no hope for South Vietnam to become stronger.
Vietnamization was the only war plan and reason for americans to be stationed, and fighting in the Vietnam War. Vietnamization goal was “to gradually transfer responsibility for the fighting to the south vietnamese, betting that - aided by a handful of american advisers on the ground and he might of U.S. airpower - their troops could stand against the veteran battalions of north vietnam” (Fleming 1). We sent in all of our troops to somehow aid that country so that one day they could aid themselves. With no hope left for this war “U.S. President Richard M. Nixon gambled his presidency on a program called ‘vietnamization’”( Fleming 1). Richard Nixon believed so highly in this plan of vietnamization that he was will to give up his presidency for it. He later faced impeachment for this belief, but in his mind he was worth it. Hopefully for nixon, “An Loc was the first chance to test it in a major battle. To the surprise of both sides, Vietnamization worked” (Fleming 1). Everyone was surprised when the south vietnamese army started to fight back without the help of the United states. The republic of south vietnamese began to fight the north and won without america’s help. Vietnamization was the only plan and hope for this war, thankfully some of the plan worked.
It became very prevalent that Richard Nixon and the White House wanted to keep the U.S.’s presence in Vietnam as quiet as possible. Nixon states as telling his advisor to bomb north
4
vietnam, “Execute or reprisal policy with as low a level of public noise as possible” (Appy 5). Nixon’s goal was to have the public view out of the war as possible and he did this because he didn’t want the public to know really how involved we were. When the media found out what was really happening, “The president told the media that it did not represent a change in U.S. policy” (Appy 5). Regardless on how the media felt nixon continued to bomb north vietnam. He did what he thought was right and did not listen to the citizen or advisors at all. Nixon’s advisor said his, “only concern was that some citizens might ask why we were bombing north vietnam when it was the viet cong who initiated the attack on U.S. forces” (Appy 4). George Ball and president Nixon did not want any suspicions on why they were bombing north vietnam. So they lied and told the public what they wanted to hear. “Therefor, the public announcement should clearly state that north vietnam was responsible for the attack at Pleiku” (Appy 4). Nixon and Ball lied to the public so they would not ask questions why Nixon was bombing North Vietnam. So they lied to the media so everyone would think we were there for the right reasons. Nixon keeping america in the dark made it even more suspicious and more concerning on why we were there.
South Vietnam has shown that their country has had very corrupt and poor leadership. In the middle of the war, “Having laid siege to the presidential palace in saigon, had offered Diem safe passage out of the country as they carried out the coup that would end his nine-year reign over south vietnam” (Kenny 1). South vietnam was very weak and had very poor leadership. Even their own president was taking money to abandon his country and flee to another country. When their president tried to flee the country they were, “Captured the following morning, Diem
5
and his brother and political lieutenant, Ngo Dinh Nhu, were killed during the ride to military headquarters” (Kenny 1). The leader of south vietnam and his family were very unloyal to their country so, they decided to flee the country rather than fight north vietnam. When the U.S. abandoned south vietnam their government collapsed, “But three years later, betrayed by the
U.S. withdrawal, General Le Van Hung killed himself, and President Nguyen Van Thieu of south vietnam fled to the U.S.” (Fleming 7). When america withdrew its help to south vietnam their important leaders could not lead anymore.The U.S. thought that vietnamization would help, but in turn it did the opposite. Despite all america’s efforts to help South Vietnam, we could not fix their broken leadership and government.
North Vietnam and the viet cong had very high expectations of controlling An Loc and winning the war. For example, “An Loc sat on a paved highway, route 13, just 65 miles from the south vietnamese capital, saigon. For general Vo Nguyen Giap, commander of the north vietnamese army that made the city significant” (Fleming 2). Since An Loc was so close to the capital of south Vietnam, Giap decided to invade. When general Giap found out about An Loc’s location, “The centerpiece of giap’s plan was to capture An Loc and claim it as the provisional capital of the revolutionary south vietnam” (Fleming 1).Giap had his eyes set on capturing An Loc and it became the center of his plan because he wanted to turn this city into North vietnam’s communist capital. For instance,“Communist politicians would muster there, while giap raised a tank lead army to ramble down route 13 to saigon after disgusted, war weary americans” (Fleming 2). Giap would leave his advisors in the city while he lead a raid down route 13 and he would shoot anyone that got in his way with his tanks. “ On may 15th, the NVA launched
6
another attack, but it was a pale imitation of previous assaults. The attackers seemed content to exchange random sniper fire in the ruins” (Fleming 7). Giap and his army began to shoot at random places where citizens were because they no longer cared about the south vietnamese citizens. Since the Viet cong was so strong they, “had cut through a double apron of barbed wire, slipped past inattentive south vietnamese guards and blown up parked helicopters and light reconnaissance” (Appy 1). The viet cong wanted America gone and out of the country, so they decided to blow up our planes. The North Vietnamese was very strong and so set on prevailing in the war they went to any cost to defeat their enemy.
North Vietnam had no problem killing the innocent citizens of South Vietnam.
When North Vietnam was fighting the south in the battle of An Loc “The shells (of gun bullets) massacred some 100 men, women, and children who had taken shelter inside hoping god would protect them.” (Fleming 3) North vietnam did not care who they hurt or injured so they open fired on everyone. They had no mercy so they fired on innocent citizens just to win the battle. In hope of making it out alive,“Several groups of desperate civilians tried to escape the city. But the North Vietnamese artillery slaughtered them the moment they emerged into the open fields” (Fleming 6). When the North vietnam was not even shooting at the army, they open fired on citizens. They wanted to make sure that the southern citizens felt their terization. When people began to feel how much this war was actually affecting them: “A Buddhist Monk inflamed the crisis in vietnam, both figuratively and literally, by dousing himself with gasoline and lighting a match” (Kenney 4). Filled with fear, this monk decided to kill himself just to prove a point.
This
7 monk opened the eyes of the citizens to show they what was really going on. Sadly no one was safe during this terrible time of fear from the North Vietnam.
In conclusion, during the most depressing time in Vietnam’s history, americans decided to intervene and do what they thought was best. Americans risked their lives to build a stronger government and put their trust in a not so trustworthy president. And we soon learned, with all these lives lost, Vietnam was troubling for both countries fighting in the war.