Vietnam: An American Ordeal Sixth Essay

Although Diem initially appeared to assist the Westerners in their efforts to install democracy in the country he proved to be corrupt, being more interested in his own well-being and in his financial situation than in conditions in the country.

The Vietnamese were determined to support theories relating to personal leadership because they could no longer accept being controlled by the French, the Japanese, or by the Americans. It was not necessarily a matter of who provided the most for the country at the time, but of who granted it independence. Because of the support it received from communist states in declaring its independence and because Western powers were against Vietnam's independence, the Vietnamese were sympathetic toward Ho Chi Minh.

Whereas the Vietnamese simply considered Ho Chi Minh and Ngo Dinh Diem to be individuals assisting them in their struggle to achieve independence, the Americans saw presidents Dwight Eisenhower and John Kennedy as extensions of the people, characters who would passionately fight for the benefit of the U.S. Eisenhower was reputed for his diplomacy and for the fact that he did not express a desire the position of the U.S. By getting involved in a foreign war that would further attract debates in regard to the Cold War. In contrast, Kennedy saw the involvement of U.S. troops in a foreign conflict as the best opportunity for the country to emphasis its power and better its relations with other countries in opposition of communism. Eisenhower was well aware that the American public expected him to improve the way the U.S. was perceived by the international public and thus feared that an intervention in Vietnam would result in failure, similar to how the French did not manage to expand their sphere of influence in the country.

"Liberty" was an essential matter both for the American public and its president in the early 1960s and it was this concept that backed Kennedy in expressing his desire to increase the number of Americans in Vietnam. For Kennedy, Vietnam seemed to be the best place for the U.S. To demonstrate its supremacy against communism. In an era when American foreign policy was focused on the country's relations with the Soviets, Kennedy did what everyone wanted from him-he attempted to stop the spread of communism. Even though Kennedy's attempts at serving his country appear to be more passionate than Eisenhower's, one can easily observe that the latter concentrated on having the U.S. lose as little as possible during the Cold War.

Works cited:

1. Moss, G. (2009). "Vietnam: An American Ordeal (6th Edition)." Prentice Hall.