The Vietnam War, to me, is one of the most interesting wars in American history. It was once said, "it is like a shroud of a mystery wrapped inside an enigma."(unknown)

Vietnam, Red China, and the spread of communism brought fear into the homes of many Americans, due to Red China and Russia tightening their strong hold on Indochina. The frequent media coverage on the poor South Vietnamese people suffering under communist rule aroused both fear and anger in America. Many feared that the "ir

what happened in Vietnam and what Vietnam did to America. The faith of Americans in their leadership was practically destroyed, with many left convinced that they had been both seduced and deceived by their government.

Ia Drang was just the beginning of the bloodshed. Shortly following this battle many other large battles were being fought throughout Vietnam as the war began to fester. In 1966 the war began to develop into full swing. Vietnam became covered with the bloodshed of war. (Warren, 1990)

John F. Kennedy, in his inaugural speech, spoke of making the United States a world leader again by asking the American people to live up to the idea's of their country and making the United States a leader again in order to meet the challenges of the world head on. Near the end of his address he emphasized his goal with this quote; "My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you - but rather what together we can do for the freedom of man." President Kennedy's speech inspired the nation.(www.vietpres.org 2002) Many Americans felt as Kennedy did. In 1961 the people felt that the United States should not wait too long to get involved. John Foster Dulles said, "these risks are far less than those that will face us a few years from now if we dare not be resolute." This is what prompted many men in the 1960's to volunteer for the war, they felt as if they were contributing to the freedom of mankind.(Harrison, 1982)

As a result of this war, it is estimated that more than 2 million Vietnamese were killed, 3 million wounded, and hundreds of thousands of children orphaned. It has been estimated that about 12 million Indochinese people became refugees. Between April 1975 and July 1982, approximately 1,218,000 were resettled in more than 16 countries.

My uncle served in Vietnam for three years. He was one of the many who went to fight the spread of communism, or so he thought. He explained to me why he volunteered to fight with this simple analogy:

on hand" of communism would slowly move from Southeast Asia towards the United States.(Sheldon, 1969) Feeling threatened and helpless, many American men volunteered to fight the war in Vietnam.

A short time later America found itself in the middle of the Vietnam War, one America so gallantly supported but soon would hate. When the United States entered the war it soon found how terrible the conditions were in Vietnam. Our government saw the extremely weak South Vietnamese forces. Dwight D. Roosevelt explains," Unassisted, Vietnam cannot at this time produce and support the military formations essentials to it."(www.vietpres.org 2002)

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Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)