Part I: Reasons
In May 1950, President Truman sent aid to the French in
Vietnam, who were fighting to control their colony by pledging $15 million,
securing U.S. as an ally to the French, and later, supporting South Vietnam. He
claimed that he was preventing communist spread, which would affect U.S.
economic, political, and military interests. [E] The spread of communism also
“scorned democracy, violated human rights, pursued military aggression, and
created closed state economies.” [G] Later, President Lyndon B. Johnson secured
the U.S commitment to the Vietnam War.
In 1964, Vietnamese torpedoes bombed the U.S. ship Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. [E] Congress later approved Johnson’s
Gulf of Tonkin resolution, who allowed the U.S. to start bombing North Vietnam.
In February 1965, the U.S. beings the relentless bombing of North Vietnam, and
a month later, 3,500 Marines are stationed to South Vietnam. “Legal declaration
or no, the United States was now at war.” [E] Once it was started, the momentum
of the war could not be stopped to back out.
According to Alicia's analysis of the reasons that caused the Vietnam War, President Truman tried to prevent the spread of communism around the world. Thus, he chose to help South Vietnam fight against North Vietnam. For the same reason, Truman supported anti-Arbenz groups both militarily and financially during the coup in Guatemala. He noticed that Arbenz, the communist leader of Guatemala, tried to implement communist policies under the current regime. Truman realized the necessity to intervene in order to prohibit the growth of communism in Latin America, which was a threat to US during the Cold War.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the United States tends to get involved in any country that is pursuing communism, like Democratic Republic of Congo and Cuba. This decision usually ends badly, but the US keeps doing it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Susan but their plan to get stop the spread of communism did not end just there. They wanted to end the growth of communism in anywhere including Latin America and Asia to recruit more allies to their side in fear of nuclear bombs. It is likely for the communist states to side with Soviet Union so to stop them from having power, US needed to support whomever to stop the spread of communism. Which happened to be South Vietnam in Vietnam War.
ReplyDeleteI find it really interesting that many of the proxy wars the United States have been involved in are related to trying to stop the spread of communism (i.e Guatemala, DRC, and the Afghan war). The Afghan war was between an anti-communist group and a communist group, and the US obviously chose to support the anti-communist side due to the fear of the spread of communism after World War II. However, I was also intrigued by the fact that the US jumped into this war before the involvement of the USSR. In the Afghan war, and several other proxy wars, the US did not become an enemy of the communist group until that group joined sides with the USSR. I was surprised that the US aided the French without the involvement of the USSR on the opposing side.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Sara. The U.S. seemed to always be involved if anything seemed to be communist. For example, the overthrown of the "democratically elected" Guatemala leader, Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, was planned by the U.S. The cause of him being overthrown was due to him taking "unused" land owned by the United Fruit Company to redistribute land under a land reform plan. Although Mr. Arbenz tried to enforce a land reform plan, (he was trying to create a middle class in Guatemala) the fact that he was elected by people, he was clearly not communist. However, the U.S. still killed him. I think the U.S. was too overwhelmed by the idea of other countries becoming communist, therefore if there was any indication of communism, the U.S. will start its action.
ReplyDeleteI think it is ironic that the United States gets involved in proxy wars for the same reasons every time. For example, the United States got involved in The Cold War (Cuba) because the United States wanted to set a precedent and show other countries that communism was heavily frowned upon in the United States. They also removed U.S. nuclear weapons in Turkey, so the Soviet Union would remove the nuclear weapons they place in Cuba. So, this proxy war shows that there are always more than just two countries involved and countries get involved so they can benefit themselves (USSR got involved so they could threaten the U.S. to remove the nuclear weapons in Turkey). In the Vietnam War, the U.S. got involved to secure France as an ally.
ReplyDeleteThe United States is constantly present amidst the disasters in developing countries. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United States becomes involved because of their dependence on the DRC's great resources. When Patrice Lumumba steps in, the United States is unsure of what to think of him. So, the US decides to assassinate him because his power over the country and control over the people are mysteries to the US. The United States becomes involved in Vietnam in a similar way. The US apparently believes that violent actions speak louder than words. In the Dominican Republic of the Congo, assassination was one of these violent actions, but in Vietnam, bombing was this disastrous action. The United States has constantly seen communism as a threat. They have a good reason to see it as a threat, but the destruction of any country that shows so much as a sliver of communism is uncalled for. The US, as Kristina stated above, always becomes involved in order to benefit themselves, such as in the Dominican Republic of the Congo, as they had strong connections there for the valuable resources. The US constantly finds places that "need" their help, but truly just need time to work out their issues.
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