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Explain why the United States became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam. America became increasingly involved in the Vietnam War due to many important reasons, the most important was that Americas hated communism and USA needed to contain it. Many U.S politicians came to believe in the "Domino Theory" that was brought up by Eisenhower in 1954. "You have a row of dominoes set up. You knock the first over, and .... The last... will go over very quickly... Asia, after all, has already lost 450 millions on its people to communist dictatorship, and we simply can't afford greater losses" Throughout these years the USA could have withdrawn and stopped giving aid to South Vietnam, but did not, as the Presidents wanted to maintain their stature and not let Russia think they were weaker. ...read more.


This broke the Geneva peace agreement and the USA supported his actions. In order to keep peace in South Vietnam Eisenhower Sent in U.S Military advisors to help train the Vietnamese army in combat warfare, In 1961 Eisenhower left the office and by this time 685 advisors were in Vietnam. Diem set up the South Vietnamese army and the new President Kennedy gave approximately $270 million to them. He sent up to 1000 advisors to help Diem. He did this due to the embarrassment of the Bay of Pigs and he wanted to retaliate for the building of the Berlin wall. The United States was again fighting in the war for the wrong reason. They thought it was non-communist against communist. ...read more.


The new president, Johnson had the opportunity to pull the US out of involvement in Vietnam he choose not to, he in fact increased the involvement as not to look weak. He poured more money and bombed the Ho Chi Minh trail. The result of this was an escalation in USA's involvement in Vietnam. The congress passed the 'Tonking resolution', which was to take all necessary measures to win. The next President Was Richard Nixon, Nixon knew that being in the Vietnam War was a major problem. He wanted peace in Vietnam and to save the lives of the American soldiers. Nixon introduced a policy of vietnamisation, which encouraged the South Vietnamese to take responsibility for fighting the war. In June 1969 Nixon enounced the first of the U.S troops withdrawals. The 540,000 US troops were to be reduced by 25,000. Another 60,000 were to leave the following December. Jack Park 9069 ...read more.

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    Explain why America became increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam

    3 star(s)

    Diem's sister-in-law, Madame Nhu, did not help matters when she told American officials, 'if the Buddhists wish to have another barbecue, I will be glad to supply the petrol and a match.' President Kennedy realised that Diem was too unpopular to defeat Vietcong.

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    This was about proving what President Truman had said. America would never let the communists take a country if they could help it. Although America continued to pump millions of dollars into them, the corrupt anti-communist government of Ngo Dinh Diem and the equally corrupt governments that followed him only increased the support of communism in the south.


    This is contradicted source as from source A he rallies the public about this just war of communism; it shows us that Johnson has no clue about going into war, Source A has reasons why going into war, Source B it is as if he cannot be bothered he has doubts.


    It is also effective as it gives numerous reasons as to why America went to war in Vietnam. The source talks about how 'the United States was defending South Vietnam from, North Vietnamese aggression.' This suggests that the US wanted to protect South Vietnam, an idea that is backed up by Source A.

  2. Why the US became increasingly involved in the war in Vietnam


  1. How useful are sources A to C to explain why the United States became ...

    It also explains, in a very biased way, why the Americans are fighting in Vietnam; it says, "We are there to strengthen world order" and "We fight because we have a promise to keep". Some historical questions could be raised from this source like: * Why did the United States of America get involved in the Vietnam War?


    The US was worried about their strategic position in Asia should Vietnam 'fall' to communism as Vietnam was in an advantageous position on the trade routes between Europe and the Far East. In order to establish a resolution for Indochina, a conference was held in Geneva in 1954, and the

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