American involvement in the Vietnam War occurred due to a number of reasons. Following from the cold in 1947 war the US became fascinated in the idea of containing Communism. The US took a course attempting to uphold Truman’s, ‘Policy of Containment’, leading to a spiraling escalation of further US involvement after Diem’s failures and support of South Vietnam after Diem’s death. Equally Ho Chi Minh’s Brilliance and Vietnam’s determination to fight for independence led to a greater US involvement during the war.
Shadowing the Cold War in 1947, the US was determined to contain communism through Truman’s, ‘Policy of Containment’. With rapid growth of communism after WW2, Truman’s policy for containment was a scaffold for the Domino Theory in 1954. The US believed that once one country falls to communism the surround ones would follow, “beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences”(Eisenhower). US fears about communism were brought to light as Vietnam (Indochina) fell to communism after communist Russia supported them in 1950.This was after the US ignored numerous letter of Ho calling for Vietnam’s independence. Adding to America’s fears, China fell to communism one year before in 1949. China and Russia had no intentions of turning Vietnam in communists. Although Ho was more nationalist than communist the US saw him as a common threat, “We didn’t have a glimmer of understanding about what happened in Vietnam”, (Mcnamara). Further US involvement occurred due to French blackmailing the US for $1 billion plus aid during the Indochina War by threatening to pull out. Even though America provided endless aid to the French they were still losing to the Viet Minh. The French were defeated at Bien Dien Phu on May 7, 1954 by the Viet Minh causing the French to pull out. At the Geneva conference (1955) the great powers decided to split Vietnam into two further associating the US with additional involvement in Vietnam.
Another reason the US were involved in Vietnam was because of the failures of Diem. Diem was nominated into head position of President of the Republic of Vietnam through the likes of the US. As such his failures were associated with the USA. Diem had many failures, ‘We were totally wrong about Diem’, (Macnamara). He was non-democratic, ‘paternalistic, authoritarian’ (Herring, 1996) and stubborn approach to government. Diem didn’t understand the needs and problems of Vietnam peasants. He oppressed many of the land reforms they had won through Ho’s effort. Further, Diem allowed corruption through the army collecting rents from the peasants. Diem blamed all political opposition to him on ‘the communists’ and used his army and police oppress any opposition communist and non communist. Diem didn’t have the same cultural background as most of the population that were Buddhist. Repression led to self immolations of Buddhist monks in may 1963 in protest to the bad regime. Through all of these failures, Diem was supported and resourced by the US. In fact the US found it hard to distance themselves from him since they had created him and South Vietnam. His failures and inadequacies led the USA to become more involved in order to avoid a humiliating defeat in South Vietnam.
America was further involved in the Vietnam War due to the unrelenting effort in the increasing support South Vietnam after Diem’s Assassination. The assassination of Diem was controversial with likely US support to the action, “I feel that the US must bear some responsibility for the Assassination of Diem”, -JFK. Continued support of South Vietnam occurred mainly due to each president forced in to following the other’s legacy thus the US made a decision and sticking with it, “Once engaged in a war you can’t go back”, - Vietnamese General Bui Tin. Through blatant support of S Vietnam by the US it made the government very unpopular since they were viewed as a ‘Puppet Government’. Further US involvement proceeded after Gulfs of Tokin attacks in August 1964 where the US reacted immediately with bombing attacks through operation rolling thunder. The US deployed 64 planes with numerous attacks but was unsuccessful. Through continuous failures of US strategies such as the Strategic Hamlet and Heart’s of mind program didn’t win over the South Vietnamese people but turned them against the US. The more the US got involved and humiliated the more the US involved more troops leading to controversy, “What the hell are we going to get out of increasing involvement?”-LBJ. The more the US stuck with their decisions the more they became involved in an all out losing war against North Vietnam.