Phenomenon of escalation Essays

Phenomenon of escalation Essays Phenomenon of escalation Essay Phenomenon of escalation Essay The decision by President Johnson to go into war did not solely cause the war. There were certain events that led to this final decision. Even though sending the combat troops could have made the deepest cut, the former administrations before that of President Johnson’s has contributed cracks to the Vietnam-United States relations. Unfortunately, it was President Johnson who created the fatal blow. Logevall (1999) also claims that President Johnson’s decision was an aftermath of the decisions made by the presidents that preceded him. He found himself in a situation where there was no longer turning back. There is a floating promise to save South Vietnam, way from the Kennedy regime. It was a promise that had to be kept. Badly for President Johnson, his decision to send combat troops became the cue. Most important among these events was the repeated declination to undergo negotiations for peace. Vietnam repeatedly insisted on peaceful negotiations. The United States had other things in mind. It did not want to surrender to the Vietnamese. From the time of President Kennedy, the war is impending. It was waiting for a button to be pushed. This is exactly what President Johnson did. (Logevall 1999) It may seem that the Vietnam War was already waiting to happen even way before it actually started. The agitation given to Vietnam was too much for the Northerners to bear. They wanted to put the Southerners in the communist republic. The Southerners did not want this, and so they tried to ask assistance from the United States. That is when the Vietnam War was Americanized. Figuring this, it is not wholly America’s brainchild. Americanizing the Vietnam War is a work of many master minds. Conclusion Three years into the war in 1967, President Johnson was desperate and seeking for a way to end the war albeit in a diplomatic way. Ho Chi Minh wrote to President Johnson and claimed that they do not support the intervention that the United States has brought Vietnam. Instead of nurturing unity, Ho Chi Minh claimed that the United States brought division and aggression. (Homestead, n. d. ) In the process, President Johnson ordered many ceasefires. However, bombings continued at times when the ceasefires themselves ceased. Vietnam requested for bombings to be stopped for it to open itself in negotiations and diplomatic reconciliation, yet American did not bother. The United States continued on with its initiatives. (Homestead, n. d. ) It may seem that President Johnson was himself surprised with the extent of consequence that resulted from his political decisions towards Vietnam. It may be said that President Johnson could have found himself so suddenly in a situation where he can no longer turn back. Yet, it is also important to consider that the Phenomenon of Escalation is a fact that cannot be denied. There were many opportunities of diplomatic arrangements even before President Johnson which were put off and disregarded. As Logevall (1999) puts it, there was a choice. Presidents Kennedy and Johnson had the option to go into war or not. However speculative the reason may be in engaging into war, what is now clear is that the war has happened. Thousands of lives, both of the Vietnamese and the Americans, have suffered the consequences of death, trauma, and wounds. This being, it may not be right to put the sole blame on the Vietnam War to President Johnson. However, it will be sufficient to say that President Johnson was able to Americanize the Vietnam War. He was able to inject America, through its diligent and brave troops, in a war between torn Vietnam whose north end wanted to put the south end into communism- something the latter did not want. President Johnson also had many reasons in doing so. It was a personal decision, a decision that is influenced by President Johnson’s thinking that his personal failure is also America’s failure. The people also were not able to reinforce what they want to the president. The war happened before the people were able to enforce peace. Another reason is being put in a no-win situation, with which President Johnson had to choose the longer and harder way out. Lastly, the escalation phenomenon which the Vietnam war went through, finally leading to the Great War in President Johnson’s time, can also be accountable. For all the right and wrong reasons that he and the former presidents could have had, America has absolutely imprinted history in the pages of Vietnam’s history books. References Homestead. n. d. Retrieved October 28, 2007, from homestead. com/mywar/vietnam6. html Logevall, F. 1999. Choosing War: The lost chance for peace and the escalation of war in vietnam. (A review by Kimball, J. ) Retrieved October 28, 2007, from ess. uwe. ac. uk/GENOCIDE/reviewsw32. htm