America's Diplomacy during the Vietnam War - Essay Example

History and Political Science 9 March America’s Diplomatic History during the Vietnam War Vietnam is located on the eastern part of the Indochinese peninsula in South East Asia. Since its early history Vietnam has always had invasion by outsiders. Consequently the Vietnamese people have always been fighting their conquerors. The Vietnam War has many names. Scholars and those who strive for great detachment call it the second Indochina war, Americans and other westerners call it the Vietnam conflict or war, while the Vietnamese call it the American war distinguishing it from other disputes with foreign enemies in the twentieth century. The situation in Vietnam is seriously deteriorating; this is in regard to the serious possibilities of escalation. Should the situation get out of control, it will pose grave threats to the rest of the world. Military methods have failed to find a solution of the Southeast Asian problem that has been there for the last ten years, these methods might not bring about a peaceful settlement of the problem. Only diplomatic and political means of negotiations and discussions will bring a peaceful solution, a renaissance of the Geneva Conference may probably achieve positive results. There are a lot of difficulties in the way of pursuing a United Nations solution to the conflict, this is in view of its past history and the reality that some chief parties are not represented in the United Nations. Countless world leaders sharing their concern in this situation have made different suggestions on ways forward in tackling this problem. To avoid escalating the problem all parties concerned are refraining from new acts that may escalate the present conflict, this is for the well being and peace of the people of Vietnam and the rest of the world. It is evident that earlier forecasts of top administration officials that Rolling Thunder will bring Hanoi swiftly to the negotiating table will not be realized, political and military developments in South Vietnam continue to favor the insurgents. The Viet Cong “monsoon offensive” has forced Saigon’s army to abandon six district capitals and there have been many military reverses offset by the only occasional successes. The communist demolition and interruption of the road and rail system in South Vietnam has been widespread. With the Quat resignation, political power is back to the all military National Leadership Council. General Westmoreland and Ambassador Taylor had agreed that more troops were needed to contain the VC-NVA in South Vietnam. However, according to Westmoreland opinion, further enlargement of the army has been made impossible by the extremely high desertion rates, casualties and occasional heavy losses. The ratio of military manpower is changing progressively in favor of the communists and the Saigon government may not withstand the VC-NVA military and political offensive for more than six months. An addition of forty five thousand more United States Troops to the fifty thousand that are already kin the south and four more Air Force tactical squadrons have been proposed. The army’s additional manpower will include the 1st Calvary division which is the Air Mobile together with support for the emplacement near Pleiku which is in the central highlands. With massive growth of the Viet Cong strength with many guerillas threatening Saigon’s forces twenty thousand more United States troops have been dispatched to the south, this is to create a near satisfactory ratio of about one to three between the guerillas and the regular forces in the south. After the Second World War, Japan turned out to be the most important Asian ally of the United States providing a major rationale for United States intervention. The United States anti-soviet containment policy had predicted that South East Asian states would fall like dominoes if only one of them went the way of China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during the cold war. American leaders hence argued that intervention would be important and necessary to protect Japan and maintain access to neighboring resources and markets for both Japan and the United States. Japan has served as an important staging area for United States forces in Vietnam by providing ports, repair and building facilities, supplying dumps, airports and hospitals that are very necessary to the United States military effort. With the confrontation that developed between east and west following the end of the Second World War and the emergence of the cold war, the United States turned to a policy of containment to counter the perceived spread of communism. From this policy, aid was provided to France in its war against the Viet Minh in Vietnam. The policy supported the development of an independent Vietnamese army and a role of the United States in organization and training. In 1953 and 1954, president Dwight D. Eisenhower and his associates debated on whether and under what circumstances to use the United States forces in Indochina. He did not oppose the use of some United States personnel and equipment to support the French and was in favor of having the United States take over most of the training of local forces in Indochina. President Kennedy approved a new counterinsurgency program for Vietnam which had been developed during 1960 by the administration of Eisenhower under which the United States increased its assistance to Vietnam just a few days after taking office. He approved NSC 52 on May 11, 1961 which reaffirmed the United States commitment to Vietnam and authorized a sweeping action. The aim of this was to prevent communist domination of South Vietnam and create a country with an increasingly viable and democratic society and also and initiate actions of military, political, economic, psychological and covert character to be able to achieve this aim. It was agreed that consistent t with the NSC 52, the United States would deploy its own forces in South Vietnam in order to provide a visible deterrent to potential north Vietnam and/or communist action by the Chinese, release Vietnam forces