Throughout the past century, there have been numerous controversial topics from suffrage to slavery. Perhaps one of the most controversial, at least in my opinion, was the war in Vietnam. Even today, right now, if you ask someone what he or she thinks about the Vietnam War, you are sure to get an earful. But, while opinions have their place, the real questions still linger. How did this war start? What was the United States involvement in the war? Lastly, was the price that the United States paid worth it? These are the questions I posed to myself, and then set out to try and answer here, in this paper.
The Vietnamese War, as defined to me in the New Standard Encyclopedia, was “ an undeclared war for the control of South Vietnam, starting in 1957 and ending in 1975.” The war began as a Communist guerrilla campaign supported by North Vietnam, who sought control of South Vietnam. The United States feared that Communism would spread, and President Eisenhower’s Domino Theory was born. By 1965 the United States assumed a major role when units of Marines became the first combat troops in South Vietnam. In April, the first North Vietnamese regular units infiltrated South Viet
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I found through the course of writing this paper that this war had many enemies and few allies. The Communists were driven out after weeks of never ending battles during which they suffered substantial losses. In previous years both sides had made several attempts to explore a basis on which to negotiate a peace settlement. This was the year of the Tet Offensive, which had started in January of that year with the North Vietnamese launching major attacks on more than 30 major cities. As for positive changes, I feel that one of the few changes after the Vietnam war would be the lack of keeping silent, that a lot of Americans of the time had been accustomed to. In 1971, the South Vietnamese forces tried to stop the North Vietnamese infiltration into the south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. In the beginning, I feel that the American people stood firmly behind the actions of our government officials. By the end of 1965, there were 181,000 American troops along with troops sent by South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. and amassed approximately 25,000 people. In the end, with no hope of a clear resolution in sight, the White House finally concluded that this war was not a victory in the making.
Approximate Word count =
1118
Approximate Pages =
4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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