Download Essay

The U.S. and the Vietnam War
By: Adam Spark
For: Mr. Cotey
CHA3U
November. 22 / 2006
Since the end of World War II, the United States of America have been
the superpower of the world. They have acted as the policemen and watch men
of the world. After World War II, the U.S. has been in and out of conflicts non
stop. One of the most major conflicts was the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War
was a civil war where communist forces of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
(North Vietnam) and National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam, (also
known as the Viet Cong) fought the anti-communist forces of the Republic of
Vietnam (South Vietnam) in an effort to unify Vietnam into a single independent,
communist state. The U.S. involvement in the war was and still is very
controversial. The United States got involved in the Vietnam War for their own purposes to show
the Soviet Union their power, stop the spread of communism, and to gain more influence in Asia by
controlling a country.
America got involved in the Vietnam to show the Soviet Union their military power. The first
planning and intervention was during the Cold War. Americans started to go into Vietnam during
the late 1940’s. They spent time there learning about the country and gaining an influence there.
After showing the U.S.S.R. their power by using the A-Bomb, they had to find other ways to show
the U.S.S.R. their power if they were going to stop the cold war. Vietnam was a way to show
military power, their political influence, and their technology. Since they needed to be in a war to do
all these things, the U.S. fabricated an event called the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. Senator Fulbright,
an influential senator at the time, saying that the Tonkin gulf incident didn’t even happen. “But this
Gulf of Tonkin incident, if I may so, was a very vague one. We ere briefed on it, but have no way
of knowing, even to this day, what actually happened. I don't know whether we provoked that
attack in connection with supervising or helping a raid by South Vietnamese or not. Our evidence
was sketchy as to whether those PT boats or some kind of boats, that were approaching were
coming to investigate or whether they actually attacked. I have been told there was no physical
damage. They weren't hit by anything. I heard one man say there was one bullet hole in one of
those ships. One bullet hole!”1 The "Tonkin Gulf Incident" was indeed fabricated by the US, as was
discovered in the early 1970's when the Maddox and Turner Joy logs and transmissions were
revealed. As a result of the attack, the “Gulf of Tonkin resolution” was passed. This was a
resolution passed by congress and brought about American bombing in Vietnam, starting American
fighting in Vietnam. But, Johnson failed to inform the congress that the American ships may have
not even been attacked, that they were spying for southe1rn forces, and that the resolution was
1
J. William Fulbright, “How the U.S. Got Involved in Vietnam“,
written three months previous, almost as if they knew it was going to happen. Both sides of the
war had huge super powers backing them. The South had America, the North had the Soviets. The
North supported the communists by giving large amounts of food, supplies, and money. With the
soviets backing the North, Americans figured they would back the South. It was a battle of the
superpowers of the world. Both sides were supporting their own beliefs and hoping to get the edge
on the Cold War.
Therefore, this evidence proves that America used the war in Vietnam as a way to show the Soviet
Union their military power.
Another reason that the U.S. got involved in the Vietnam War was to stop the spread of
communism. The U.S. was very worried about the domino theory in Asia. The domino theory was
the theory that if Vietnam fell into communism, the rest of Asia would fall as well. It was applied
by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his top advisers in 1954 to describe the
http://www.vietvet.org/jeffviet.htm (November 22, 2006)
prospects of communist expansion in Asia if Indochina were to fall. Eisenhower
argued that all of Southeast Asia could fall.2 The U.S. couldn’t let more nations fall to
communism because that would mean that the Soviets would have more allies for the Cold War.
Since Americans were already in a cold war with communist Russia, they were
very much patriotic and loyal to Capitalism. This made the war against
communists seem not only “right”, but essential to their cause. Americans were
acting as the front line against communism at the time. They felt obligated to
fight against it and to stop the “Communist threat”. The U.S. were fighting not
only to stop communism, but to promote Capitalism and democracy because
they felt it was their duty to keep the people of Vietnam “free”. But the majority of
the people of Vietnam, had chosen communism, they voted Ho Chi Minh and his
party into power in Vietnam. This wasn’t an essential act or patriotic act for
capitalism or for the people of Vietnam. The United States got involved in
Vietnam to put down the communist threat that threatened to turn the tides of the
Cold War.
The U.S. got involved in Vietnam to gain more influence in Asia, by controlling a country.
The Americans were in Vietnam even before the French and Vietnamese began fighting. Major
2
Guilmartin, Dr. John. America in Vietnam (Surrey, England: Colour Library Books,1991), 44.
Archimedes Patty led a small U.S. team that went into Vietnam. Patty made contact with Ho Chi
Minh. Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh was later voted into government by the Vietnamese people.
His success was largely due to massive endorsements by the American government3. This brings
about the question why would the U.S. endorse a communist party? Also one wonders why the
U.S. was in Vietnam, making contact with a powerful politician in the first place. Later, well into the
Civil War, Americans started to support Diem and his capitalist South. They had influence in both
the North and the South. They had at one point or another supported both sides. Essentially, the
U.S. had set up a war by helping a communist party get into power and then fully supporting a
capitalist party during a civil war. They used Diem to control the way the war went, fight
communism, and gain influence in Asia. After looking at the evidence, one can see that America
fought during the gain more influence in Asia by controlling an Asian country.
This paper has investigated America’s motives to becoming involved in Vietnam. After the
Viet Minh was voted into government, the Civil War started. Suddenly, the U.S. had a war, an
3
Guilmartin, Dr. John. America in Vietnam (Surrey, England: Colour Library Books,1991), 40.
opportunity, where they could fight against communism. This was a way to show power to the
Soviets, stop the spread of communism, and gain more influence in Asia. The United States got
involved in the Vietnam War for their own purposes to show the Soviet Union their power, stop the
spread of communism, and to gain more influence in Asia by controlling a country. President
Johnson very much didn’t want to fight the war. He was more concerned about the situation in
America.4 But since there was such a push from the rest of the government and the country to
fight, he kept the war going. This brings up the question of if even the president wasn’t sure about
fighting this war, was it worth fighting?
4
Gilbert, Sir Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century 1952-1999 (Great Britain: HarperCollins
Publishers, 1999) 297.
Bibliography
Daugherty, Leo. The Vietnam War Day By Day
Miami: Lewis International, 2002
Drake, Jeff . “How the U.S. Got Involved In Vietnam”
http://www.vietvet.org/jeffviet.htm
Guilmartin, Dr. John. America in Vietnam
Surrey, England: Colour Library Books, 1991
Ferry, Joseph. “Chapter 2: The Vietnam War”
http://web.ebscohost.com/src/detail?vid=16&hid=11&sid=4bd0d040-c131-46bc-bdbc5b5cc192b3ce%40sessionmgr103
Gilbert, Sir Martin. A History of the Twentieth Century 1952-1999
Great Britain: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999
Bragden, Henry; McCutchen, Samuel; Ritchie, Donald. History of a Free Nation
United States: Glencoe/McGraw – Hill, 1998