How and why did the us become involved in Vietnam?

Answer 1

"Actually, the war was fought from 1960-1975.

The Americans joined the French in the war because they thought that it would keep Asia from becoming Communist."

Actually that's wrong, the war was fought fron 1965-to 1971.

They became involved due to the Domino theory, being that if Vietnam falls to communism, so will all the rest of the surronding Asian countries, so on and so forth. The Americans saw an ally in the french in the fight against communism, and supported them.

Answer 2

The United States did not want to see southeast Asia fall to communism. It feared South Vietnamâ??s inability to fight communist aggression, After the North Vietnamese attacked the USS Maddox in 1964, President Johnson became convinced South Vietnam could not win the war and US troops were then sent in to fight in the war.

Answer 3

One must understand the prevailing mentality and ideology of both the United States and the former Soviet Union immediately following World War II.

From lessons learned during World War II, Russia had become paranoid about the prospect of a preemptive attack from the US and its allies and as a result, invaded and conquered bordering European counties to act as a shield or buffer surrounding Russia. This was viewed by the US as Russian (Communism) expansionism.

The central goal of US policymakers with respect to Vietnam was to make sure that an independent socialist course of development would not succeed. US leaders relied on Cold War rhetoric about the communist monolith; but really feared that a "virus" of such independent development (the spread of communism) could infect the rest of Asia, perhaps even becoming a model for all the Third World. What might happen if all nations emerging from colonialism believed they had a right to decide their own futures, outside the US orbit?