The overarching reason that America became embroiled in the
communist/nationalist conflict in Vietnam in the late 1950s was the attempt
to halt the domino effect of communism in the region. The domino effect was
first can be defined as a cumulative effect produced when one event sets
off a chain of similar events. In this case, the U.S. had a policy of
containment when it came to dealing with the communist U.S.S.R. and the
Peoples Republic of China. The theory went that if the U.S. allowed a
currently non-communist country fall into communist rule, then this would
increase the likelihood that a neighboring country would then be subject to
falling under communist rule as well. Thus, one domino topples into
another and so on. By pursuing a policy of actively thwarting attempts at
communist rule wherever it could, the U.S. government felt it could stem
the tide of communism and by proxy, the influence of the U.S.S.R. and
U.S. global planning has always been sophisticated and careful, as one
would expect from a major superpower with a highly centralized and class
conscious dominant social group. Their power, in turn, is rooted in their
ownership and management of the economy, as is the norm in most societies.
During World War II, American planners were well aware that the United
States was going to emerge as a world-dominant power, in a position of
hegemony that had few historical parallels, and they organized and met in
order to deal with this situation. Planning for after the war involved
dividing the world up into regional sections, and approaching each region
differently but with the ultimate purpose of benefiting U.S.A. aims and
Early participation against the communist led insurgency into what was then
called South Vietnam consisted of the Eisenhower administration sending in
military advisors and C.I.A. operatives to help train and bolster t
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