To Kill a Mocking Bird

             The Vietnam War, which lasted from 1945 to 1975, defies description. American troops were involved from 1965 to 1973, making it America's longest war. It was the first war the United States lost, and it was the first war brought into the family living room by television. For the soldiers who fought, it was a war without front lines, against an enemy who often wore civilian clothing.
             The Vietnam War is probably the most misunderstood war in which America has ever fought. The death of 57,939 Americans and 10% of the Vietnamese population all started in the little peninsula between India and China. Between 1893 and 1954, Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam were politically united under the name French Indochina. After the French withdrew from Vietnam in 1955, it was divided into North and South Vietnam at the 17th parallel. The Communists, who wanted to be free from the French, controlled North Vietnam. The South Vietnamese, however, wanted to remain anti-Communist. The French supported this stance, and sought support from the U.S. to resist the spread of Communism in South Vietnam. The United States was determined to keep South Vietnam out of the control of the Communists.
             Each president, from Eisenhower to Nixon, committed the United States to deeper involvement in the Vietnam War. President Dwight D. Eisenhower began a policy of containment. In September 1954, he lengthened the U.S. protection to South Vietnam under the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO). He also provided economic aid. When Eisenhower was asked to explain the importance of South Vietnam, he used the example of falling dominos: "You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly." If the Communists overran South Vietnam, he believed that Communism would then take over in other countries of Southeast Asia.
             When the National Liberation Fro...

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To Kill a Mocking Bird . (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 07:45, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/59927.html