Inevitability Of Americanization Of The Vietnam War, Spring 2005

Andy Wilson March 30, 2005 Position paper

Issue 15 Issue 15 addressed the question of whether or not the Americanization of the war in Vietnam was inevitable. Professor Brian VanDeMark argues that Lyndon Johnson was a prisoner of America’s global containment policy and because he did not want to appear weak or endanger his Great Society reforms. H.R. McMaster believes that Vietnam was simply a human failure on the part of Johnson and his chief military and civilian advisers. I believe that VanDeMark is correct in his theory of American involvement in Vietnam being inevitable. Johnson was only carrying out policy that had been in place since the Truman administration and that was of course the Truman Doctrine. The Truman doctrine stated that it was the job of the U.S. to stop the spread of Communism around the world at any cost. This policy led to American involvement in Korea, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Vietnam. At the time of Johnson’s presidency America was committed to helping the South Vietnamese, due in large part to the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations that sent equipment and advisors to Vietnam. I therefore believe that the war was inevitable because Johnson was only carrying out a policy that had been in affect since Truman and by pulling support and not escalating the war Johnson flirted with squandering American investments in Vietnam.