The conflict of ideologies between the communist government of North Vietnam and
the capitalist backed government of South Vietnam stemmed from a difference in political
systems and fear. During WW II the United States allied with Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh to
push the army of the Japanese Empire from Vietnam, a French colony. However, once the
Japanese and Germans were defeated. The US found a new enemy in the communist empire of
the Soviet Union. As the capitalist countries of the west faced off against the USSR, a war of
ideas emerged, a Cold War. At the time, many Americans had strong anti-communist feelings
and feared that the Soviet Union wanted to spread their ideology across the globe, including
the United States. Indeed, an American envoy to the USSR, George F. Kennan, sent a telegram
to Washington D.C. from Moscow stating what he believed to be Stalin’s goal. “…it is desirable
and necessary that the internal harmony of our society be disrupted, our traditional way of life
be destroyed, the internal authority of our state be broken, if Soviet power is to be secure”
(qtd. in Appleby 534-535). Furthermore, the dread that communism might take over the world
seemed like a rational fear when China, the most populous nation in the world, fell to
communism in 1949. The capitalist-backed leader Chiang Kai-shek was defeated by the
communist forces of Mao Zedong (Chiang Kai). Therefore, in 1950 when the Vietnamese, who
were now fighting the French as they tried to reestablish their colony, fell under the influence
of communism, the United States decided to help France in order to prevent the spread of
communism across Southeast Asia. President Eisenhower articulated the danger of
communism by comparing Vietnam as the first in a series of nations that, like a row of dominos,
would succumb to the influence of communism (Domino Theory). This fear of a different
political system was used as the rationale for placing US troops on the ground in Vietnam to
battle the communists.
Works Cited
"Chiang Kai." Chiang Kai. History Learning Site, 14 Apr. 2008. Web. 14 Apr. 2014.
Appleby, Joyce Oldham. "The Cold War Begins." The American Vision: Modern times. Columbus,
OH: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2010. Print.
"Domino Theory." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2014.