MH Indochina Essays - nature/consequences of U.S involvement

Foreign policy/ideology

Truman Doctrine - core of foreign policy, geographical restriction of communism. Promised US$400 million in military and financial aid to anti-communist forces in SV+NV
Domino theory - Eisenhower: if SV fell to communism, other nations in SE Asia would follow. Evidenced by China’s fall to communism + Korean War and DRV diplomatic recognition. Established South East Asian Treaty Organisation - network of anti-communist gov. in region.

Foreign policy/ideology - sources

“Anticommunism was the essential prism” (Mark Atwood Lawrence)
“American policy in Vietnam after 1964 reflected a tragic combination of overconfidence, misjudgment, and entrapment in the Cold War worldview.” (George C. Herring) - shows significance of communism in forming US policy, dictating approach through the remainder of the war.

U.S Strategic interests/Global Cold War prestige and credibility

U.S support for French forces in First Indochina War (1946-54) - establishment of Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) in Indochina from 1950, gave military advice to French.
U.S reluctant to support Vietnamese independence under Ho Chi minh, in spite of nationalist rhetoric.
Based on self-interest + paternalistic responsibility substantiated by president Kennedy: “This is our offspring, we cannot abandon it, we cannot ignore its needs.”
Belief of defending credibility in the third world - Bay of Pigs and Berlin Wall, necessitated the maintenance of U.S reputation

U.S Strategic interests/Global Cold War prestige and credibility - sources

Historian Fredrik Logevall: U.S. policymakers “chose colonialism over communism.”
Gareth Porter argues that the fear of “loss of face” shaped U.S actions as much as the fear of communism itself.

Nation building in Vietnam (social, cultural and political incongruity)

Threat of communism - U.S attempts to construct an anti-communist state in Vietnam
U.S denial of nationwide elections in 1954 Geneva Accords - circumvent reunification.
Eisenhower’s installation of Ngo Dinh Diem in 1955 - investing an aid package of $322 million.
Increase of MAAG advisors under Eisenhower and Kennedy from 680 to 16,000 between 1960-63.
Imposition of democratic ideologies, minimising communist influence through “Strategic Hamlet Program” and “Agroviles”.
U.S Information Agency attempted to spread American ideals through exportation of film and demonstrations of democracy.

Nation building in Vietnam (social, cultural and political incongruity) - source

Historian Marilyn Young posits that the U.S saw Diem’s South as a “bulwark against communism”
Historian Mark Atwood Lawrence: “The commitment to Vietnam reflected the logic of containment taken to an extreme – a refusal to accept limits on American power in a post colonial world.”

Anti-war movements

Anti-war demonstrations accelerated during late 60s and early 70s - general public developed own political thought and action toward Vietnam.
^ Caused protesting student organisations, draft refusals, petitions and mass demonstrations.
Controversies would accelerate anti-war movements:
My Lai massacre - U.S. soldiers massacred SV civilians in March 1968, found about 500 people from the village of My Lai were killed.

1970 Kent State University shootings - Four students killed, nine injured when Ohio National Guard opened fire on protesters, Intensified national anger, drew attention to violent suppression of dissent by the U.S

Pentagon Papers - 1971 release revealed that successive US governments misled the public about war’s aims and progress, privately doubting likelihood of success despite escalation. Sharp decline in people’s trust of the government, fuelling anti-war movement.

Anti-war movements - sources

“Became a symbol of the moral collapse of the war effort and helped to legitimise the anti-war movement.” (Historian G Appy)
Halberstram: the papers “destroyed whatever credibility the government still had when it came to Vietnam”