The French had been trying to conquer take over long before, but they too had to withdraw at some point after fighting for long with no victory. The U.S., being the “Yankee imperialists” that we are, took it upon ourselves to help “protect the world” from communism. The Domino Theory developed in 1950, backed their beliefs by saying if one country in the surrounding area fell to communism, other would so the same, and the courageous Americans had to stop this. For 11 years this is what the public were told and believed. It was a patriotic act and was certainly justified in order to prevent the spread of communism. Why then were homes being burned and thousands of innocent civilians executed? Was there really a need for twice the amount of bombs used in Europe and Asia during World War II?

Paper written for a AP U.S. History 2 class about the Vietnam war.

And use any means they did. They fired on military villages and the everyday poor villages. A Buddhist pagoda and Catholic Church was “accidentally” bombed 3 times in one year. Large areas of South Vietnam were declared “free fire zones” giving American the right to drop bombs at will, as this declaring everyone in those area, be it men, women, or children, the enemy. Three out of four patients treated for burns from the napalm were village women. “Operation Phoenix” secretly and without trial executed at least twenty thousand civilians who were suspected of being members of the Communist underground. Another incident on March 16, 1968 was another seemingly unnecessary action taken against these poor people. People who were shoved in a ditch were fired upon while mothers tried to save their children, and the men trying to save the mothers. But they would all die.

President Johnson used a ridiculous lie in order to launch a full-scale war on Vietnam. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara stated that the U.S. destroyer underwent an unprovoked attack while on routine control in international waters. A few lies here and there, leave out the important details, and you’ve got yourself a justified war. First, it was not a routine patrol because the ship was on a special spying mission. In addition, it wa

Some common words found in the essay are:
South Vietnam, Maxwell Taylor, Southeast Asia, Robert McNamara, York Times, Domino Theory, Civil Rights, Muhammad Ali, Tonkin Resolution, Bibliography Paper, south vietnam, vietnam war, international waters, “yankee imperialists”, world” communism,
Approximate Word count = 963
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)