One of the most iconic reasons why Australia was involved in the Vietnam War was because of the Domino Theory. It was set to believe during the Vietnam War that if South Vietnam caught the disease of communism, it would eventually spread to neighboring countries in South-East Asia. This is displayed in ‘Buzzle’s’ diagram of the domino theory, which represents the countries that were affected by communism through the domino theory and what was going to eventually be impacted. It shows that South Vietnam’s fall to communism concluded with the fall of Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, which would finally lead to Indonesia. This is what Robert Menzies, along with President Lyndon Johnson feared. They feared that Australia, Indonesia’s neighboring country,
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Like American President Lyndon Johnson, Robert discouraged communism with passion, but fear. He believed that communism always backfired on a countries innocent people, because of people’s greed for power and money, which contradicts the equality communism is believed to be. To further certify his distaste for it, Menzies had recently expelled the communist party in Australia. This fear became a significant factor contributing to Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War as Robert couldn’t see it fall to red. This is evident in his speech during a parliament debate on the 29th April, 1965. He said, “The takeover of South Vietnam would be a direct military threat to Australia and all the countries of South and South East Asia (Source 1).” Not only does the quote express the serious need for Australia’s involvement in South Vietnam (as it would place us under threat if we didn’t prevent South Vietnam from falling), it demonstrates Menzies seriousness in the war and that they need to take drastic actions to fight the communist country. Altogether, this proves his perception of communism at the time and how much destruction it could cause if he didn’t act upon the issue. This resulted with him sending a battalion, along with other forces to Vietnam and involving Australia in the war, which has turned out to be a very wise
Like American President Lyndon Johnson, Robert discouraged communism with passion, but fear. He believed that communism always backfired on a countries innocent people, because of people’s greed for power and money, which contradicts the equality communism is believed to be. To further certify his distaste for it, Menzies had recently expelled the communist party in Australia. This fear became a significant factor contributing to Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War as Robert couldn’t see it fall to red. This is evident in his speech during a parliament debate on the 29th April, 1965. He said, “The takeover of South Vietnam would be a direct military threat to Australia and all the countries of South and South East Asia (Source 1).” Not only does the quote express the serious need for Australia’s involvement in South Vietnam (as it would place us under threat if we didn’t prevent South Vietnam from falling), it demonstrates Menzies seriousness in the war and that they need to take drastic actions to fight the communist country. Altogether, this proves his perception of communism at the time and how much destruction it could cause if he didn’t act upon the issue. This resulted with him sending a battalion, along with other forces to Vietnam and involving Australia in the war, which has turned out to be a very wise