How did the US involvement in Southeast Asia impact the US political climate in the 1950s?

Answer 1

Well it helped the red scare along if that helps any. people became severely anti-communist and those who ran for office had "ousted" some people as communists, or accused the person they were running against of either being communist or supporting communism. McCarthy, if you know him, used this trick (claiming certain government officials and public office holders were communists) to get great political power.

Answer 2

In the 50's, South East Asia was the battle ground in the Cold War between Communism and the West. China turned Communism in 1949, then Korea was divided followed by Vietnam. The U.S. was involved to prevent more countries falling to Communism in Southeast Asia like the Domino Theory and therefore it created a political climate of Freedom and Democracy vs Communist ideology.