Why The Failure Of The My Lai Massacre
In 1947, under Truman, the United States established a policy of containment in an attempt to halt the expansion of Soviet Union communist influence. The policy was first established in Europe and has been deemed a success. When adopted in Asia, containment had its share of victories, but also astonishing defeats. Between 1962 and 1973, the United States was completely invested in the Vietnam War which they believed was necessary to contain communism. This war was the first in which containment failed to succeed in its mission as the United States called a cease fire in 1973 and was forced to retreat. However, the aforementioned time period was a success for the policy as communism did not spread to the whole of Vietnam and was restrained to the Northern part of the country.
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This is evident in the Tet Offensive and the My Lai Massacre. The former was a North Vietnamese strategized attack on the South’s most important cities and provinces. Shortly after capturing the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, the United States managed to defeat the Northern troops and force a retreat. Because the North was able to execute such an elaborate plan without the United States finding out, this showed how far the end of the war seemed to reach. This broke the psyches of the American public at large. The My Lai Massacre happened later that year and was when men from the US 11th Brigade stormed into My Lai and began to search and destroy anything and everything in the city. This was another demonstration of how the American army was losing control of their men and further plummeting the popularity of the Vietnam War. As previously stated, although both of these situations proved to be demoralizing, they did succeed in containing communism in the North and therefore showing how this policy could still hold
This is evident in the Tet Offensive and the My Lai Massacre. The former was a North Vietnamese strategized attack on the South’s most important cities and provinces. Shortly after capturing the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon, the United States managed to defeat the Northern troops and force a retreat. Because the North was able to execute such an elaborate plan without the United States finding out, this showed how far the end of the war seemed to reach. This broke the psyches of the American public at large. The My Lai Massacre happened later that year and was when men from the US 11th Brigade stormed into My Lai and began to search and destroy anything and everything in the city. This was another demonstration of how the American army was losing control of their men and further plummeting the popularity of the Vietnam War. As previously stated, although both of these situations proved to be demoralizing, they did succeed in containing communism in the North and therefore showing how this policy could still hold