Vietnam

Vietnam is the most controversial events to ever divide the US aside from the Civil War. Although throughout history the US is known to be very isolationalist, this time they took charge. As time passed and the threat of Communism spread to Vietnam, the US gradually became more and more involved between 1954 and 1975.

In 1954, the US was in the process of shrugging off the Great Depression, WWII, and the Second Red Scare and suddenly another conflict presented itself. By May, Dien Bien Phu fell into the hands of Vietnam from the former local power of France. As a temporary arrangement, Vietnam was divided into a north (controlled by communist Ho Chi Minh) and a south (still controlled by France and anti-communists).

In 1960, John F. Kennedy was elected into the office of the presidency. He was a steadfast believer in the containment policy and wanted to stop communism at the regional level, but without missiles. The Domino Effect must be stopped before all of South-East Asia falls. Soon into his presidency, he sent 16,000 military advisors to South-East Asia to train the South Vietnamese military to fight the North. His initial plan was to merely train the south to fight and keep US military troops out.

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Although no one officially won this battle, Ho Chi Minh saw this “draw” just as good as a victory against the US and pursued fighting. Simultaneously they wanted to build up the SV army. This Tet offensive was directed toward the United States to strengthen American antiwar sentiment, which was growing daily. Slowly the US began to disengage from the area.

By early 1972, Nixon ordered more constant bombing of NV.

In 1968, Richard Nixon stepped into the presidency and began Vietnamization. They decided to stop dealing with communist nations as a whole and start talking with them individually from one another. The US Congress overwhelmingly passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized all actions necessary to protect American forces and to provide for the defense of the nation's allies in Southeast Asia. The Americans promptly launched retaliatory air strikes. The country was badly scarred by the civil war movements at home, but the dividing lines that ripped apart society would be very evident and take many years to overcome. No matter how much they built up the SV army, nothing could prepare them for what was about to occur. Althought the effects of the Vietnam war were great in South-East Asia, in the US the minds of the American people and the faith in their government had been destroyed. This reduced the tensions between the US and China and the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, Americans at home saw a different picture.

Approximate Word count = 934
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

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