American History

Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to 1975 with the USA playing a significant role in it. This armed conflict between the communist North Vietnam and democratic South Vietnam left a significant impact on the US history. Therefore, this essay analyzes the reasons of the war, the participation of the American Army, the position of the US president Johnson, and the Democrats defeat in 1968.
There were many reasons of the War in Vietnam. During the World War II, Vietnam was captured by the Japanese. Before the war, it was a part of the French Empire. Therefore, after the war, South Vietnam returned to France and the Northern part of the country returned to China. The leader of North Vietnam was communist Ho Chi Minh. In 1946, the Chinese pulled out of Vietnam and France started the war in North Vietnam again. Trueman says, The French tried to win over the people of the north by offering them independence. However, the author states, The people would not be allowed to do anything without French permission! The newly appointed leader was Bao Dai; therefore, people would like to have Ho. Communist Mao Zedong helped the Viet Minh in China; Russia and communists of the Eastern Europe were supporting the Ho government. The West countries were supporting Bao. In May 1954, the French army was crushed, and France pulled out its people the same month. In April 1954, there was the meeting in Geneva to discuss the Vietnamese issue. The powers of the world decided to divide North Vietnam led by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam led by Bao Dao and hold an election in both parts of the country in 1956. The election did not occur and the war was continued.
The government of the USA was not aloof. America supported South Vietnam because of its anti-communist position and democracy. Westheider says, Communism against the free West. In 1965, the third phase of the War was started by the immediate intervention of the US forces and continued for 30 years until the Paris Peace Accords. Many American soldiers did not understand why they had to fight in Vietnam.
The 36th American President Lyndon Johnson did a lot to address the Americans disillusionment with democracy. He was a supporter of the Domino Theory and encouraged the fight against NLF in South Vietnam. He was a representative of the Democratic Party, and he would like to send the US force supporting the South Vietnam Army. Therefore, Johnson understood that it was not a very popular political move till the election in 1965. There were the odds between the military and commander-in-chief, the president. They wanted to increase the number of the military in South Vietnam. Johnson won the presidential election before the troops of the USA were sent to Vietnam. Therefore, after the election, he authorized Operation Rolling Thunder with the bombing NLF-held territory and North Vietnam. This operation was taking place three years instead of eight weeks. Gradually, the USA was involved in a big war with many losses.
Therefore, more and more people in America were dissatisfied. During the Cold War, the military conscription was used in the USA very often. There were many volunteered troops, others were selected and written in Selective Service in the beginning of the War. The major part of the US soldiers constituted the poor and working-class people. In particular, many of them were from the communities of farming and little towns. Therefore, there were very few upper-class people. Many men tried avoiding the military service; some people went away to Canada. There were a lot of anti-war protests as the people of America were disappointed, which was the main reason of Republicans victory in 1968. Trueman states, Johnson did not stand for the 1968 presidential election and many pundits at the time stated that this was the result of what was happening to US troops in South Vietnam at the time.
In conclusion, the politics of the USA regarding the Vietnam War has done harm and caused a lot of losses. Considering this, American people revealed distrust towards Democrats choosing the Republican Party in the election in 1968. However, the war did not finish for Americans that year; the draft resistance continued by the 1970s.
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