what are some misconceptions about US involvement in Vietnam?

Question

what are some misconceptions about US involvement in Vietnam?

Answer 1

first of all, no longer something that the govrenment is doing will make u.s. socialist. Socialism can't be time-honored decrease than present day circumstances because of the fact the present ruling instructions won't enable it. 2nd, if u.s. the place to alter into socialist, then taxes for the wealthy might upward thrust, and taxes for the unfavorable might fall. Then the flexibility of production (agencies, factories, and so on.) may well be exceeded over to the staff. and finally, as quickly as order has been restored education, well-being-care, and housing will exchange into loose. That basically small look on the variations there'll be decrease than socialism.

Answer 2

That the Domino Theory was a myth.

From Lee Kuan Yew's book

''Although American intervention failed in Vietnam, it bought time for the rest of Southeast Asia. In 1965, when the US military moved massively into South Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines faced internal threats from armed communist insurgents and the communist underground was still active in Singapore. Indonesia, in the throes of a failed communist coup, was waging konfrontasi, an undeclared war against Singapore. The Philippines was claiming Sabah in East Malaysia. Standards of living were low and economic growth slow. America's action enabled non-communist Southeast Asia to put their own houses in order. By 1975 (when the Vietnam war ended) they were in better shape to stand up to the communists. Had there been no US intervention, the will of these countries to resist them would have melted and Southeast Asia would have most likely gone communist. The prosperous emerging market economies of Asean ( Association of Southeast Asian Nations) were nurtured during the Vietnam War years.''



The Americans and South Vietnamese failed for a number of reasons. Was the war winnable? Absolutely! But they tried to contain the communists not defeat them. Had they been serious they would have nuked Hanoi and attacked the dams and dykes (Something the SVN Airforce had been wanting to do for years) along the Red River Delta. But their biggest failure was in not winning the propaganda war. The Communists won that hands down with lies and false promises. They were so good at it they even won over the American media and that's when the wheels fell off.

Answer 3

I think one of the greatest misconceptions the US held in the Vietnam war was that could actually win...



Vietnam has been invaded by foreign forces repeatedly since the 1100's, but none of the attempted invaders ever won. The Chinese at one stage held it for about 115 years but were fighting the people the whole time until they got there butts kicked and forced to leave. In more recent times, in WW2, the Japanese overwhelmed the French in WW2, but never controlled the country facing constant action from the Vietnamese people.



Historically, the Vietnamese are a formidable force. If George Patton could have been asked his educated and experienced opinion about Vietnam, there is no way if they respected his respected military opinion would the US ever have deployed there.

Answer 4

It was not necessary. It accomplished nothing. It was sold on the lie of the "Domino Theory" that held that if we did not stop Communism in Vietnam, Communism would eventually overrun the entire world. Yet we lost in Vietnam in April 1975 and 16 years later Communism collapsed in the USSR. Communism is only a name in China now. It exists only in North Korea and Cuba now. What did we lose? 58,000 Americans killed, maybe a million Vietnamese, maybe 2 million Cambodians, countless billions of dollars that could have spent doing something that mattered. People should not be obedient robots who jump whenever some idiot in the gvt. yells at you. Pay attention, analyze the situation because they may, after all, be right, but ultimately it is up to every citizen to know when to call bullsheet on the gvt and tell them to go pee up a rope. That was the lesson of World War 2 and it was totally ignored in Vietnam.



Why did we back France going back to recolonialize people who did not want to be colonialized again? We were afraid France would go Communist if we didn't. How's that for ridiculous? It could almost be funny except for all those needless deaths.

Answer 5

That our original purpose was to stop the spread of communism, though this was a factor we originally entered to support the French as part of us taking responsibility of aiding Europe after WW2.



We decided to stay after the French left because of our ongoing "cold war" with communists

Answer 6

During the course of its 21 years of involvement in Indochina, the United States Government offered “reasons” for its actions. These reasons were worthless. The only reason for the American being in Indochina was to prevent the area from going Communist by an election, by an internal revolution... And this was reason enough...



More reasons. And more reasons. They sprouted like asparagus in May. Before the Indochina War came to an end, a book could have filled with reasons. None of them were valid