Evaluating US Presidential Approaches to Vietnam War & Tet Offensive

This essay examines the Vietnam War through the policies of Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, highlighting the similarities and differences in their approaches to the conflict. It assesses the effectiveness of each president's strategy, particularly focusing on Nixon's Vietnamization policy and its impact on US involvement. The essay also delves into the Tet Offensive, detailing its strategic execution by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces and its profound effect on American public opinion and the scope of the war. It analyzes how media coverage of the Tet Offensive contributed to growing anti-war sentiment and influenced President Johnson's decision not to seek re-election. The analysis includes the military, political, and social ramifications of these key events, providing a comprehensive overview of the Vietnam War era and the challenges faced by US leadership.

Running head: AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY
AMERICAN MILITARY HISTORY
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Answer 1
President Eisenhower, In February 1955 sent the military of America consultants for
Vietnam to engage make to anti communist Diem's prepared power. Right when Diem
established the strategy of “Republic of Vietnam” which was later known as “South Vietnam” in
“October 1955”, President Eisenhower in a brief instant presented armed forces and fiscal
support to the new nation. In the month of July 1956, Diem by the U.S. strength denied to
partake in the joining races (Falk, 2017). The “Eisenhower affiliation” accepted that the
“communists” could have got the upper hand in the verdict by righteousness of the regularity of
their leader “Ho Chi Minh”. The next US President “John F. Kennedy” was a vigorous believer
in stopping socialism and “Domino Theory”. Kennedy, In his initial talk in January 1961, as
President made it unmistakable that he would go ahead with the arrangement of the past
President, “Dwight Eisenhower”, and strengthen the association of Diem in “South Vietnam”.
Kennedy comparatively ensured more protection and military exhortation to help design
“South Vietnamese Army”. Truly, America had given “$65 million” in military mechanical
assembly and “$136 million” in cash related manual for Diem's association by 1961 (Short,
2014). Amidst Kennedy's association, the “Strategic Hamlet Program” displayed by Diem and
strengthened by America barraged shockingly, and in this way, thronged a significant number of
“South Vietnamese” workers into sustaining the “Viet Cong”. Indeed, the measure of “Viet
Cong” stretched out hugely by “300% to 17,000” in only two years of time when the “Key
Hamlet” was in errand. Similarly, Kennedy basically expanded U.S. military counsels in “South
Vietnam to 16,000 by 1963 showed up contrastingly in connection to only 3,200 of each 1961”.

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Kennedy's association in like way viewed Diem's disguise of Buddhists after their open
challenges all through South Vietnam inferable from his religious bias and parcel.
As tainting, Buddhist emergency, and mounting triumphs by the “Viet Cong” disabled
Diem's association and undermined the reliability of “South Vietnam”, Kennedy curved up
instigated that Diem would never join “South Vietnam to battle against the Viet Cong. On
November 1, 1963, Kennedy absolutely ensured a shock to oust Diem only three weeks as of
now his end. Coming about to expecting the association, the next President Johnson hurried to
keep sustaining “South Vietnam” to fight against the “Viet Cong”. Toward the starting, Johnson
faltered to surrender American military to Vietnam as he understood that American forces
mediation may adversely impact his likelihood of captivating the 1964 decision. Certainly,
amidst his fight for Presidentship in 1964, he swore not to send “American youthful colleagues”
to “Vietnam and that South Vietnamese Army” anticipated that would fight to make sure its
nationhood. Richard Nixon held chair in 1969 with the accreditation of ensuring “peace with
respect” to the despised clash in “Vietnam”. His “mystery layout” to end the “Vietnam War”
included powerful taking back of the “U.S. troops” from the country as a vital piece of the
inferred “Vietnamization” program from June 1969 (Duiker, 2018). He additionally supplanted
the “military draft” with a lottery in December of that year. At the total of his first term as
president, Nixon made a basic visit to China in February took after by a “basic Anti-Ballistic
Missile Treaty” with the Soviets in May 1972. These pacifying step forward with China and
“Soviet Union” put weight on North Vietnam to organize truly and secured Nixon's exuberant
slide triumph in his re-race.
Answer 2

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Late in the month of “January, 1968”, in the midst of the “lunar new year” (or "Tet")
event, North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong powers pushed a sorted out strike against
different concentrations in “South Vietnam”. America. likewise, South Vietnamese troops
oversaw overpowering mishaps already finally rebuffing the communist snare. The Tet
Offensive accepted a fundamental part in deteriorating American open help for the war in
“Vietnam”. The first time of the trap began on end of January, when NLF controls at the same
time attacked different targets, for the most part occupied areas and regions with overpowering
American military proximity (Ang, 2013). The strikes on the noteworthy inner-city networks of
“Huế and Saigon” had a strong mental impact, as they exhibited that the NLF military were not
as feeble as the “Johnson Administration” had officially stated. The NLF even made sense of
how to break the outside divisions of the U.S. Department in “Saigon”. In spite of the way that
the essential time of the unfriendly transformed into the most acclaimed, a second stage also
moved concurrent assaults on tinier urban zones and towns on “May 4” and reached out into
June. A third stage began in “August” and continued going multi month and a half. In the months
that took after, U.S. additionally, “South Vietnamese” forces reoccupied the towns that the NLF
had moored through the traverse of the unfriendly, anyway they gained significant military and
customary native difficulties at the same time (Werner & Huynh, 2015).
Around the complete of the Tet Offensive, the two sides had proceeded with disasters,
and the two sides stated success. The U.S. moreover, “South Vietnamese military” response
completely wiped out the NLF controls and recouped most of the lost locale. Meanwhile, the Tet
Offensive incapacitated family unit support for the Johnson Administration as the striking giving
insights in regards to the “Tet Offensive” by the “U.S. media” cleared up to the USA opinion
that a general accomplishment in “Vietnam” was not imminent. Despite its staggering mishap

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toll, and its powerlessness to awaken expansive obstruction among the South Vietnamese, the
Tet Offensive wound up being a crucial achievement for the North Vietnamese.
Before Tet, Westmoreland and diverse operators of the Johnson association had been
attesting that the complete of the war was in find; now, unquestionably a long fight still lay
ahead. Westmoreland requested more than 200,000 new troops remembering the true objective to
mount a feasible counteroffensive, an uplifting that various Americans saw as a showing of
trouble (Logevall, 2014). As unfriendly to war estimation mounted on the “home front”, a
segment of Johnson's experts that had reinforced past “military” advancement in “Vietnam” now
fought for reducing down U.S. incorporation. On “March 31”, a trapped “President Johnson”
reported that he was confining the assaulting of “North Vietnam” to the district underneath the
twentieth parallel and wanting for courses of action to finish the war. Meanwhile, he declared
that he would not continue running for re-choice that November.

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Reference:
Ang, C. G. (2013). The Vietnam War from the Other Side. Routledge.
Duiker, W. J. (2018). The communist road to power in Vietnam. Routledge.
Falk, R. A. (2017). The Vietnam War and international law(Vol. 1). Princeton University Press.
Logevall, F. (2014). The origins of the Vietnam War. Routledge.
Short, A. (2014). The origins of the Vietnam war. Routledge.
Werner, J., & Huynh, L. D. (2015). The Vietnam War: Vietnamese and American Perspectives:
Vietnamese and American Perspectives. Routledge.