In the article “The Causes of the Vietnam War” Andrew Rotter talks about all kinds of reasons why America went to war with Vietnam along with things that promoted America to get involved with Vietnam. One reason America went to war was because President Harry Truman authorized a military aid to the French. Also the U. S. was afraid of communism taking over countries along with the reasons why America did not like the government of North Vietnam. One of the first things the article talks about is President Harry Truman sending military aid to the French.
In May 1950 Truman did authorize economic and military aid to the French over in Vietnam. In 1949 when the Communist Party took over China the U. S. feared that then Vietnam would become a communist country. This is why President Truman sent the economic and military aid to the French, to try and help prevent Vietnam becoming part of the communist party. Another reason for America going over to fight in Vietnam was because the U. S. did not want communism to spread throughout the world. The American government hated communism and did not want to see any more in America.
In article, Andrew Rotter states that “Communism scorned democracy, violated human rights, pursued military aggression, and created closed state economics that barely traded with capitalist countries. ” Communism was seen to be a terrible thing and America was willing to do whatever it took to not let communism spread throughout the world, no U. S. president would want to lose a country to communism. This is why Truman sent the aid to the French to try and help stop Vietnam because America knew if Vietnam would win, communism might be taking over. The U. S. id not like the Vietnam government because of the communist party along with their leader.
Over in Vietnam everything revolved around one man, Ho Chi Minh. This man was the leader of the communist party in Vietnam and he was very well respected in his country. America did not like the government of Vietnam because of their communist ways. Ho Chi Minh was a very powerful leader and even president “Eisenhower acknowledged that, he had elections been held as scheduled in Vietnam Ho Chi Minh would have won 80% of the votes. ” It was a scary thing and the U. S. ealized what it was up against and why they needed to go to war with Vietnam.
All in all America went to war with Vietnam for many of reasons. Throughout the whole article every paragraph talks about why America did what they did over in Vietnam and how it affected us. In the end it was seen to be a mess over in Vietnam but America did have a reason to go over there and fight against something that they hated most, communism. The Oxford Companion to America Military History. Ed. John Whiteclay Chambers II. New York: Oxford UP, 1999. Copyright 1999 by Oxford UP
