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The Domino Theory and American Involvement
In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower compared the situation of the countries in Southeast Asia to a row of dominoes: “You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.”

Until 1949, the United States was reluctant to respond to French
requests for intervention in Indochina. However, the ousting of the Kuomintang in China by Mao Tse-tung triggered fears of Communist aggression spreading to other parts of the world. It was widely believed that if South Vietnam fell, Thailand, Laos, Burma, Cambodia, and then even India and Japan would also turn Communist.

The Vietnam War became a losing battle for the United States becausefirst President Diem and later his successor President Nguyen Van Thieu did not have the support of the people. Both were dictators and ignored the country’s need for reforms to distribute land and improve the economy.

In addition, American forces were not differentiate between the civilian population and the Vietcong. (Members of the National Liberation Front of the South, which was allied to Ho Chi Minh’s government, were known as the Vietcong.) The loss of life and destruction to the land was heavy, and more and more southerners shifted their support to the Vietcong forces.

The success of the North Vietnamese Tet offensive of 1968, the
strengthening of guerrilla bases in the south, and the growing unpopularity of the war in the United States finally led to the United States’ decision to leave Vietnam. Saigon did not fall, however, until 1975.

The Vietnam War, which had dragged on for several years, came to an abrupt end in 1975. Long before then, many Americans were questioning the purpose of the war. People in both North and South Vietnam were traumatized by a war that had crippled the economy and separated families. They looked forward to the day when they could enjoy a meal without worrying about theirsafety. They dreaded waking up to bomb explosions, the cries of injured
children, and the sight of corpses being carried away. Most of all. they yearned for peace. The National Liberation Force (Vietcong) took Saigon in April 1975 with little resistance from the army of the Republic of Vietnam, thus ending the war and reunifying the country.

In July 1976, North and South Vietnam were reunified, and the country was renamed the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

English in the field of Political Science EN 327
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