Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - History Other US actions in Vietnam US actions in Vietnam The two viewpoints in the book, “Opposing Veiwpoints in American History” were about the US actions in the Vietnam. Were they justified or not? According to Lyndon B. Johnson U.S. actions were justified. Johnson became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The conflict in Vietnam was already in Vietnam when Johnson took over. A professor of history at United States International University in San Diego, Young Hum Kim, has a different viewpoint about the war. He felt that US actions were not justified and were seriously flawed. According to President Johnson (1965), the U.S. fought for many reasons. The object of war is “total conquest”, and the outcome is the works of peace. (pg. 289) He felt war was necessary to help save many people from brutal assassinations and kidnappings. Many woman and children were victims because their men were loyal to their government. Communism was taking over. “We are there because we have a promise to keep.” (pg290) Johnson felt that the United States had all the intention to help out the people of South Vietnam. “We will help defend what we helped build.” If not, it would look as if the U.S. was not reliable. If the United States breaks one promise, who’s to say they won’t break another. To break that promise is like putting this little nation in the hands of their enemy. This would not show loyalty to other nations,especialy South Vietnam, and it “We are also there to strengthen world order.” (pg290) If the U.S. were to back out on this war, other nations would see that their promise meant nothing, and they would not have any confidence in the U.S. What would the value of their commitments be to these other nations? President Johnson wanted to be trustworthy. If not, the result would have been definitely a bigger war. “We are also there because there are great stakes in the balance.” (pg290) Johnson felt that another reason for fighting was he wanted the people in Vietnam to go their own direction in life. To be able to choose which kind of life to lead. Some thought that if they would just stop fighting things would get better, but that would only lead to China going from one country to another. “We will do anything and everything to help, if it is absolutely necessary.” For example, President Johnson started to increase the response to the attacks on South Vietnam by making air attacks. This was only because what they were doing before the air attacks was not doing any good because the attacks on South Vietnam were increasing. Johnson felt that this would increase the confidence of the people in South Vietnam, as well as to convince the leaders of North Vietnam that the U.S. would not be defeated. They would not grow tired. They would not withdraw. (pg. 290) This would then show that the only way out is a peaceful Young Hum Kim had his views as well. For one, Kim feels that the U.S. put the containment wall in regions of Asia which were bound to fail. He felt that this was a bad plan. Second, Kim felt that the United States did not take Vietcong along with North Vietnam’s strength serious enough. The U.S. felt that they were stronger in all areas so why bother trying any harder. They didn’t think hard enough about how strong they really were. The third oversight that Kim saw was the fact that the U.S. did not see anything all right with being neutral. “If you are not with us, you are against us.” (pg. 293) He felt that all they were interested in was finding a way to see Communist Nations as being “evil.” The forth problem according to Kim is “The United States should realize that the independence and security of a nation do not always require Washington’s protection or intervention.” (pg294) Kim felt that the U.S. was too egotistical about their power and the way they used it. Finally, Kim felt that the U.S. jammed itself in the predicament to “carry on the struggle, so long as Communism exists in Asia...” (pg294) According to Kim no leader in his right mind would even think about sending millions of American troops to fight in China. In other words, I think that Kim feels that the U.S. sent troops somewhere where they really weren’t needed that bad. The U.S. just made a big deal out of something that wasn’t very big, the U.S. just made it worse. I also see President Johnson’s point when he says that “We will not break a promise...” I don’t think that any of the nations would take the U.S. serious if they didn’t follow through with their promises. I can see both sides, but to me I feel that President Johnson has more things that make sense than Kim. I feel that Kim is just a person that feels strongly against war that he has to make things a bigger deal. He is elaborating the story to make war a bad thing, which I fell it is. But sometimes we can’t go around it. Bibliography: Opposing Viewpoints in American History; volume II Greenhaven Press, inc San Diego, CA Word Count: 864
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