This is an action project for my core class Policy. This is the last action project for this class for the year. During this unit, we learned about different wars and how they have affected the world. We also took a look at if they are justified or not. We chose between wars fought in the past and decided to research that specific war. We also took a deeper dive into what makes a policy and who makes them. We looked at policies made by congress and some that are made by the president without the advise of congress. For this project I was tasked with researching a war in history and how it affected the US and if it is a justified war or not.
The Vietnam War
The Vietnam War is justified by fighting against the spread of communism. The Vietnam war took place during the midst of the Cold War from 1954 to 1975. The United States didn't join the war until eleven years after the start of the war in 1965. This war was fought in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and South East Asia. Although the US was joined in this war, it was mostly fought between the two sides of Vietnam. Southern Vietnam, Northern Vietnam, and their respective allies. What makes the Vietnam "special" are its war tactics. The war tactics can best be described as the acronym BEAST - Bombing, Escalation, Air and Artillery, Search and Destroy, and Technology. Why was this war fought? It was fought because of many factors. Some being tension between Northern and Southern Vietnam, the Spread of Communism, American Containment, and European imperialism in Vietnam.
During the war there were 5 presidents. John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Lyndon B Johnson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Gerald Ford. Though the president that led us into the war was Lyndon Johnson. By 1968, the US had 548,000 troops in Vietnam. China had become communist in 1949 and communists were in control of North Vietnam. The USA was afraid that communism would spread to South Vietnam and then the rest of Asia. It decided to send money, supplies and military advisers to help the South Vietnamese Government. Along with Lyndon Johnson leading the US into the Vietnam War, On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, allowing President Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of peace in southeast Asia.
War leads to a policy depending on urgency of the war. During the Vietnam War, On March 1947, an address to Congress said that the foreign policy of the United States is to help any country whose stability is threatened by communism. The policy was then names as the Truman Doctrine. The president proposed this policy to congress in order to help the Vietnam War and more wars to come. What is this policy intended to do during this war? The United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces.
The policy used during the Vietnam War, was in fact helpful during this stage in history but it also acted as a consequence because it proves that the world was divided. I believe the citizens who believed this had a just interpretation of the policy because at this time the war was mostly being funded by the US and the Soviet Union and people never actually saw the US and the Soviet Union fight. This policy confirmed that the nation was divided. The Truman Doctrine was "upgraded" to being the base war policy and American Cold War policy throughout Europe and around the world. "It shifted American foreign policy toward the Soviet Union from an anti-fascist alliance to a policy of containment of Soviet expansion as advocated by diplomat George Kennan."
I believe that this war was justified because of the backing of protecting the United States from communism. The war had led to a policy that would eventually be an important act that is now implemented for all future wars. It was justified because of the acts of the country. When I say this war was justified, I am talking about the United States' being justified in helping Vietnam. Vietnam's role in this war is different. If we are talking about Vietnam in general then the war would be justified due to Southern Vietnam fighting against communism in the country. This is why saying a war is justified is complicated. There is different sides to the war that make it justified or not.
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