Americanization and Vietnamization

Throughout the late 1950s to the mid 1970s, the United States was involved with the brutal, guerilla warfare controlled war that most people today know as the Vietnam War. America bravely entered and left the Vietnam War thanks to two programs. These two processes were Americanization and Vietnamization. It all started with Americanization and the fight to stop communism from spreading to international levels.

Americanization was the main part to John F. Kennedy’s reform program he presented in 1960 entitled the New Frontier (“New Frontier”). The goal of this program was to foster the development of capitalism and Americanization in foreign countries. In other words, Americanization was a continuation to President Truman’s Truman Doctrine by preventing communism and the domino effect. Kennedy’s program finally went into play because of Lyndon B. Johnson, who got Congress to pass it mostly because of the nation’s newly found grief from Kennedy’s assassination (“New Frontier”). Thanks to Americanization, the United States of America entered into the Vietnam War; a largely regretted decision made by America. This is so because America only intended on aiding the South Vietnamese with a mere 16,000 troops, but that 16,000 quickly turned into 184,000 in 1965, and that turned into 537,000 by 1968 (Simon). Many Americans grew angry with their government because of the major amount of troops they had sent into war. This caused large riots and major disagreements throughout the United States. The American government did not like it as well for many reasons. They were losing support from their citizens, they were losing many troops due to the North Vietnamese guerilla war tactics, and they had taken responsibility over a dispute that did not particularly concern them, besides the fact that they wanted to stop communism (“Richard Nixon”). The government argued that Vietnam was not their war, which led to the idea of abandoning it; Vietnamization ("Richard Nixon”).

In 1969, the United States was unsuccessful after a few years of trying to form a peace agreement with North Vietnam (“Richard Nixon”). Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam’s reply to America’s peace efforts “flatly rejected [Nixon’s] initiative” (“Richard Nixon”). The enemy refused “to show the least willingness to join [America and South Vietnam] in seeking a just peace” (“Richard Nixon”). To all of this disagreement, the only solution that still enabled America to successfully withdraw themselves from Vietnam was to set three principles towards Asian policy. Nixon’s three principles were that “…(1) the United States would keep all of its treaty commitments…(2) [America] would provide a shield if a nuclear power [were to threaten] the freedom of a nation allied with the U.S. or of a nation whose survival [America] considered vital to [American] security…(3) [America] shall furnish military and economic assistance when requested in accordance with [the] treaty commitments. But [America] shall look to the nation directly threatened to assume the primary responsibility of providing the manpower for its defense” (“Richard Nixon”). Along with these reinforcements, President Nixon passed the Vietnamization plan (“Vietnamization”). This process was the replacing of “American troops with South Vietnamese troops, to transfer military responsibility to South Vietnam” (“Vietnamization”). It also made war training and equipment increase dramatically for the South Vietnam troops. Over a short span of a few years, all of the American soldiers were successfully returned home; this sadly did not include the MIAs and POWs (The Americans). Shortly after America pulled out of the war, South Vietnam was quickly overthrown and turned into a communist country by the North Vietnamese and the Chinese.

In essence, American involvement was centered around Americanization and Vietnamization. The United States entered into Vietnam through Americanization and the trek to stop communism and the domino effect. After large increases in exported soldiers and massive riots, Nixon put into play Vietnamization, which got America out of the war and left the South Vietnamese in charge of themselves. Because of these policies, the United States was able to navigate themselves through the Vietnam War.

Worked Cited

           “New Frontier.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.
           “Richard Nixon: Vietnam War speech (1969).” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.

Simon, Dennis M. "The War in Vietnam, 1965-1968." SMU, Aug. 2002. Web. 13 Dec. 2011.

The Americans. Reconstruction to the 21st Century. Evanston, IL: McDougal Littell, 2003. Print. 

“Vietnamization.” American History. ABC-CLIO, 2011. Web. 12 Dec. 2011.