War Is The Mental State Of The World

To end out my final term of junior year in humanities, this term we have been looking into policy but this unit it was specifically "war" policy. How legal (by constitutional standards) they are, why policies are made more rapidly during war, and what they may mean for the public. For the action project we need to write about a specific war policy and what effects it had in its war. So here is the "war" and a policy from it that I chose.

In 1947 the "Cold War" between the US and Soviet Union had begun. It happened not long after the conclusion of WWII primarily due to the American fear of the spread of communism. There were  other reasons like nuclear power being new to the world and distrust between leaders but the main reason the public was ready to enter this cold war was fear. This "battle" of one-upping each other happened through out communist land and US/UN territories. It was fought by means of showing greater strength, hence "one-upping", a great example of this would be the space race or the drilling race. The space race was started by the Union by being the first to explore space but America decided to "finish" the race by getting a man on the moon(which was successful). The drilling race was to see who could dig deeper into the ground(the union dug the "Kola Superdeep Borehole"). 

Though the Cold War there was never a direct confrontation between the US and Soviet Union when thinking of an armed struggle but there were plenty of instances of indirect confrontation. The Soviet Union would spread their influence and the US would stick to one thought process. To keep certain countries in place to avoid a "domino effect". This entailed "any means necessary." This leads me to the Vietnam War.  

U.S. Marines bombing bunkers and tunnels used by the Viet Cong, National Archives, 1966

Vietnam was split as a new leader was on the rise to take over from the French colonists that had ruled Vietnam for many years. His name was Ho Chi Minh and while he did have these goals that may normally have been supported by the US, he was communist. At this time the US didn't care what the reason or context was, if you were communist, you were an enemy used by the Soviet Union to spread their power. The US intervention with Vietnam started in 1963. The US (JFK) sent military advisors to aid the French Vietnam powers. This quickly changed from just advising to shooting. Though widely recognized is Linden B. Johnson for being the one to really get this war going after the Gulf of Tonkin incident(1963). Reportedly, US navy ships that were stationed in the gulf had come under fire by Vietnamese troops and the result came the Tonkin resolution. (Side note: The Gulf of Tonkin Incident never really happened, it was only reported as such.) 

That was a lot of context but here we are. The Tonkin resolution, my chosen policy, was introduced by LBJ and signed eight months later by congress. It allowed Johnson(and later Nixon) to take full unilateral control to resolve the issue by "any means necessary"(1964). This meant he had few restraints for war planning and extreme power, Johnson got to work. By 1965 troops were deployed and bombs were dropping as part of "Operation Rolling Thunder." Skipping ahead, the US has dropped more bombs than either side in WWII, napalm and agent orange are destroying forests, enemies, allies, and civilians. At this point the US citizens are heavily pushing that we end the war and leave Vietnam. It was because of this that Nixon was elected, claiming he had a plan to end the war. His "plan" was to leave the Vietnamese to fight alone, send even more bombs to rain on the land, and finally to cut a major enemy supply line. The abridged outcome is that the attempt at the supply line only destabilized Cambodia, the public had found out that the government had been lying for years about the real events going on in Vietnam, and both the public and military forces wanted to end it. Finally, years later in 1973, the US signed the "Paris peace agreement" to return US forces to America. Even later than that North Vietnam lost the war and the South made the whole country communist. Safe to say the US lost...bigtime.

If we look at the biggest starting policy, The Tonkin Resolution, and consider how legal this is, in my opinion it was a legal policy and the government had the power and right to issue it as well as the support of the people at least in the beginning. Later when both military personnel and citizens would protest, you may argue that the government should have listened and acted both accordingly and then faster with basis of the First Amendment. If we look at this from an emotional or moral standpoint, I believe it was an act solely made from fear with no good try at diplomacy or understanding and the heinous acts of both Congressional and Presidential power should be prosecuted and denounced.

To summarize, the Cold War was a large scale power struggle between the US and Soviet Union. There were plenty of confrontations whether it be proxy battles or races with The Soviet Union spreading the influence of communism and the US trying to halt the spread because of fear(the red scare). The Vietnam war is a prime example of the lengths the US would go to; no matter how horrendous. Lies spread by the US government only brought mistrust and great loss. The Vietnam War was unjust. The lies of the US were unjust. The US was as evil as they made their enemy to be. This was my final action project in my junior year and I appreciate the support of my piers and recognize their resilience in the quarantine. Have a good day, night, or whenever you read this.

-CDH     

Works Cited:

“MILITARY ADVISORS IN VIETNAM: 1963.” JFK Library, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library, www.jfklibrary.org/learn/education/teachers/curricular-resources/high-school-curricular-resources/military-advisors-in-vietnam-1963. Accessed 10 June 2021.

“Why Did the US Enter the Vietnam War?” ThoughtCo., www.thoughtco.com/why-did-us-enter-vietnam-war-195158. Accessed 10 June 2021.

“The Cold War in Asia: Crash Course US History #38.” Youtube, uploaded by CrashCourse, 15 Nov. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2IcmLkuhG0.