U.S. Involvement in the Vietnam War
Why did the United States become involved in Vietnam? And why was it so polarizing for American society? U.S. involvement spanned six different presidential administrations. The war was long and costly. Over three million people were killed; 58,000 were Americans. It also divided Americans over their opinions about the war and the Government’s trustworthiness.
Background:
During the Cold War, the U.S. Government feared that communism would spread and threaten democracy around the world. In Vietnam, the United States committed to battling communism financially at first, by supporting South Vietnam – who fought for Vietnam to be aligned with western allies like the United States. North Vietnam and the Communist organization in South Vietnam, the People’s Liberation Armed Forces, fought for Vietnam to be a Communist state. Americans and their South Vietnamese allies referred to the People’s Liberation Armed Forces as “insurgents” or “Viet Cong.” U.S. military advisers were sent to Vietnam to train and support South Vietnamese troops. Eventually, as an ally to South Vietnam, the United States put troops on the ground to fight against North Vietnam and the People’s Liberation Armed Forces.
Instructions:
This activity breaks the Vietnam War into episodes. Each one includes an information box and a document — your task is to name each episode. Read each information box and analyze the document that follows. Click “View Primary Source Details” to read the full document and its description (and to listen to the memoir dictation). Then in the “Episode # Title” box after each document, give that episode a title. For example, the title of the first episode could be “Truman Supports France Against North Vietnam.”
