This project was for my humanities course called Policy. In this unit we learned about the executive branch and how the president uses his power to make policies. Something I found interesting that we learned was the difference between an executive order and an executive action. The purpose of this project was to choose a war and decide based on facts and events that occurred if the war was a just or unjust war. Then we had to give our reasoning for what we said and what events let you know it was a just or unjust war. I learned a lot about the Vietnam war and all the shady things that the U.S was doing at the time and why we ACTUALLY got involved in the war not just the reasons they told us. I am pretty proud of the research I did and I am also proud of my reasoning for America being wrong in this situation.
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| National Archives (1966). Long Khanh Fallen. Wikipedia |
The Vietnam War was a controversial, long-drawn out war that took place primarily in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from November 1, 1955 through April 30, 1975. The first U.S troops were deployed to vietnam on January 30 1968. The people involved in this war was North Vietnam And their allies Vietcong versus South Vietnam and their allies the United States. Some of the key strategies used in this war was guerrilla tactics and the Cu Chi Tunnels. The immediate reason this war was fought was because the U.S was afraid that there would be a domino theory and communism would spread. Then there was the underlying reason which was the fake Gulf of Tonkin incident. I feel that this war should not have been fought by the U.S because it was not our problem in the first place. The U.S has no right to tell another country that they cannot be communist if they want to. The U.S always tries to interfere with other countries because I feel that we are scared that if other countries get too powerful then we will no longer be the "best" country anymore.
There were 5 presidential terms during the time of the Vietnam War. The U.S President as the war was starting was Dwight Eisenhower, who got us involved in the war. After the Geneva Accords were signed and Vietnam split into North and South, Eisenhower decided to create the South East Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) with the intention of stopping Communist influence in Southeast Asia. SEATO, however, was basically used as a cover-up for Eisenhower to build a new nation in the South to fight its Communist neighbors in the North. The U.S Congress also played a big role in the Vietnam War by passing a joint resolution to take military action against the Viet Cong on August 7, 1964 by a vote of 88-2 in the Senate and 416-0 in the House.
One of the most important policies related to the U.S’ involvement in the Vietnam War was created two decades before our country entered the war--the Truman Doctrine. President Harry S. Truman created this policy after the U.S fought in two world wars and basically authorized millions of dollars in military aid and grants to train foreign armies, and the allocation of U.S. military advisors to countries facing Communist threats such as Greece, Turkey, and later Vietnam. This policy was created when the British government announced that it would no longer provide military and economic assistance to the Greek and president Truman asked congress to help Greek against the communists. At that point in time the U.S also had the Neutrality Act which basically meant we won't join wars that don't directly affect us. With Communism on the rise, though, we felt the need to stop it in its tracks before it basically took over the world and we didn't want to be the country that just stood there and did nothing. During the time of the Vietnam War, U.S presidents were very concerned about the domino effect. U.S foreign policy after the Truman Doctrine is still based on this idea that America's job is to act like the number one police nation and if we feel that a country is being controlled or is starting to be controlled by a dictatorship, then it is our duty to go fight against them.
In conclusion, the U.S involvement in the Vietnam War was unjust. Specifically, the Truman Doctrine was a good idea, but as a foreign policy for this many years it has turned out to be a bad idea because even now America feels that it has to invade or fight every time that we feel something wrong is going on in another country. While I can understand why America wants to stop Communism, but I just don’t get what is so bad about the idea of that political system in general. If it’s the right thing to do for other countries, what makes us feel like it’s our duty to go to those places and stop it? We don’t have to choose Communism for ourselves, and should let other countries make their own political decisions. The U.S should spend its time cleaning up its own country--we’re not perfect, but we pose as if we are. So, instead of trying to make other countries more like us, we should practice what we preach.
Works Cited
"The Truman Doctrine, 1947 - 1945–1952 - Milestones - Office of the Historian." The Truman Doctrine, 1947 - 1945–1952 - Milestones - Office of the Historian. Office of the Historian, n.d. Web. 13 May 2015.Shmoop Editorial Team. "Politics in The Vietnam War." Shmoop.com. Shmoop University, Inc., 11 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 May 2015.
Allison, Carolyn. "What Role Did the U.S.. Congress Play in the Vietnam War?" What Role Did the U.S.. Congress Play in the Vietnam War? ChaCha, 2012. Web. 13 May 2015.
Rexy. "Who Were U.S Presidents during the Vietnam War? - The Vietnam War." The Vietnam War. The Vietnam War, 26 Nov. 2012. Web. 13 May 2015.
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