Communism and Aggression
Vietnam was a country that had been at war for many years. In 1954, the occupying French finally left Vietnam and a Geneva code was drawn up outlining the peace treaty. The United States had troops in Vietnam at the time of the cease-fire and they remained there after the Geneva code. Since the end of World War II, the United States and the rest of the free world believed that the Communist had a philosophy of aggression and would take over other countries by force. Based on this belief, the United Nations fought a war in Korea to prevent Communist take over in South Korea. A Senator from Wisconsin named Joseph McCarthy had heightened the fear of Communism in America. His rabid anti-communism had been labeled "McCarthyism". This fear in part led to the Senate passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, with only two senators voting against it. The Resolution gave President Johnson the power to do whatever he wanted in Vietnam without having to gain Congressional appr!oval or officially declare war. By 1965 many Americans began questioning whether there was truly communist aggression in Vietnam or whether it was just a civil war in South Vietnam. This concept started a bitter battle within the United States, with
He believed that the United States was not fighting for "the freedom of the Vietnamese people", but for its own selfish reasons(Potter, 845). The United States' position was that if South Vietnam fell to Communism, all of Southeast Asia would fall: !the domino effect. The United States Department of State outlined its beliefs in four major points. North Vietnam and the Viet Cong were breaking the Geneva code with their aggression. The government believed the Communist aggression was real and took action. He believed the Communists would "ultimately be able to destroy the morale and the will to resist of those who oppose them in the name of freedom"(Dodd, 809). The second point of the "White Paper" described the Communist origin of the weapons captured from the Viet Cong. The SDS was a radical group that focused on civil rights of Americans and getting those Americans out of Vietnam. Dodd's speech to the Senate was a prime example of the reason given the most for the United States' presence in Vietnam. This outlined and gave reasons for the United States' involvement in Vietnam.
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Acceptance Essays
