Kennedy as a cause of the Vietnam War
- Created by: Alasdair
- Created on: 20-06-17 21:27
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- Kennedy as a cause of the Vietnam War
- Kennedy supported Containment, attacked Truman for losing China, believed in Domino theory, critical of Eisenhower for allowing rise of Communism in Asian countries
- 1960, campaigned to get US moving again, especially against Communism
- President and his advisors
- Sensitivity about age (only 43) led Kennedy to be assertive in foreign affairs
- Prisoner of his own CW rhetoric campaign meaning he was bound to increase defence expenditure and foreign involvement
- Khrushchev made speech before Kennedy's inauguration about triumph of Communism in third world
- Eisenhower had warned Kennedy any retreat in Vietnam would meet with Republican criticism
- McNamara and Rusk
- Robert McNamara
- Was Secretary of Defence (Kennedy frequently looked to him for advice because he was impatient with State Department and eager to get America moving again)
- Close friendship with Kennedy, powerful personality coupled with quieter Rusk made him formidable figure in cabinet
- Defense policy
- Encouraged US ground troops to be sent to VT
- Advocated large scale bombing
- Solutions always military
- Statistics mean everything to him, more men, more powerful weapons
- Described by NY Times as eliminating human factor and always believing he was right, even though he lacked historical knowledge
- Forgot poorly armed men would still fight to death for independence
- By 1967, realised USA was wrong
- Both Johnson and Kennedy took his advice
- Dean Rusk
- Secretary of State
- More modes, less formidable, opinions overlooked
- Deliberately colourless public persona
- Crusading president out to make a name and McNamara who's never wrong always going to be a bad combination
- Robert McNamara
- Cuba, Laos and Vietnam
- Impacted on policy and Vietnam (events in Laos)
- Both Ciba and Laos slowly show Kennedy needs an outright victory in Vietnam (e.g. Bay of Pigs Disaster in Cuba and supposed neutrality of Laos
- Suggested Hawks would only agree to neutrality in Laos in return for activist policy
- More suitable for US intervention than Laos in that it had long coastline where US naval supremacy could be brought to bear
- Many Americans thought Diem had SV under control and democracy seemed to have good chance of working there
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