United States Involvement In The Vietnam War

The United States got involved in the Vietnam War because The United States felt like communism would spread quickly, causing the domino theory, meaning that each neighboring country would start to believe in communism and before too long the world would believe in it. Since Vietnam was divided into two parts -- South Vietnam and North Vietnam -- an election would take place so that reunification could take place. Unfortunately, an election never took place because the two sides could not agree on the terms of the presidential election. South Vietnam was supported by the United States, believing the Ho Chi Minh would win the election only due to his popularity, yet North Vietnam was supported by China and Russia. After both sides built their
With all that was happening both in Vietnam and in our own country, the loss of respect was a constant escalation. With the Vietnam War being the first war that the Americans didn’t win , many of of allies were disappointed in America because of this incidence. America also lost respect from its civilians from not winning the war when the US had an advantage because they had advanced technology. August 2, 1964, the U.S.S Maddox was collecting evidence while in the international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin when it was reported that the ship had been fired at by North Vietnamese torpedo boats. Two days later the Maddox and another US boat were in the Gulf of Tonkin. Both ships were on alert, and both ships recorded a high number of sonar and radar signals that were assumed to be from hostile torpedo boats. They stated that North Vietnam fired at the U.S. again. Everyone believed this report,but it was soon discovered that North Vietnam only fired at us first the first time and the second report of attack was a lie. This made the the government look bad and many lost respect before things even got
The U.S. lost over 40,934 American soldiers, some to fighting the enemy but some to a very powerful chemical of dioxin that was unknowingly dropped on the soldiers while they were in country. This chemical became known as Agent Orange. This was by far the biggest loss of the war (Erickson, Ralph L.). Even if agent orange did not kill them immediately, there are both short and long term effects of this disastrous chemical. Short-term exposure to dioxin can cause darkening of the skin, liver problems, and chloracne. (“Agent Orange.”) Some of the long term effects of dioxin are type 2 diabetes, immune system dysfunction, nerve disorders, muscular dysfunction, hormone disruption and heart disease. The chemical was so strong it even caused problems to developing fetuses, causing miscarriages, spina bifida and other problems with fetal brain and nervous system development. While many of the American soldiers were killed by the Vietnamese army, there were a couple of US soldiers who lost their lives at the hand of our own