US Involvement in Southeast Asia
Through a good portion of the 20th century, the US had many different forms of involvement in Southeast Asia. During this time, the United States was under the leadership of several different presidents. Therefore, the foreign policy, especially concerning Southeast Asia and Vietnam, was constantly changing. The first president to deal with communism in foreign countries was President Harry Truman. This started in 1945 when Truman adopted the policy of "containment." The objective was to prevent communism from spreading around the world. Truman wanted to target Southeast Asia in particular because with so many little neighboring countries, they were the most vulnerable to falling to communism. Then from 1952-1960 Eisenhower took over the leadership of the US as president. Eisenhower stayed with Truman's theme of containment but added his own theories into the policy. Eisenhower adopted something called the "Domino Theory." This meant that it was thought that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to communism, they all would just like dominos in a row. This theory led to the first actual US involvement in Southeast Asia. In 1930 Ho Chi Minh started the first communist party in Vietnam. At that point in time Vietnam was a Fre
It then takes two years for North Vietnam to completely take over South Vietnam. Then in December of 1972 Nixon orders 18 days of major bombing known as the Christmas Bombings. In the summer of 1963 there was supposed to be the Annual Buddhist Celebration to celebrate the birth of Buddha. The Geneva Conference was held in order to decide the future of Vietnam. Vietnam is now a completely communist nation and therefore the attempts of the US were pretty much useless. So, nothing major takes place in regards to the war until April of 1970 when Nixon announces that US troops will be entering neutral Cambodia who is housing some of the attacking Communists. The targets were Hanoi and Haiphong, the two biggest cities in North Vietnam. Then in March of 1965, US troops entered South Vietnam for the first time. The country is then reunited into one country that is run by Ho Chi Minh. After an attack on the US airbase in Pleiku by the Viet Cong, Johnson appointed General Westmoreland in charge of US forces. Eisenhower did not want to be physically involved in combat, but 1,000 American "Advisors" were sent over to South Vietnam to teach them about technology and warfare. At this same time, President JFK was assassinated and his Vice President Johnson takes over as president. Because of Eisenhower's Domino Theory, the US sent money to aid France in fighting the Vietnamese in order to prevent communism from spreading. However, for almost two years all that Nixon accomplishes is withdrawing troops from Vietnam as a part of his policy of Vietnamization.
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Acceptance Essays
