Vietnam- the American roll in that conflict - Research Paper Example

Further, from such a level of discussion, it is the hope of this author that the reader will gain a more informed understanding for the nuanced nature and ideological motivations for why the United States saw Vietnam as the figurative “line in the sand” in which global communism must be defeated and democracy and stated; even by force if necessary. After the conclusion of the Second World War, two superpowers arose. Both the United States and the Soviet Union had collectively helped to free the world from fascism and Japanese imperialism (Pham 19).

As a function of this combined victory, both of these superpowers emerged as preeminently dominant over large swaths of territory and by extension, inherently distrustful of one another. Due to the fact that global communism called for a sustained and determined attack upon capital systems and imperial powers, the United States and its allies found themselves on the immediate defensive; attempting to guard against military coups, proletarian revolution, and any other destabilizing force that the Communist bloc of nations around the globe might foist upon them as a means of weakening the strength of “the free world”.

Due to this sustained and determined attack, then President Truman issued what would become the famous “Truman doctrine”. This Truman doctrine, further honed, added to, and defined by subsequent presidents, helped to determine the way in which the United States would integrate with communist aggression throughout the world. Ultimately, at its very core, the Truman doctrine stated that it was the express intent of the United States to combat communism at each and every juncture, in each and every location around the globe.

After Pres. Truman left the Oval Office, Pres. Dwight Eisenhower further honed the Truman doctrine to an even more aggressive stance (Daddis 234). Dwight D Eisenhower, in 1954, helped to elaborate upon this doctrine of containment and expands upon it by discussing what has since become known as the “domino theory”. This domino theory asserts that once a given nation within a particular region as a communist government and stated, then a domino effect will be felt throughout the region; allowing other nations to be weakened and ultimately fault of the influence that a single foothold of global communism can have within a particular region.

In retrospect, such a theory seems rather preposterous; equating communism to a type of infectious disease that once rooted within a particular geographic region can somehow spread like a cancer. However, within the spirit of the era, this particular approach was not at odds with reality. Following the Second World War, the French unsuccessfully battled an insurgency within Vietnam, then referred to as Indochina, that eventually saw the French colonial forces retreat in humiliation; leaving Vietnam fertile ground for alternative forms of governance and the influences of communism.

As such, in 1955, the United States, in tandem with its CIA assets within the region, backed Vietnamese politician Ngo Dinh Diem to oust Bao Dai from power within South Vietnam this particular study was one of many that helps to define the future relationship and strategy that the United