The Vietnam war was a troubling war that lasted from 1955 to 1975. It was located in Vietnam and was fought by the U.S., as well as North and South Vietnam. There was bloodshed from both sides and many innocent lives lost. The Vietnam war was not only a troubling time in Vietnam, but also for the United States.
Richard Nixon was the United States president at the time of the war and was the one that pushed America into joining the war, but realized he only cared about winning. For example, “What the hell is Vietnam worth to me? [...] what is it worth to this country” (Appy 4)? Nixon began to realize that this war meant nothing to him or the country. But at this point, Nixon became too scared to lose the war so instead he keeps fighting with
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Vietnamization goal was “to gradually transfer responsibility for the fighting to the south vietnamese, betting that - aided by a handful of American advisers on the ground and he might of U.S. airpower - their troops could stand against the veteran battalions of north vietnam” (Fleming 1). We sent in all of our troops to somehow aid that country so that one day they could aid themselves. With no hope left for this war “U.S. President Richard M. Nixon gambled his presidency on a program called ‘vietnamization’”( Fleming 1). Richard Nixon believed so highly in this plan of vietnamization that he was willing to give up his presidency for it. Hopefully for Nixon, “An Loc was the first chance to test it in a major battle. To the surprise of both sides, Vietnamization worked” (Fleming 1). Everyone was surprised when the south vietnamese army started to fight back without the help of the United states. The republic of South Vietnamese began to fight the North and won without america’s help. Vietnamization was the only plan and hope for this war, thankfully some of the plan …show more content…
policy” (Appy 5). Regardless of how the media felt Nixon continued to bomb North Vietnam. He did what he thought was right and did not listen to the citizen or advisors at all. Nixon’s advisor said, “only concern was that some citizens might ask why we were bombing north vietnam when it was the viet cong who initiated the attack on U.S. forces” (Appy 4). George Ball and president Nixon did not want any suspicions on why they were bombing North Vietnam. So they lied and told the public what they wanted to hear. “Therefor, the public announcement should clearly state that north vietnam was responsible for the attack at Pleiku” (Appy 4). Nixon and Ball lied to the public so they would not ask questions why Nixon was bombing North Vietnam. So they lied to the media so everyone would think we were there for the right reasons. Nixon keeping America in the dark made it even more suspicious and more concerning on why we were
R. McMaster is an American soldier and a career officer in the U.S army. The purpose of McMaster’s book is to analyze how and why the United States becomes involved in the Vietnam War. During this, the author also explains on what he thinks why the president decided to keep the war going instead and escalate it. McMaster came to a conclusion that Johnson made the mess himself and he chose to escalate the war. The author presents the war as a consequence of specific decisions made by specific men, Lyndon B. Johnson.
1b. The significance of Vietnamization is that it was started by Richard Nixon and it stated that he would withdraw U.S. troops from Vietnam slowly and give South Vietnamese money, weapons, and training needed to win the war. This event caused the number of US troops in Vietnam to go from 540,000 to 30,000 in a span of four years. He got U.S. troops out of a war they did not know why they were fighting in. 2a.
In 1973, Nixon signed into law the Endangered Species Act. The goal was to prevent the extinction of animal and plant life. It was also to eliminate threats towards them. Vietnamization was a strategy that helped reduce American involvement in the Vietnam war by transferring all military responsibilities to South Vietnam. President Nixon really believed in his Vietnamization strategy, which was to build South Vietnam’s armed forces and withdrawing U.S. troops.
In 1963, Lindon B. Johnson inherited the White House from John F. Kennedy as well as the Vietnam War. Johnson vowed to not lose the war as he saw a Communist Asia would form if he failed to act correctly. When the counter insurgency in Vietnam began to fail, due to the Diem Coup, Johnson immediately increased America’s political and military presence in Vietnam. While being fully aware of the reports and documents he was given, he decided to intentionally mislead Congress as well as the public on America’s position in the war. Johnson and his administration knew that entering the war would be expensive and consuming, but they had motives to do so anyways.
