Why did the US become involved in Vietnam?

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they got involved in Vietnam because they anted to stop the spread of communism (domino theory) and after France left Vietnam after being defeated in the battle of dien phu, and the Haiphong incident, the US felt they needed to take matters into their hands, as they had already been helping France by sending supplies

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USA attacked and defended South Vietnam, because the north Vietnamese communists crossed the line which the world agreed to, to keep the commies out

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Complex answer that I will only scratch surface of:

After WWII, President Truman (and the other western allies) viewed Communism (in the form of the Soviet Union) as the greatest post-war threat. The turning point for Asia came in Dec. 1949 when Chinese communist forces won the civil war in China. Now the U.S. feared all of Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand) might fall to communism.

France had attempted to regain control of its Southeast Asian colonies (including Vietnam) after WWII in 1945. They were fighting Ho Chi Minh and his communist rebels. Starting in 1950, the U.S. started to send military aid to France to help in its effort against the Viet Minh (the communist rebels). This was part of the U.S. goal of "containment" of the spread of communism.

When France pulled-out of Vietnam in 1955-56, the U.S. basically felt it had to fill the void in order to prevent Ho Chi Minh from unifying Vietnam under communist rule (the 1956 peace accords with France had divided Vietnam in half). So starting in 1955, the U.S. starting sending military advisors to assist the South Vietnamese Army. The conflict continued to escalate as communist rebels in the South gained more control of the countryside, which required more & more U.S. military advisors & equipment to prop-up the South Vietnamese army. Finally, in 1965, we sent combat troops to prop-up South Vietnam.

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The US didn't want the communist North Vietnamese to conquer the South Vietnamese. The US was trying to contain the spread of communism. The USSR rolled over Eastern Europe at the end of WWII and the Soviets were perceived to be a worldwide threat. If North Vietnam, funded by the Soviets and communist Chinese, conquered South Vietname, there was fear of a "domino effect" in Asia where other countries would be conquered.

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Willing to do the job of protecting the South Vietnamese from the dogmatic North Vietnamese communists plot invasion despite the flaws and injustice of the prevailing system. Anyway the now is more valuable to question. So they try to build a little peace in the world.

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To stop communism from spreading (containment) they were afraid of communism spreading any further. Also they used the domino theory which said that if Vietnam fell to communism so would Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaya, Indonesia, Burma and India. Even Australia and the Pacific islands would be at risk.

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In 1954, the Vietminh forces of Vietnam defeated the French at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and the nation was temporarily divided into two sections, north and south. The people of the south chose Ngo Dinh Diem as their ruler and Ho Chi Minh ruled the north. Diem refused to go along with the planned elections in 1956 to unite the nation so the Vietminh members in the South created the Viet Cong and the war between north and south for control of the country began. The government of South Vietnam requested military advisors from the United States to help train the South Vietnamese army. Ho Chi Minh was a communist and during the Cold War of the 1950s and 60s, the aim of the US government was containment of communist power and not to let it spread. The Eisenhower administration provided South Vietnam with money and advisors to help stop the threat of a North Vietnamese takeover. The United States also was pledged by treaty (SEATO) to aid the member nations in southeast Asia, if they were attacked by a foreign (communist) power. Following the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations, President Lyndon B. Johnson also believed in containment and the domino theory. If one nation falls to communism, the next nation will fall, and the next, etc. It became the aim of the Johnson administration to prevent a communist takeover in Southeast Asia.

MrV

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THE US GOT INVOLVED IN THE VIETNAM WAR BECAUSE AMERICA & ITS PEOPLE DISLIKED COMMUNISM & RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE HELPED COMMUNISM GROW SECRETLY.WHEN THE US CAME TO KNOW THAT VIETNAM WAS ABOUT TO BE UNDER THE COMMUNIST RULE THEY CAME TO FINISH COMMUNISM AS THEIR WAS A DANGER OF NEIGHBORING COUNTRIES FALLING IN A ROW LIKE DOMINOES SUCH AS NEXT WOULD BE CAMBODIA THEN LAOS THEN THAILAND THEN MYANMAR & FINALLY A HUGE & POWERFUL COUNTRY LIKE INDIA..TO ERASE THIS DANGER BEFORE IT GREW IT GREW & THEY THEN STOOD AGAINST AMERICA AS A COMMUNIST POPULATION THE US FOUGHT THE VIETNAM WAR BUT LOST BECAUSE OF THE VIETCONG OR VIETNAM'S GUERRILLA FORCE'S TACTICS..... < amendment - tactics had nothing to do with it - the Viet Cong were effectively wiped out during the Tet offensive (as verified years alater by their own generals.) Astoundingly, the US press, and Walter Cronkite particularly, mis-reported the Tet offensive as a victory for the Viet Cong, convincing mainstream America it was a lost cause.

