Overview of Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a lengthy and fairly costly armed conflict involving the communist North Vietnamese regime known as the Viet Cong, South Vietnam and the United States. The war began in 1954 although the area was in Conflict since the mid-1940s after North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh and his political party; Viet Minh took power during the Cold War. During the escalating standoff between the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union; and at the end of the Red Scare, the United States attempted to stop the spread of Communism. The Vietnam War was never officially declared a war by Congress, but rather deemed a “conflict.” The “Conflict” began as a “proxy war” under President Eisenhower and Kennedy, but fully escalated under Lyndon B. Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although the American people wanted end the spread of Communism, the Vietnam War received a vast amount of opposition in the States, along with tons of media coverage and journalists reporting on the war. Unfortunately the Vietnam War was perceived as a failure due to many contributing factors such as the numerous unnecessary casualties inflicted on both sides (History.com).

During World War II, Japan occupied Vietnam, a nation that had previously been under French administration. Influenced by Chinese and Soviet communism, Ho Chi Minh formed the Viet Minh to fight against the French colonial administration and seized the capital city of Hanoi after the Japanese withdrew, and declared himself president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (History.com). Desiring to get control of the region the French backed the Vietnamese emperor Bao Dai, and established the state of South Vietnam with Saigon as its capital. After years of armed conflict the Viet Minh ...

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...th war opponents, who viewed them as murders and supporters, who blamed them for losing the war. Veteran also began to report PTSD and resorted to drugs and alcohol to help. The Vietnam War left a stain on America’s record with an estimated 58,000 American soldiers that died or were missing during the war (History.com).

Works Cited

"55d. The Antiwar Movement." U.S. History Textbook (n.d.): 55-60.

Abernathy, Ralph. "The Vietnam War." The Sixties in America. Hackensack, New Jersey: Salem Press, March 1999. 753-755.

History.com. 2009. 03 April 2014 .

Library of Congress Catalog Record. The World Book Year Book. Chicago: Chicago, World Book - Childcraft International, 1962-.

Pendergast, Tom. "The Antiwar Movement." The Sixties in America Primary Sources. Thomson Gale, n.d.