Week 14 Reflection: Overseas Affairs

Vietnam was known to be the longest war in American History. It was responsible for 58,000 American injuries and 350,000 American deaths. There were about two billion Vietnamese deaths.  

The Unites States supported France in the war against VM while they were trying to gain independence from France. The US funded the French-Indochina War because they wanted materials produced by Vietnam. Vietnam was led by Ho Chi Minh who believed in Vietnamese independence. Ho Chi eventually became a communist hoping to promote state control of everything. The overall goal for communism was social equality. The representatives of the communist Party owned the nations resources. 

 In the second stage of the war the US supported Ngo Dinh Diem as the South Vietnam leader against Ho Chi Minh in the North. Ngo Dinh Diem was a brutal leader, there were protest against his brutality. The protest was by Buddhist monks who set themselves on fire. Diem was aided by JFK, with support of US military in non-combatant roles. US supported to depose Diem after his brutality had become public.  

President Johnson campaigned against sending more troops to Vietnam. Operation rolling thunder was authorized under LBJ. This operation consisted of bombing raids over the span of 8 years in Northern Vietnam. United States troops were sent to combat. The war had become very brutal. The Anti-War movement started because Americans were against US troops supporting a dictatorship. They didn’t believe Southeast Asian affairs had a direct effect on United States. Americans protested, burned draft cards and even veterans protested. However, there were also Americans who supported the war. They believed in stopping the spread of communism at all cost. 

troops at war

In 1973, US forces withdrew from Vietnam. Following that, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was brought back together. After this was, the War Powers Act in 1973 was drafted requiring the president to receive approval before entering US military in overseas affairs.