Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Research Writing Exercise from Rachel Hopper

        The Vietnam War was a prolonged struggle between Communist North Vietnam and the United States with help from South Vietnam.  For fear of the spread of Communism and the "domino theory", the United States got involved in this war during Lyndon B. Johnson's presidency.  Johnson believed that the security of the nation depended on the containment of Communism. With his efforts, he steadily increased the United States' military involvement.  There were 16,000 in Vietnam when he started his presidency and by the end there were 500,000 boots on the ground in Vietnam.  Unfortunately despite the increase in numbers on the ground, the war still dragged on with bloodshed and increasing casualties.  Johnson's goal was not for the U.S. to win the war.  Johnson hoped that having the U.S. boots on the ground in South Vietnam would reinforce South Vietnam's defenses and hope that eventually they would take over.  Going in with the mentality that Johnson had set the tone for disappointment among not only the troops but the American people as well.  This may have led to the bitter stalemate that the U.S. troops had found themselves in.  Johnson wanted the fighting parameters to be limited to South Vietnam, which made it harder for U.S. troops to really have a chance and weakened their efforts on the ground.  Along with these limited fighting parameters, Johnson did have aerial bombings set on North Vietnam.  There were many obstacles that were a part of this conflict, filled with bloodshed.  This bitter conflict, I imagine, brought much pain and frustration to Johnson throughout his time in office.  


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