Explain Why the United States of America Became
Increasingly Involved in Vietnam Between 1945 & 1966. Essay Example
In this coursework essay, I am aiming to explain why the United States of America became increasingly involved in the Vietnam conflict between the years 1945 and 1966. During this time, America had five different presidents: Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon.
Until the First Indochina War, the region was a colony of France, known as Indochina, part of the French Union – in the war, troops were drawn from elsewhere in the French Union to fight in the war against the Viêt Minh (lead by Hô Chí Minh). Later, between the years 1955 & 1965 – the Americans were supporting Ngô Đình Diêm, a puppet President they had helped install. However, the Americans didn’t realise what a problem he would become. He ran his authoritarian and nepotistic ‘government’ so poorly, he would later be double-crossed and killed by one of his Generals and a Captain of the AVRN while travelling in an armoured vehicle. After Diêm’s death, the United States were at their full involvement.
After the Second World War, and the Yalta agreement which gave control of the entire East of Europe to Stalin, Truman’s doctrine changed the United States’ attitude towards communism. The new policy was containment, and the US were worried about the progress of Stalin’s communism throughout Eastern Europe and the Far East, with Máo Zédōng’s regime introducing communism into China, and soon, Korea. Something had to be done – Soviet Russia turned into the USSR, with fifteen SFSRs, China became the People’s Republic of China – communist countries were spreading their ideals, and determined to not see another country fall to the threat of communism, the US started to carry out their self-imposed Truman Doctrine obligation: to stop the spread of communism through any means, financial or military.
One of the ways that American attitudes changed is the way that Truman weighed up the belief held by many Americans that colonialism is wrong, with the threat of communism, which Stalin was spreading
Until the First Indochina War, the region was a colony of France, known as Indochina, part of the French Union – in the war, troops were drawn from elsewhere in the French Union to fight in the war against the Viêt Minh (lead by Hô Chí Minh). Later, between the years 1955 & 1965 – the Americans were supporting Ngô Đình Diêm, a puppet President they had helped install. However, the Americans didn’t realise what a problem he would become. He ran his authoritarian and nepotistic ‘government’ so poorly, he would later be double-crossed and killed by one of his Generals and a Captain of the AVRN while travelling in an armoured vehicle. After Diêm’s death, the United States were at their full involvement.
After the Second World War, and the Yalta agreement which gave control of the entire East of Europe to Stalin, Truman’s doctrine changed the United States’ attitude towards communism. The new policy was containment, and the US were worried about the progress of Stalin’s communism throughout Eastern Europe and the Far East, with Máo Zédōng’s regime introducing communism into China, and soon, Korea. Something had to be done – Soviet Russia turned into the USSR, with fifteen SFSRs, China became the People’s Republic of China – communist countries were spreading their ideals, and determined to not see another country fall to the threat of communism, the US started to carry out their self-imposed Truman Doctrine obligation: to stop the spread of communism through any means, financial or military.
One of the ways that American attitudes changed is the way that Truman weighed up the belief held by many Americans that colonialism is wrong, with the threat of communism, which Stalin was spreading