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The reason that we got involved is that we were trying to get rid of all the communist just like we did with Korea. At that time we believed in the domino effect. Basically what that meant was once we got rid of one communist government an another one would fall. The reason that we did not win the war was because the congress would not grant full military action so awe could not go into other countries to kill the commies so the would run to a different countries after they attacked us and we could not follow them so they were safe. I also think that we went to ww2 then Korea then Vietnam so we were just tukerd out but if we would have used are full military power we could have kicked there asses to hell in a heart beat. But the main reason we went to war was because we wanted to completely get rid of the communist government. If you disagree or agree email me at usmc_08_me@yahoo.com

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The reason the United States got involved in the Vietnam war was to help our allies the French who had already begun fighting. The fighting was pushed by Americans due to what they believed to be the communist threat, which was that Japanese, Chinese, and Korean children were being enrolled in our schools. I do believe the country did believe in the domino effect which meant that Americans thought if we got rid of one Communist Government then the rest would fall. I believe though in turn that a country should be able to practice their own form of government however they choose.

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the Truman Doctrine caused us to go to war with Vietnam. This doctrine was an excuse to attack Vietnam on our behalf, because people believed in the "domino theory"

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I read somewhere that the first CIA agents in South Vietnam,prior to military troops arriving,were there to train local Montagnard militia, to protect Shell and Esso[now Exxon] engineers and the S. Vietnamese they were training to weld pipeline.Apparently,communist Russia[or maybe China?] wanted control of this oil and financed N. Vietnamese raiding parties,leading to the whole mess.

ANSWER

The USA got involved in the Vietnam war simply because they have a lot of money
and they think that being rich means they should try to control the world, the asian communism had nothing to do with the USA, america is very far from Vietnam and its really amazing why they travelled such a distance to participate and kill the beloved fathers of innocent americans.

its an issue of showing the world that they are powerful, if you are hungry you cant even think of war, why is everything in this world has to do with the USA? the war in Iraq, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, why does it have to be the US which intervenes in everything, it is because they have the ammunitions and they want to be the capital of the world, americans are very nice people, they make good films and music for the whole world but the problem is the belief of the American government leaders, whoever gets into power focuses on expanding the interests of the US around the world in the name of Globalisation

where are the nuclear weapons they got in Iraq, where are they? was it their call to punish him, why does it have to be the US?

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in may 1961 on his way home from a summit meetin kennedy popped to see Charles de gualle, at this meeting De Gaulle warned Kennedy "the ideology you invoke will not change anything....you americans wanted yesturday to take our place in indochina, you want to assume succession and rekindle a war that we finished. i pedict that you will, step by step, be sucked into a bottomless military and political quagmire".

Never the less kennedy and his advisors were motivated by the mood of the new frontier. De Gualles prediction was the outcome of frances own humilliations and loss of empire in indo-china.

in 1954 when Dien Bien Phu was going on and the yanks were thinking about helping the french, kennedy made a speech to the senate that amercia should not go it alone and should only gt involved of others help (korea). Afer france were forced to give vietnam back kennedy looked to the locals to help them stop communism and said they could rely on american support.

although america were not suppliying men and matierial they were giving france alot of money and fight their colonial war and not to mention the consolidatiopns over the rearmament of germany.

by 1956 kennedy had changed his tune, no longer was he all about the "united action" and fears over self destructive efforts.

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Essentially, the US were looking to deter other countries from rebelling aganst their imperial masters, as the South Vietnamese had done.

First answer by ID1207320780. Last edit by Lt. Fred. Contributor trust: 1 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 323 [recommend question]