At the end of World War II in 1945, The United States government was, seemingly, intent on eradicating Communism from the world. The government was, in a Machiavellian but sometimes inept way, using any means necessary to achieve this goal. In the process, the United States nearly engaged in nuclear war with the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, sacrificed over 58,000 American lives and some 300,000 causalities (not to mention the untold millions of Asian lives), and created "feelings of disillusionment among many Americans who believed that they had been betrayed by their leaders" (Opposing Viewpoints, pg. 17). Despite these costs, the United States government constantly reaffirmed its anti-communist stance. Throughout the nearly two decades of United States involvement in Vietnam, the United States government entered into, and remained in, the Vietnam War, due to the fear of Communist world domination, and the resolve to halt the spread of Communism before it was too late, something not done to Nazism prior to World War II.
Following WWII, France found itself in another war, this time in an attempt to regain Imperialist control over its former colony of Vietnam. The Western World, wary of the possib
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Atwood, Paul, "Vietnam War," Microsoft: Encarta Encyclopedia 99, Microsoft Corporation, 1999. Secondly, we entered the conflict, to prove to the rest of Asia that Democracy can and does work. So, history shows us that while we entered Vietnam with just and valid reasons in mind, the means by which we went about carrying out our will was wrong. His final reason for our involvement was related to the lessons learned following World War II. In stating, "We did not choose to be the guardians at the gate, but there is no one else. , "America Should Be Cautious About Direct Military Intervention in Indochina," Opposing Viewpoints: The Vietnam War , edited by Dudley, William, Greenhaven Press, San Diego, CA. This, at the time, was a very real and valid fear in the United States. In other words, "a relatively limited degree of resistance then would have precluded the need for massive resistance afterward. Kennedy also saw Vietnam as a test, a test to show the rest of the world that America could still be looked on for leadership, commitment, and help. In each land, the forces of Independence would be considerably weakened, and an Asia so threatened by Communist domination would certainly imperil the security of the United States itself"(Johnson, pg.
Kennedy, of course, had valid reasons not to want to lose Vietnam to Communism, he saw it as the "cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia" (Podhoretz, pg.
When Lyndon Baines Johnson was sworn in as President of the United States in November 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Furthermore, the Geneva conference established that by July 1956, an election was to take place, unifying the north and south under one government. McGovern, George, "Vietnamization Is a Cruel Hoax,"Opposing Viewpoints: The Vietnam War , edited by Dudley, William, Greenhaven Press, San Diego, CA.
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