The weakness of the Diem government was a significant reason

for the US getting involved in Vietnam. It is the basis for their

involvement. Historians such as Bircher and May agree with this
statement. However, some historians such as Walsh and Culpin
think that other factors such as the US' fear of communism, the
Domino theory and the Gulf of Tonkin incident are the reason.
Nevertheless, I still think that the weakness of the Diem
government was the most important reason for American
involvement in Vietnam.
The Gulf of Tonkin incident does not have a great significance as
to why America got involved in the conflict of Vietnam. However,
it is the spark that ignited their incentive to get militarily involved
in the conflict. According to Waugh and Wright, the Gulf of
Tonkin incident was when on August 2, 1964, the US Maddox was
fired at by North Vietnamese patrol boats...there was a second
alleged attack and President Johnson was able to use these attacks
to persuade Congress to support greater US involvement. This
encouraged America to retaliate and as a result came the 'Tonkin
Resolution' which meant that 'Johnson could take the USA into
full-scale war if he felt necessary' (Waugh and Culpin, 1996) This
brought America into military conflict in Vietnam because before
the incident South Vietnam and Communist North Vietnam
already had high tension levels between them and by America
getting themselves involved in the conflict it heightened the
tensions even more because by sending reinforcements to the
South Vietnamese army and combat forces to drop bombs on
North Vietnam, also known as 'Operation Rolling Thunder', led to
the US getting involved inVietnam. This shows that the Gulf of
Tonkin did not have a great significance. All four historians agree
with this as they clearly state that President Johnson was pushing
American involvement in the conflict in Vietnam by retaliating
and taking advantage of the 'Tonkin Resolution' by sending actual
troops to try to overthrow the Communist North Vietnam.

Furthermore, another factor as to why the US got involved in the

conflict in Vietnam increased is because of their fear of
communism. Their fear of communism was increased due to
China falling into communism in 1949. Soon, their fear
heightened due to McCarthyism and the 'Red Scare'. According to
Ben Walsh, In 1950, Joseph McCarthy became famous for his
headline claiming that he had a list of 200 communists in the State
department when actually he had not found any of them (Walsh,
2001). This popularity boost had Republican senators backing him
up and during the election, they won. McCarthy then used his
committee and turned them into a weapon by making America fear
and hate communism. Thus began the 'Red Scare'. Edward J.
Murrow agrees with this - No one man can terrorise a whole
nation unless we are all his accomplices. which perfectly
summarises what Mccarthyism was and how the 'Red Scare' was
born. By McCarthy making America fear communism this shows
their fear of communism. This then led to a bigger action 'due to
their fear of communism, President Harry S. Truman established
the Truman Doctrine in 1947 to contain communism in Eastern
Europe. The US tried to contain communism by giving the world a
choice between communist tyranny and democratic freedom. Ben
Walsh supports this view - the USA would send troops to
countries to help any country being threatened by communism so
that communists should not be allowed to gain any more territory
(2001) They also executed methods such as the Marshall Plan, 'by
encouraging prosperity the plan would weaken attraction of
communism.' (Walsh, 2001) to try to prevent communism
spreading to Greece and Turkey. This shows that America's fear of
communism gave them an extra push to be more involved in
Vietnam conflict to contain communism before it gets out of
control.
Moreover, the next factor as to why `america became involved in
Vietnam was due to their 'containment of communism' policies
and the domino theory which directly affects South-East Asia. The

domino theory is the idealogical action that 'if one country fell into
communist control, the country next to it would soon fall too,
followed by the next like a row of dominoes. (Josh Brooman)
the domino theory indicates to the Americans that if communism
continues, they would become affected too like being infected by
a contagious disease. With the fear of Vietnam turning into a
communist country due to the domino theory, the US government
involved themselves in Vietnam by fully supporting an anticommunist politician, Ngo Dinh Diem. As Walsh and Culpin state,
'Americans were determined to resist the spread of communism in
Vietnam which they saw as the first domino in the row.'(1996) this
closely links to the Truman doctrine, where the USA would send
political, military and economic aid to countries, mainly in Eastern
Europe, to contain communism. They were working on containing
communism in Turkey and Greece but China and North Korea
turned communist and their fear of South-East Asia falling into
communism heightened since their governments are mostly
corrupt and/or weak. So they started with Vietnam who already
has a communist leading the North. 'President Eisenhower was
determined to prevent the spread of communism to South
Vietnam. He particularly feared that the joint elections would lead
to the election of Ho Chi Minh who wanted a united communist
Vietnam. If South Vietnam became communist, other Asian
countries would follow.'(Waugh and Wright, 2010) All three
historians agree that the domino theory was why America decided
to involve themselves in the conflict in Vietnam as they evidently
state that since big Asian countries, like China and North Korea,
fell into communism if South Vietnam falls too then all Asian
countries will follow. So they try to 'contain' it with such policies
like the Truman Doctrine. This conveys to us that the domino
theory had a massive impact on how America dealt with Vietnam
and them containing communism. However, it is not the most
important factor but it is definitely a crucial factor for the
involvement of America in the conflict of Vietnam.
Which brings me to the final factor, that is probably the most

important factor and has such an immense significance that

America had to engage themselves in the Conflict in Vietnam. The
weakness of the Diem government. During the Geneva agreement
of 1954, it was decided that Vietnam would be temporarily
divided along the 17th parallel into North and South Vietnam and
that there would be early elections in July 1956 for the whole of
Vietnam and to reunite the country.(Waugh and Wright, 2010) The
South Vietnamese, who were Republicans, could not resist
communism without help as their government was corrupt and
their military weak. Bircher and May support this view American commander reported...the South Vietnamese army
(ARVN) were 'ill-equipped local militia who were more often than
not killed asleep in their defensive positions.' US advisers
believed...good government and an efficient, large scale war
would defeat the Vietcong. (2010) So, the USA helped South
Vietnam by making sure the new Republic of Vietnam was led by
someone who was severely anti-communist therefore instigating
the on-going conflict in Vietnam as North Vietnam was led by a
communist leader. 'The Diem government was weak and corrupt
because a Catholic ruled the largely buddhist population.' (Kelly
and Lacey, 2001) which led them into their corruption because
they were not popular to Buddhist Vietnamese residents who made
up most of South Vietnam. The USA became involved by sending
Diem military advisers with lots of equipment for combat to help
the army fight the Vietcong because if they had not, South
Vietnam would have fallen to communism. Also, the lack of the
promised election in the Geneva agreement was because America
knew that their only republican hope, Diem, would lose brutally to
Minh. This also shows America's fear of communism. Waugh and
Wright support this view - USA had no intention of following the
Geneva agreement. (2010) This shows that they had to continue
with their support and give troop numbers support to prevent the
South Vietnam from falling into communism therefore getting
America involved in the conflict in Vietnam.
Overall, I think the most important factor as to why America got

involved in Vietnam is because of the weakness of the Diem

government. Since the Diem government was hated, the residents
were tempted to turn communist and if South Vietnam fell into
communism all other Asian countries would fall too, aka the
domino theory. Due to America's fear of communism, they did all
that they could to prevent the overthrow of the Diem government
and contain the spread of communism once and for all. If the
Diem government was strong and powerful then they would not
need America's help but since they are weak and corrupt, america
had to involve themselves into Vietnam and consequently
involving themselves in the conflict as well.