Nixon was president for four years before Watergate occurred. The scandal did not happen until his second term in office. Before Watergate, Nixon received conflict for his decision to stay in Vietnam.[E: Relevant Facts] Many citizens believed it was not our business being there but Nixon still deemed it our duty to stay. Nixon never saw conflict in the service, which is highly ironic because he caused so much in the
When speaking about North Vietnam, he says “They murdered more than 50,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more died in slave labor camps” (Nixon). He specifically uses this fact because it is tragic and he hopes that Americans will stand with him. He urges Americans to stop the “bloody reign of terror” that the North has brought by villainizing North Vietnam, making Americans want to siege their power. (Nixon). Nixon says, “3,000 civilians were clubbed, shot to death, and buried in the mass grave” expose the way South Vietnamese people are treated so that Americans will want to help those suffering.
As Vietnamization took place, the United States military would withdraw 150,000 from South Vietnam within a year (Dean 73). Simultaneously, he was supplying the Southern Vietnamese people with military support and even helping with their government. When Nixon helped politically, he “expand[ed] its political base in rural areas… offered U.S. assistance to help South Vietnamese officials organize local elections and implement social reforms and economic development initiatives” (History.com Staff 1). While Vietnamization was taking place a treaty titled The Paris Peace Accords was negotiated between all of
President Richard Nixon invaded Cambodia after saying he would bring peace to southeast Asia. He went back on his word when he decided to do just that. He said in his speech that he wanted to drive out the Vietnamese forces and destroy their supplies in hopes of stopping the war from expanding. He also said that this is the future of 18 million in south vietnam and 7 million in cambodia.
The North Vietnamese government along with Viet Cong fought to reunite Vietnam in the 1950s. This led up to the colonial war that initially started with France and America. America wanted to stop the expansion of communism to be worldwide this led up to start a 19 year old war in Vietnam. The occupation of the war in Vietnam was followed by American soldiers who were drafted and were forced to fighting the war. In If I Die in a Combat Zone by Tim O'Brien the author communicated to the reader the experience and struggle he went through while he was fighting in the Vietnam war.
That made the situation worse and as time went by the next election was coming up and Nixon knew he had to end it in order to get reelected. I never knew that he came up with in 1972 Nixon came up with a peace treaty stating that if they respected the South side of Vietnam then the war was over. In 1972, the Watergate scandal broke out and was a political scandal that occurred in the U.S. as a result of the break-in the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Nixon tired everything in the book to keep his name out of the situation but couldn’t do it for long once it came up that there were tapes.
In the Vietnam war the United States lost everything that made it a superior defender for freedom and justice. We lost money and the support of American and South Vietnam citizens, because of that we lost our confidence and power. Without having confidence and feeling powerless, it questions whether we are capable of handling our nation 's conflicts while supporting South VIetnam. During the war the United States lost around $350-900 billion total in the Vietnam war (www.the vietnam war.info, 2014).
The Vietnam War was the most controversial war in American history. The United States promised to help any country who was threatened by communism. In the beginning, many Americans supported the United States getting involved and helping South Vietnam. When the truth started coming out and people realized the war was not almost over, people’s feelings changed toward the idea of war. Many Southern Vietnamese people were killed because the American soldiers couldn’t tell who was who.
Nixon is widely recognized for his successful détente foreign policy that improved U.S. relations with Russia and China. Despite his achievements, his true motives and methods of achieving success were questionable and harmful. His agenda for Vietnam was hidden from the public, as was his Southern Strategy. He was not truly invested in environmental reform, and proved to be a truly contradictory president. Scholars agree that his public actions and private ideas often opposed each other (“Impact and Legacy”).
It is quite difficult to compare two wars that happened 180 years apart from each other, the Vietnam war 1955 to 1975, and the American Revolutionary war 1775 to 1783. Yes, both wars are all that different from each other, in fact I would say that they were the two least similar wars in American history. These wars are very similar because they both used guerilla warfare, a form of irregular warfare that uses tactics such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, and mobility to fight a larger less mobile military force. However a major difference in the wars was that the Revolutionary war was fought to gain independence, while the Vietnam war was fought to maintain independence. Another difference is that the U.S. were ‘Victors’ in the Revolutionary war, and were not so in the Vietnam war.
In his essay, Hills explains how Nixon evokes the intended response from the immediate audience by gaining support for the war. Nixon states in his speech, “tonight-to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans-I ask for your support.” Here, Nixon uses resentment in sacrifice in lives and finance, longing for some action in a marked direction were strategies used to gain support instead of “teaching.” This in turn allowed America to continue in the war which proves that he agrees with Foss for Nixon’s primary role was not that of a teacher or