Political Interven. in Vietnam

The Vietnam War was the longest war the United States has ever been involved in, although an actual declaration of war was never made by Congress. By giving to Lyndon Baines Johnson, the power to "act by any means necessary" to defer any actions taken by North Vietnamese forces, our government could have missed how serious this war was (Amter 3;44). Thus including the chance of having and inflicting the very well known fear, or "overbearing presence" our military was known to have in previous wars. Now one man was controlling the will and might of this great country, and it became too much to handle. The United States’ government and military beliefs at the time matched those of their visions, but the confrontation was approached in such an incorrect manner, that we could win battles but not the war.

To further understand a few of the mishaps and why the U.S. became involved, a person must have some background knowledge of The Cold War, as Vietnam was one of many conflicts involved. The Cold War was a clash between two superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. A United States ambassador to the Soviets, Thomas Watson, once said, "The two systems [U.S. and USSR

Ho Chi Minh was a famous man, creator of the Communist party in North Vietnam and the "Ho Chi Minh Trail," during the Vietnam Wars. He believed that, "All men are born equal; the creator has given us inviolable rights, life, liberty, and happiness" (Amter 16). He then created the communist party in 1930 and would fight for it for nearly forty years, until he finally won. At the time Minh had created his party, the French had temporarily removed their forces from what was then called "Indo-China" (Amter 17). They were quick to act against him and within a month those forces were reinserted to maintain control. It wasn’t until 1946 that Minh would be able to re-establish peace talks with French controllers (Amter 18). These ends were met during the summer, and tragedy would strike within a season. In November of 1946, a French cruiser opened fire on Haiphong, a large Northern city, killing more than 6,000 North Vietnamese people. This is one of the main causes for the first Vietnamese War, as Ho Minh soon commenced guerrilla warfare on French forces. Minh then turned some of his attention to the U.S. as he asked us for aid, as we did during WWII when Japan attempted to take control of Indo-China. Roosevelt had immediately agreed and hoped that his predecessor, Truman, would do the same. F.D.R. soon forgot his policies as the Cold War became more intense elsewhere. Soon all thoughts of intervention in Vietnam were forgotten until Truman came into office (Amter 17;18).

Harry Truman followed Franklin Roosevelt in office, and as hoped, he became interested in Vietnam’s fight for independence (Amter 19). With his lack of experience and knowledge, Truman sided with the French, and jumped to aiding them with millions of dollars. Although Roosevelt had originally sided with Minh, the Department of State cabinet had a new policy, "[…] to eliminate so far as possible Communist influence in Indo-China and to see installed a self-governing

Porter, Gareth. A Piece Denied: The United States, Vietnam, and the Paris Agreement. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1975

Then a horrible mistake occurs and our government makes one of the biggest blunders in history.

Some topics in this essay:
North Vietnamese, Baines Johnson, Indo-China Amter, Vietnam Wars, Thomas Watson, Minh Department, Franklin Roosevelt, Boa Dai, Southern Vietnam, Dinh Diem, north vietnamese, cold war, ho chi, chi minh, ho chi minh, boa dai, government southern vietnam, southern vietnam, baines johnson, government southern, johnson power, communist party, lyndon baines johnson,