How Did American Involvement In Vietnam

The Vietnam War became an American war in 1963 because President John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963 allowed for his successor Lyndon B. Johnson to take a more aggressive and hands-on approach towards American involvement in Vietnam. In addition, shortly before Kennedy’s assassination American politicians approved a South Vietnamese military overthrow of South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem. This allowed the South Vietnamese military to install a Prime Minster who was more likely to follow American instruction, though Diem’s assassination caused many more overthrows due to political instability. In 1964 the Gulf of Tonkin incident sealed the faith of American involvement in Vietnam, with Americans not pulling out of their commitment to South Vietnamese democracy until 1975. In 1963 United States President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and his Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson quickly took over the vacant position. This change in leadership did not do the American involvement in Vietnam any favors as Lyndon B. Johnson was unsure of what direction to take American involvement in Vietnam. This …show more content…
One such example is how “Vietnamese leaders learned to effectively manipulate the Sino-Soviet dispute to gain crucial military and diplomatic support from both Moscow and Beijing” (Duiker and McMahon, 2008: 304). The ever depressing situation in Vietnam also caused a split among American soldiers as the move Platoon clearly shows. In it a platoon of American soldiers are morally divided between doing what is right and just to continue their mission of freedom and democracy for the Vietnamese. However, the other half all but gave up that mission and view Vietnam as a place where they can do whatever they please and simply survive until they complete their deployment