American History II students have been examining US involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1975. Recently we have looked at the rationales for sending troops to Vietnam.
EXTRA CREDIT: What rationale do you think was the most valid and why? What rationale do you think is the weakest and why?
The weakest rationale was the view that any dictator would end up being like Hitler and only wanting more and more if you appease them. (Munich Syndrome)
ReplyDeleteThe strongest rationale was probably the vast amount of resources found in Vietnam. Rubber, tin, tungsten, and oil were all very commonly used materials in the US and a lot of it was found in Vietnam.
-- Brandi
I agree that the strongest rationale was the value of the resources in Vietnam. With most of the worlds rubber and tin, we needed it to continue our production.
ReplyDeleteI think the weakest rationale was that if you don't stop communism, it will continue to spread to all the countries around it. (Domino effect)
Christian Langston
One of the strongest rationales was the crazy amounts of things that Vietnam provided like tin or rubber,which I didn't know.
ReplyDeleteThe weakest id have to say is the way we saw the spread of communism. We thought that if one place fell to communism the rest would,so ultimately the "domino effect".
-Brandon Caswell
I think one of the strongest rationales would have to be the resources found in Vietnam. For example 90% of the worlds supply of rubber and 60% of the worlds supply of tin. Including large supplies of tungsten and bulk of Asia's oil.
ReplyDeleteThe weakest in my opinion would have to be our view on communism. With the "for us or against us" mentality and attitude it just didn't really help us in the way it should have.
-Haley Lindgren
The strongest rationale is the resources in Vietnam, but when we tried to protect those resources we ended up destroying them.
ReplyDeleteThe weakest rationale is “we were protecting against communism” truth be told there was hardly any communism within Vietnam. “By putting boots on the ground we were going to save the country.” After thirty years of warfare; villages, rice fields and half of Vietnam's rain forests were destroyed. “We were helping the people.” 7.8 Million lives in Southeast Asia were lost. 5.1 million of them were Vietnamese, 1.1 million soldiers and 4 million civilians. With an additional 800,000 killed form chemical poisoning and more than 50,000 children were born with birth defects.
-Alexandra Bartmess