3800 Vietnam War
- Thread starter Adam86
- Start date
S
sr71_rgl
Guest
Sheesh..you really know how to screw yourself with a lame topic dontcha. The US didn't get into Vietnam to stop the spread of communism but to maintain the flow of $$$ from our (and our allies) investments in that country. The control of communism was only a secondary but more PC reason to stick our noses in over there.
Sheesh..you really know how to screw yourself with a lame topic dontcha. The US didn't get into Vietnam to stop the spread of communism but to maintain the flow of $$$ from our (and our allies) investments in that country. The control of communism was only a secondary but more PC reason to stick our noses in over there. [/b][/quote]
This was taken from http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761552...ietnam_War.html
The United States became involved in Vietnam because American policymakers believed that if the entire country fell under a Communist government, Communism would spread throughout Southeast Asia. This belief was known as the “domino theory.” The U.S. government, therefore, helped to create the anti-Communist South Vietnamese government. This government’s repressive policies led to rebellion in the South, and in 1960 the NLF was formed with the aim of overthrowing the government of South Vietnam and reunifying the country.
i have a hard time buying into the "military-industrial complex" theory as "true" reason behind our involvment in vietnam. the mind set at the time of our initial involvemnt was that the USSR was actively spreading and that it needed to be checked in order to prevent it. (Remember we had just gotten out of WWII (relatively speaking of course) which was caused directly by ally governments appeasing Hitler.) It doesn't take a lot to look back at our involvment with cynicism because of the later actions taken by our government in hiding masacres and invading neighboring countries. However, to say that the primary reason behind sacrificing lives in vietnam was because we simply wanted to keep making money is more than a little far fetched. Kennedy, and later LBJ, were under a lot of pressure from the public and the republican party to take a firm stance on communism. We had just been humiliated by the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and had JUST gotten out of the Cuban Missle crisis. Our government was seeing a world wide proliferation of communism and active attempts in every country by the communist parties to take power. We were losing any foot hold we had in Africa because of our ignorant race stance, the middle east was falling into chaos as newly formed Israel was under attack from surrounding Muslim states, eastern europe was completely under the control of the soviet union, and western europe was under a constant threat/paranoia of teh Soviet union making advances. It was a very touchy time where on more than one occassion we had come to the brink of nuclear war. Sure, 50,000+ Americans died in vietnam, and we "lost" to a inferior military, but who can say that it was a waste of life? Who can say that if we HADN'T gone there that we wouldn't still be in a stand off with the soviet union? yes there were mistakes. Yes nixon may have err'd by going into Laos and Cambodia. Yes, we made a HUGE error in allowing the war to be micro-managed by the executive branch instead of managed by the military. But to say that the primary reason behind our involvement in Vietnam was to continue earning money off of military contracts is off base. The mentality at the time was a MUCH greater influence in our decision to go to war, dispite the short comings of our government and the mismanagment of the war.
Thread Info
-
Created
-
9Replies
-
344Views
-
Participants list
