American Foreign Policy During the Vietnam War
The conflict in Vietnam was the longest lasting armed conflict that the United States has ever participated in, lasting from 1954 to 1975. Throughout the twenty-one years that the United States fought in Vietnam a total of five presidents served in office. Starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower and ending with Gerald Ford. During the war Vietnam split in two creating the communist North Vietnam and the anti-communist South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, served as prime minister for the duration of the war. In the south the United States collaborated with President Ngo Dinh Diem until 1963 when he was assassinated. They then worked with Tran Van Huong and Nguyen Van Thieu until the end of the conflict in 1975. The United State’s general goal was to stop the spread of communism but they had ulterior motives, such as not leaving so soon so that the US looked weak, that were not apparent to the general public. This in itself caused a lot of controversy amongst the public in the United States and in Vietnam. The foreign policy that was used during this war was internationalism. Internationalism is when one country, in this case the US, fights a nation alone, or without any other countries because they are protecting their own interests.
The Vietnam War was very similar to its predecessor, the Korean War. Both were fought during the Cold War to prevent communism from spreading. In both conflicts the United States sided with the 'rebels' of Korea and Vietnam, however in Korea it was not only the United States who fought against the communists. Both wars were very politically controversial. During the Vietnam War the government didn't really give a reason for why troops were in Vietnam other than fighting communism. Korea was controversial because it was a war that didn't necessarily need to be fought. While there was some fighting going on between the North Koreans and the South Koreans, the United States mostly wanted to hurt the USSR and they were supported by the United Nations. Although the French were initially in Vietnam, they stepped out in 1954, at the end of the First Indochina War which was right when the United States stepped in and began the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam War.
The conflict in Vietnam was the longest lasting armed conflict that the United States has ever participated in, lasting from 1954 to 1975. Throughout the twenty-one years that the United States fought in Vietnam a total of five presidents served in office. Starting with Dwight D. Eisenhower and ending with Gerald Ford. During the war Vietnam split in two creating the communist North Vietnam and the anti-communist South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese leader, Ho Chi Minh, served as prime minister for the duration of the war. In the south the United States collaborated with President Ngo Dinh Diem until 1963 when he was assassinated. They then worked with Tran Van Huong and Nguyen Van Thieu until the end of the conflict in 1975. The United State’s general goal was to stop the spread of communism but they had ulterior motives, such as not leaving so soon so that the US looked weak, that were not apparent to the general public. This in itself caused a lot of controversy amongst the public in the United States and in Vietnam. The foreign policy that was used during this war was internationalism. Internationalism is when one country, in this case the US, fights a nation alone, or without any other countries because they are protecting their own interests.
The Vietnam War was very similar to its predecessor, the Korean War. Both were fought during the Cold War to prevent communism from spreading. In both conflicts the United States sided with the 'rebels' of Korea and Vietnam, however in Korea it was not only the United States who fought against the communists. Both wars were very politically controversial. During the Vietnam War the government didn't really give a reason for why troops were in Vietnam other than fighting communism. Korea was controversial because it was a war that didn't necessarily need to be fought. While there was some fighting going on between the North Koreans and the South Koreans, the United States mostly wanted to hurt the USSR and they were supported by the United Nations. Although the French were initially in Vietnam, they stepped out in 1954, at the end of the First Indochina War which was right when the United States stepped in and began the Second Indochina War, or the Vietnam War.