The Vietnam War as a Cold War Effort

The post-WWII era saw the rise of two global superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. With conflicting ideology and nuclear weapons, these enemies stood at a stalemate of how to overpower the other without decimating consequences. Both sides used ideological motivation for interventionism in issues abroad as the world decolonized. Communism and Capitalism came head-to-head in a Cold War ideological battle in Vietnam, a proxy war between Communist China and Soviet Union and Capitalist United States.

American Involvement in Vietnam

Cold War Motivations for American Involvement in Vietnam

Geo-Politics

The Post-WWII period saw a mass movement for decolonization in the Global South, then termed the "Third World." The US was caught in the middle: being a democratic representative, the US agreed with decolonization rhetoric but was allied with colonizers.

The US started their involvement in Vietnam when France required assistance in keeping control of their colonized Vietnam, rebelling under the help of communist China...

Containment and Expansion

Both American democracy and Soviet socialism held anti-imperial stances by the 1950s.

However, both wanted to expand their ideological control and contain the other.

This added urgency and imperative for intervention in the Global South.

Interventionism

Motivated by Cold War ideology and pressures, US interventionism took three main forms:

1. There were financial incentives for the new nations to make them friendly towards the US.

2. The US lent military support to tip the balance on conflicts like civil wars (such as Korea and Vietnam). These could be considered "proxy" conflicts, as they were not the US directly attacking their enemies, but still opposing them with (indirect) aggressive action.

3. Covert Actions aided the US intervention during the Cold War, many being CIA coups.

Human Rights and Social Justice

The most important thing to remember when studying the Vietnam War is that it CANNOT BE TAKEN IN ISOLATION. It was a result of everything happening during the time period, such as:

The rise of the Consumer Culture in the USA

The advancement of nuclear weapons and other Weapons of Mass Destruction

Civil rights movements both within the USA and globally challenging AND reinforcing US geopolitics.

Domestic politics (and the constant shifts therein). During American involvement in Vietnam, the US had 5 presidents: Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower, Democrats JFK and Lyndon B Johnson, and Republicans Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Vietnam at Home

The Vietnam War was originally a popular movement, seen as America fulfilling their duty to expand democratic ideals. As the conflict dragged on and Americans saw more and more casualties, as the Vietnam War violence was displayed in every American living room through the new mass media of TV, as the "credibility gap" widened and more Americans began distrusting their government, Vietnam became one of the most protested Cold War initiatives.

The Beginning of Disillusionment

"Amid growing prosperity, expanding educational opportunities, and a growing population of young people as a consequence of the postwar "baby boom," many Americans had the time, inclination, and generational distance from the travails of the 1930s and 1940s to examine their society more closely..."