The United States entered Vietnam with an obsolete view of the world at that time. Blinded by the previous years of Cold War confrontation, the American foreign policy was based round a concept of bi-polarity. Using this concept, all conflicts occurring around the world were seen to be directly related to the two poles: America and th

At the end of the American involvement in Vietnam in 1973, 47 353 American soldiers had been killed and 1, 340 were missing in action . Returns on this loss were either lacking or non-extent. With limited military success and mounting domestic opposition the American Presidents had been forced to come to terms with the reality of their failure and withdraw the American troops from Indochina, leaving all the objectives of the war unfulfilled. Ultimately the failure of the United States in Vietnam was due to its own arrogance. The American presidents from Eisenhower to Ford ignored the Vietnamese history of nationalism and imposed their own anti-communist cold war view of the world on the Vietnamese situation. Their deceit in conveying the realities of the war to the American public and the eventual realisation of the truth through the unrestricted media caused the American people to lose faith in their leadership. Ultimately, American failure in the Vietnam War triggered a loss of confidence and political cynicism in the leadership of United Stated. They saw the contradictions between American ideals and combat reality, leading to the destruction of the liberal, fair, and righteous international image of the United States. “The Vietnam War did not bring about the decline of American power…, but was rather symptomatic of the limits of national power in an age of international diversity and nuclear weaponry ”. The Vietnam War had shown that America was not indestructible and saw the decline of that American dream.

e Soviet Union. In this way, any aspiration of communist, nationalist parties throughout the world were seen as a malicious attempt by the Soviet Union to extend its influence, power and ideology. In terms of this, Vietnam was an important strategic confrontation point and success was necessary for the containment of communism. The major concern in Vietnam related to the ‘Domino Theory’ first expressed by President Eisenhower in 1954. “You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. ” In this way, the American people were concerned that if Vietnam were ‘lost’ to communism, others would follow. These were the pretences for the first involvement in Vietnam and at the time it was generally well supported by the American people.

President Kennedy, who preceded Eisenhower, attempted to extend the role of America with the establishment of the ‘Green Berets’. Although, during his presidency the United States did not participate in any formal military commitment, America became more deeply involved in Vietnam through increased aid and military ‘advisers’ and the importance of retaining South Vietnam from becoming communist was being realised as a primary concern in America’s foreign policy.

This was for a number of reasons. America’s tactics since the beginning of their involvement were still designed along the lines of the traditional warfare that had been used to in World War one and two. These tactics relied on huge numbers of combat troops, large confrontations and air offensives designed to wear down the supplies of the North Vietnamese. “They had to be pounded with artillery and bombs and eventually brought to battle on the ground if they were not forever to remain a threat” . This statement by General Westmoreland sums up the s

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