Analysis of Americas Longest War: The United States in Vietnam :: Vietnam War Essays

Analysis of the Statess Longest state of war The United States in VietnamThe reports in this novel are prefaced with a quote by Robert Shaplen, which sums up the feelings of those Americans confused in the Vietnam conflict. He states, Vietnam, Vietnam . . .. There are no sure answers. In this novel, the author gives a detailed historical account of the happenings in Vietnam in the midst of 1950 and 1975. He successfully reports the confusing nature, proximity to the present and the emotions that still beat the conflict in Vietnam. In his journey through the years that America was involved in the Vietnam conflict, Herring seeks to integrate military, diplomatic, and political factors in such a way as to clarify Americas involvement and ultimate distress in Vietnam. Herring begins his account with a summary of the First Indochina War. He reports that the Vietnamese resisted French imperialism as persistently as they had Chinese. French colonial policies had transformed the Vietn amese economic and social systems, giving rise to an urban middle class, however the exploitation of the country and its people stimulated more radical revolutionary activity. Herring states that the revolution of 1945 was almost entirely the private creation of the charismatic leader Ho Chi Minh. Minh is described as a frail and gentle man who radiated warmth and serenity, however beneath this mild exterior existed a determined revolutionary who was willing to affiance the most cold- blooded methods in the cause to which he dedicated his life. With the counselor of Minh, the Vietminh launched as a response to the favorable circumstances of World War II. By the spring of 1945, Minh mobilized a base of great support. When Japan surrendered in 1945, the Vietminh filled the vacuum. France and the Vietminh attempted to negotiate an agreement, but their goals were irreconcilable. With all of this occurring in Vietnam, it was quail to draw attention from the United States. Herring r eports that President Franklin D. Roosevelt recognized that colonialism was luckless and that the US should identify with the Vietminh. In 1945, however, Roosevelt retreated from that earlier stance and endorsed a program in which colonies would be placed in trusteeship scarce with the approval of the mother country. After Roosevelts death in April 1945, the US adopted a stance even more favorable to the French at a lower place the rule of the new president Harry S. Truman. Herring states that the Truman administration had no interest in championing schemes of international trusteeship that would weaken and alienate the atomic number 63an states whose help we need to balance Soviet power in Europe(10).