from advanced and static defense positions and permit fuller commitment to counterinsurgency actions, assist in training the Vietnamese forces to the maximum level in line with their mission, provide a nucleus for the support of any additional major United States or SEATO military operation in southeast Asia and also indicate United States firmness in the interests of all Asian nations. There was widespread concern by United States policy makers that the situation in Vietnam was deteriorating and a feeling that the United States had to play a more active role by 1961. In October 1961, President Kennedy agreed to a United States Air Force squadron to Vietnam it was later reported that vigorous United States action was needed to buy time for Vietnam to mobilize and organize its real assets but it had unfortunately almost run out, it was hence recommended that among other things the United States would commit six thousand to eighteen thousand ground combat and logistical troops to Vietnam to serve as a demonstration of United States resolve. With progress of the war, the need for more troops arose with recommendations for broader actions that embodied greater risks which included making the United States military commander responsible for all United States programs, civilian and military and persuaded the South Vietnamese to let the United States military commander assume temporary tactical direction of the war and full responsibility for all operations against North Vietnam. By 1964, proposals had been prepared for increased military and non-military actions and in early August 1964, after an attack on a United States destroyer, the first direct United States air attack was approved by the President as he also authorized that all necessary steps be taken. To avoid the spread of communism in Vietnam and other nations, America should center its policy on containing the communism; with this the war in Vietnam will be fought with the main focus on containment. The United States can take the lead under the United Nations. A war with the objective of ending communism will allow election of government through free election, people will be able to form political parties to voice their opinions, and they will possess the right of assembly, speech and the press. The problems of people in Vietnam not having any right to form their own parties, not being able to enjoy the right of assembly, speech and of the press will be solved. Vietnam will be able to take part in free trade with the rest of the world and no foreign state will dominate Vietnam in power. Democracy should be the kind of government to rule in Vietnam. With the fact that all men are created equal and all have right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, Vietnam should move forward to become an independent sovereign nation and aggressive imperialism should be overthrown. Only a long term war will enable Vietnam overcome being victim of foreign powers and transform it to a strong stable nation. Catholics hold major positions of power in the government of Vietnam; they generally enjoy many advantages throughout the society in South Vietnam mainly for adopting the religion of their French masters. Majority of the Vietnamese are composed of the Buddhists that are clearly not happy with the preferential treatment that is most of the time given to the Catholics who are just a small community. The French have also been passing laws to discourage the spread of Buddhism which is a threat to their authority. After the French departure from Vietnam the Catholics have so far been able to maintain their positions of power. Secular and religious Buddhists institutions in South Vietnam have grown exponentially since the 1950s. With the emergence of this Buddhist community who have a high level of social and political consciousness, they have a desire to gain influence. Their opposition to the Saigon regime is responsible for the coup that overthrew and killed Diem. The premier Ky is convinced that the Buddhist leaders are spies whose aim is to overthrow his government. Combat Officer General Thi is a devout Buddhists, his way of governing is independent and different from that of other commanders and he has had the support of Buddhists to end the fighting and negotiate settlement with the communist National Liberation Front. A threat to the United States Ambassador and the United States Army General, he has been very soft on the issue of communism. The Vietnam War is one of the most important conflicts to take place in the twentieth century though small compared to the first and second world wars and involving little assistance by America. This assessment rests not only on the casualty figures and geographic spread but on the impact it will have on the rest of the world. This is a fight for Democracy which is the fairest form of government and it is to ensure end of communism in Vietnam and other affected nations. Works Cited Chung, TK. “Cold War 1945-1960.” 9 March 2012. . Web. 1979. Cordier, Andrew, and Max Harrelson. Public Papers of the Secretaries-General of the United Nations, Volume7. Columbia: Columbia University Press, 1976. Print. Elsey, George. “Teaching with Documents: The United States Enters the Korean Conflict.” 9 March 2012. . Web. 2012. Gibson, Dan. “The 1966 Buddhist Crisis in South Vietnam.” 9 March 2012. . Web. 12 June 2006. Gibbons, William. The U.S. Government and the Vietnam War: Executive and Legislative Roles and Relationships. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1995. Print. Lawrence, Mark. The Vietnam War: A Concise International History. New York: Oxford Merrill, Dennis, and Thomas Paterson. Major Problems in American Foreign Relations: Since 1914. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2009. Print. Spartacus Educational. “Buddhism.” 9 March 2012. . Web. 2012. Staaveren, Jacob. Gradual failure: the air war over North Vietnam 1965-1966. Washington DC: Air force history and museums program, 2002. Print. Wiest, Andrew. The Vietnam War. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group Inc., 2009. Print. University Press, 2008. Print. Read More