Assignment task: Going to War in Vietnam
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things: the decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth a war, is much worse." - John Stewart Mill, British Philosopher and Economist
Many citizens believe that going to war is a nation's most important decision. Certainly, the War in Vietnam was considered a major decision. The Constitution, Article II, makes the president of the United States " commander-in-chief" of the military, and Article I states that the Congress has the power "to declare war." Congress authorized the Vietnam War without actually declaring war. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was used by President Johnson to persuade Congress to take this action. How should the United States decide to wage war, and under what set of circumstances? Need Assignment Help?
No war in United States history is more controversial than is the Vietnam War. Some believe it was the wrong war.
General of the Army, Omar Bradley, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, gave testimony before the Congress May 15, 1951 about extending the Korean War into China, and delivered an often quoted statement, "Red China is not the powerful nation seeking to dominate the world. Frankly, in the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, this strategy would involve us in the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy.
When John F. Kennedy was campaigning for the presidency, he delivered a speech October 13, 1960, on the most divisive issue of the day, the War in Vietnam, and he resurrected the Omar Bradley quote: "Should I become President... I will not risk American lives... by permitting any other nation to drag us into the wrong war at the wrong place at the wrong time through an unwise commitment that is unwise militarily, unnecessary to our security and unsupported by our allies."
The same quote was used by both Howard Dean and John Kerry in their run for the presidency 2004 regarding the Iraq War.
NOTE:
In "I Didn't Know That..." Module 6 "Why War?" there is a discussion of the "Just War Tradition" that may help you reflect on this topic of discussion.
John Stewart Mill offers another point of view:
"When a people are used as mere human instruments for firing cannon or thrusting bayonets, in the service and for the selfish purposes of a master, such war degrades a people. A war to protect other human beings against tyrannical injustice; a war to give victory to their own ideas of right and good, and which is their own war, carried on for an honest purpose by their free choice, - is often the means of their regeneration. A man who has nothing which he is willing to fight for, nothing which he cares more about than he does about his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. As long as justice and injustice have not terminated their ever-renewing fight for ascendancy in the affairs of mankind, human beings must be willing, when need is, to do battle for the one against the other."
Source: "The Contest in America," Fraser's Magazine (February 1862); later published in Dissertations and Discussions (1868), vol.1 p. 26
Directions: Read the following article:
Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War. (n.d.-b).
("Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War," n.d.-b)
Determine your point of view on this question:
Why did the United States decide to go to war in Vietnam and was it justified? Support your conclusion using factual evidence from your reading.