Was The Vietnam War Justified Essay

America became involved in the Vietnam War to stop the spread of communism by helping South Vietnam fight against North Vietnam, which was communist. Due to that, America’s involvement in the Vietnam war was not justified. American politicians and military generals did not conduct war properly. The war caused more domestic issues than there were prior to the war, such as shootings at universities during protests. America joined the war for imperialistic reasons - to help stop communism and promote democracy to other nations.

First, the Vietnam War was not conducted as it should have been by American politicians and military generals. One big example was the killing of three hundred forty-seven unarmed South Vietnamese citizens in My Lai. The

United States’ military did not know if any of the citizens were fighting with the Viet Cong, so they killed these people to reduce the amount of possible Viet Cong soldiers.

This emphasized that America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was not justified. War is not about killing innocent people who could potentially pose a threat to the soldiers. That meant, even if the American soldiers were being precautious for their safety, they had no proof that those they killed were Viet Cong soldiers. Additionally, the number of body counts were skewed during the war. When American soldiers died, the number body counts were reported lower than they really were. When soldier of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army died, the number of body counts were reported higher than they really were. For instance, if three American soldiers saw one Viet Cong soldier die, then, the report would say that three Viet Cong soldiers died. Lying about the number of body counts to make the America seem more successful was a misconduct committed by American politicians and military generals during the Vietnam War. Not only were they lying to their country, they were making the war seem as if it was going

to be over sooner than it truly was going to be. This was called the “credibility gap.” This tarnished President Lyndon B. Johnson’s public image since he insisted that those “successes” were to be told to the American citizens. It was worse that the American politicians, along with the military generals, knew about the body count statistics being skewed yet continued to lie to American citizens. Lying during a war is not acceptable hence America’s lying contributed to why its involvement in the Vietnam War was not justified.
Furthermore, the Vietnam War engendered more domestic issues, such as shootings at universities. For example, when President Richard Nixon drafted more soldiers to invade Cambodia to bomb the North Vietnamese, it led to a protest at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio. The governor of Ohio sent National Guardsmen to the university. However, there was a feud between some of the National Guardsmen and some of the students. The National Guardsmen shot at a crowd of students, killing four of them. A similar situation happened at Jackson State University in Jackson, Mississippi, which resulted in the deaths of two students. Not only did these young adults have the right to assemble under the rights listed in the First Amendment, they were killed for protesting against a war that was harming a lot of American citizens who were being drafted. Those that were drafted were typically men that were eighteen or nineteen years old. They were fighting for a government in which they were not represented in since they were not twenty-one years old, precipitating more protests. Notwithstanding, one way to get out of the war was by enrolling into college. However, poor men, especially those who were African American, did not have enough money to enroll in college. This made the war more of a racial issue, dividing the country even more. There was a substantial increase in the amount of African Americans that were soliders in comparison to World War II. This made it seem America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was unjust due to the racial injustice and immorally drafting young men who were not even represented in the country’s government. American citizens have no say in who was drafted to fight in the war.
Moreover, the United States joined the war for imperialistic reasons, including trying to stop the spread of communism due to Dwight.

D. Eisenhower’s Domino Theory - the fear that once one country became communist, the surrounding countries, eventually America, would become communist, too - as well as promoting democracy. Imperialism is when a country, in this case America, uses either diplomacy or military force to extend a country’s power. America was not extending its power, but it was advocating democracy through military force against North Vietnam to other countries. In order for the war to be justifiable, there should have been a good reason as to why America would join a war. The main reason to join a war was if an ally needed America’s aid or if another country posed a threat to the safety of American citizens. Nonetheless, imperialism was not a just reason to join a war. The Vietnam War was civil war that did not relate to the United States. By putting America in a war that truly was not the country’s war to fight, over fifty-eight thousand Americans were killed and over a million were wounded. Many of those soldiers suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. By America becoming involved in the Vietnam War, people were hurt, and those who lost their lives would have lived if the United States was not a part of the war. This made America’s involvement in the Vietnam War not

justified.
Overall, the American involvement in the Vietnam War was not justified. American politicians and generals did not conduct the war properly. The war caused more domestic issues, and America only joined the Vietnam War for imperialistic reasons. Over fifty-eight thousand soldiers died and over one million were harmed for a civil war that America did not need to be involved in. American families lost their loved ones. Those that did not die still suffered either physically, mentally, or both. America’s involvement in the Vietnam War was and most definitely will never be considered just.