US President's actions during the Second Indochina War
- Throughout the course of the Second Indochina War, the United States of America had 5 Presidents which includes Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961), John F. Kennedy (1961-1963), Lyndon B. Johnson (1963 – 1969), Richard Nixon (1969 -1974), and Gerald R. Ford (1974 – 1977). As a result of the French defeat during the First Indochina War, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made the decision to begin to support the South Vietnamese government and Diem’s regime in an anti-communist battle against the North. In 1954, Eisenhower formed the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) as an action against the spread of communism in Vietnam. Since Vietnam was essentially protected under this treaty, the US felt that it justified their intervention in Vietnam. Under US influence, Diem’s government avoided their responsibility to hold elections due to a fear that the communists would win as their leader Ho Chi Minh was hugely popular throughout Vietnam. John F. Kennedy was a firm believer in the domino theory and in the US’s efforts to combat communism in Asia. During Kennedy’s term, he continued to support the South Vietnamese government as Kennedy sent more military aid and advisors in an effort to train the South Vietnamese army as well as providing $65 million in military equipment and totalled a huge $136 million in economic aid by 1961. However Kennedy witnessed Diem’s oppressive regime and treatment of the Buddhists which ultimately let to him decreasing the amount of financial aid provided by the US as well as military advisors and the President signed off the coups plan to overthrow Diem and his government a mere three weeks before his assassination. As Lyndon B. Johnson became President, he was for the continuance of support to the South Vietnamese government. Johnson was aware that any further commitment of US troops in Vietnam may affect the success of his upcoming election due to the controversy that surrounded the US involvement. However in 1964, as a response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that authorized the President to take any action he deemed necessary to combat the efforts of North Vietnam. Following Johnson’s successful 1964 election, he ordered the sustained bombing of North Vietnam known as “Operation Rolling Thunder” which continued from March 2, 1965 – November 1, 1968. Johnson feared becoming known as the ‘first US President to lose a war’ and refused to bring the US troops home that by 1968 equated to over 500,000 Americans, which caused support for Johnson to greatly decrease as he announced that he would not seek re-election. Richard Nixon became President in 1969 with an apparent mission to bring peace to the highly controversial conflict in Vietnam. He began this mission by effectively withdrawing troops from Vietnam and beginning what would be know as the “Vietnamisation” of the war as the US soldiers trained the South Vietnamese soldiers to fight in their place to prepare for their departure. However in his apparent mission for peace, Nixon attempted to destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail which resulted in an escalation of the war in Cambodia and Laos. The Paris Peace Accords were signed that were the signal of the end of direct US involvement in Vietnam and all US troops were withdrawn by 1975. In Gerald R. Ford’s Presidency, financial aid to the South Vietnamese government was cut severely and by 1975 aid was cut to $300 million, which is a small number compared to the billions that were spent by the US in previous years. Congress had forbade any further US military action in Vietnam during Ford’s time as President although he still requested $722 million in financial aid to be sent to South Vietnam following the fall of Saigon in 1975.
Anti Vietnam War protests in New ZealandThe involvement of foreign powers in the Second Indochina War was highly controversial, as countries that committed troops such as the United States, New Zealand and Australia suffered from highly public backlash as protest groups and anti-war movements staged actions from protests marches, to rallies, to sit ins and hunger strikes in a bid to demonstrate their dissatisfaction and rage at the actions of their governments. Demonstrations in New Zealand were based on the actions of large scaled protest movements that had been published in America during the war. One of the most influential protests actions in the US was the “Moratorium March” that was held at the Washington monument on the 15th of November 1969. This march/rally gathered a crowd of over 500,000 people that protested US involvement in the Second Indochina War and the main messages of the crowd was to ‘bring our troops home’ and ‘bring peace to Vietnam’. The crowd collectively sang John Lennon's, “Give Peace a Chance”, triggering the anti-war movement to escalate all around the world. The New Zealand public had also staged a series of protest actions throughout the duration of the war, specifically on the 30th of April 1971 as approximately 30,000 people gathered to march in Auckland. The amount of people involved gathered nationwide attention to the issue as protesters shed light on the issues faced as a result of the war, signs and banners read, “All US + allied troops out NOW!” and “No more aid for the war” which effectively portrayed their stance on the involvement of New Zealand in the war. Although protest movements in New Zealand did not strongly influence the withdrawal of New Zealand troops, it did cause the New Zealand government to re-evaluate their treaties and alliances.
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Nationalism as the driving force behind the North Vietnamese war efforts
For 1000 years, China dominated Vietnam which was then named “Annam” which translates to “pacified south”, as the Chinese introduced Confucianism to Vietnam along with morals and values typical of ancient Chinese tradition. The Chinese reign sparked the Vietnamese’ desire to learn as well as introducing Buddhism to Vietnam which would become the most prominent religion within the country. However the Vietnamese continued to rebel under the Chinese rule, and while their efforts were swiftly crushed, the Vietnamese began to develop what would continue to strengthen, their sense of nationalism as the Vietnamese continued to demonstrate the desire to control their own nation. This age old sense of nationalism was able to be capitalised on in the following two indochina wars in a bid to complete their ultimately successful battles against foreign domination that resulted in the defeat of the French and American soldiers. The Vietnamese people's historic nationalism is what drove Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Cong/Viet Minh to be so successful and determined in their battles against foreign control and in their fight to gain independence for Vietnam.