The Vietnam War was a military struggle between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) and the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) from 1959 to 1975. The country was temporarily divided at the end of the First Indochina War. North Vietnam came under control of the Vietnamese Communists and their objective was to unify Vietnam under communist rule. Vietnamese who had collaborated with the French controlled the South. The United States got involved because they believed that if this nation fell under communist rule, then communism will spread throughout all of Southeast Asia and countries beyond it. The Americans compared communism to a contagious disease. This principle was known as the domino theory. Communists scorned democracy, violated human rights, pursued military aggression, and created closed state economies that barely traded with capitalist countries (Butwell). Today, I will explain the events that should emphasize the idea that the U.S.
Propaganda leaflet urging the defection of NLF and...
English: From George L. MacGarrigle, The United St...
Scene of Viet Cong terrorist bombing in Saigon, Re...government should have continued its involvement in the Vietnam War.
On April 30, 1975, Vietnam's capital, Saigon, fell to communist rule. This resulted in the reunification of Vietnam and turned it into a communist nation. Nearly 26 years under the control of communism, Vietnam has become one of the poorest counties in the world. About 50% of the population do not have enough income to buy a typical consumer basket of food (Case). It is now a very undeveloped country with very slow improvements. Many South Vietnamese were put into re-education camps (prison) for being allies to the United States. This action led to the mass departure of the Vietnamese people. Many Vietnamese also left their homeland to escape from communism. Refugees came into the United States by the hundreds of thousands. A lot of people would rather die at sea than to stay and be under communist...