Why the United States Sent Troops to Vietnam
At the end of World War II in 1945, The United States government was, seemingly, intent on eradicating Communism from the world. The government was, in a Machiavellian but sometimes inept way, using any means necessary to achieve this goal. In the process, the United States nearly engaged in nuclear war with the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, sacrificed over 58,000 American lives and some 300,000 causalities (not to mention the untold millions of Asian lives), and created "feelings of disillusionment among many Americans who believed that they had been betrayed by their leaders" (Opposing Viewpoints, pg. 17). Despite these costs, the United States government constantly reaffirmed its anti-communist stance. Throughout the nearly two decades of United States involvement in Vietnam, the United States government entered into, and remained in, the Vietnam War, due to the fear of Communist world domination, and the resolve to halt the spread of Communism before it was too late, something not done to Nazism prior to World War II. Following WWII, France found itself in another war, this time in an attempt to regain Imperialist control over its former colony of Vietnam. The Western World, wary of the possib
makes many valid yet extremely biased points. Why were we fighting in Vietnam? According to the government, it was to preserve democracy in South Vietnam, but the VDC points out that South Vietnam is run by a dictatorship, as it has been for generations, and at the time, was under a dictator who was quoted as naming Adolf Hitler as his idol. President Johnson stated that we were fighting for political freedom in South Vietnam, but, and isn't this ironic, the puppet dictator the U.S. placed in charge of South Vietnam immediately jailed all political opposition, both anti and pro-communist leaders. This clearly doesn't sound like " political freedom." It is a paltry attempt by the United States government to strike a blow to the spread of Communism, the main reason that the United States entered, and remained engaged, in the war in Vietnam. 5. McGovern, George, "Vietnamization Is a Cruel Hoax,"Opposing Viewpoints: The Vietnam War , edited by Dudley, William, Greenhaven Press, San Diego, CA., 1998. have been prosed to try and answer the questions the American public, and the rest of the world have as to the United States' prolonged involvement in the small Asian country's civil war. There is much we now know, that, twenty five years ago, we didn't. The conflict was a very complicated situation, in which most Americans had no idea why they, or their young sons and, in some cases, daughters, were sent across the world to die. There is much information that we will never know, due to both the government choosing to withhold information to this day, and the fact that the three men who could tell us so much more about their motives in initially getting, and then remaining, involved, Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, have all since passed away. However, with the evidence and information we do have, it seems clear that the main motives for the United States involvement in the Vietnam War, were to stop the spread of Communism, and to avoid a repeat of the spread of Nazism. In hindsight, it is not clear as to whether or not the objectives were met.
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2333
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)
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