Term Paper on "Vietnam Conflict ) To Viet Nam Enumerated"

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Vietnam Conflict ) to Viet Nam enumerated in Loren Baritz' BACKFIRE. Or, using those reasons why we did what we did and Baritz' tripartite scheme that says the U.S. goes to war because of its (1) mythology, (2) its reliance on technology, and (3) its bureaucracy, attempt to answer a question already raised by a student in this course: "When should the U.S. go to War?" Or starting with Baritz' notions about technology, examine the function of the helicopter in DISPATCHES-make connections between and among. QUAGMIRE may well be a source in ANY paper for this course, or KIEU, or H&E or C&M or PA.

Analysis on The Truman Doctrine -- 1947

In the aftermath of the Second World War, tensions still loomed on as some of the major world countries sought to extend their territories in a struggle for a balance of power. One such example was Russia, seeking to expand her influence of Communism. In 1946, George F. Kennan, the then United States ambassador in Moscow, wrote a 'long telegram' arguing that the United States should try to stop the spread of Communism. Introducing his concluding statement, Kennan writes:

"Our first step must be to apprehend, and recognize for what it is, the nature of the movement with which we are dealing. We must study it with same courage, detachment, objectivity, and same determination not to be emotionally provoked or unseated by it, with which doctor studies unruly and unreasonable individual."1

The British, who could no longer sustain their soldiers fighting Communist rebels in a civil war in Greece, announced the withdrawal of their troops in February 1947. This prompted President Harry S. Truman of the

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United States to address a joint session of Congress as well as the rest of the nation on 12 March 1947. This became known as "The Truman Doctrine," a "…pronouncement by U.S. Pres. Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947, declaring immediate economic and military aid to the governments of Greece, threatened by Communist insurrection, and Turkey, under pressure from Soviet expansion in the Mediterranean area."2

This declaration was aimed at containing or stopping Russia from grabbing Greece, Turkey and other possible smaller countries in the region. Truman's argument, based on freedom and liberty, was that the U.S. felt obliged to come to the aid of those in need. He says: "I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."3 America had to get involved in European affairs and help democratic countries.

Origin of the Truman Doctrine

Anxious about the of the Soviet Union's growing regional influence in the post World War Two era, the United States, in a cable by the State Department in February 1946 to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, sought to know more about Russia's position on five key regional and policy issues.4 This initiative later led to what became known as the 'Long Telegram' which set the pace for the Truman Doctrine as a means of containing Russian expansion in the region and possibly beyond. The imminent threat which had to be dealt with was that the Soviet Union was most likely to take over Greece since it became too costly for the British to continue sporting the civil war there. Consequently, other neighboring countries would be swallowed as well. This would eventually lead to Russian domination and the spread of Communism. Thus in Congress, President Truman had to spell out the terms of his plan to halt Russia.

Background of the Regional crisis

During the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies. Right after the hostilities, U.S. suspicion of the Russian Federation began to grow as the latter's delayed exit from Iran coupled with her imperialism in Eastern Europe, preceded by a breakdown of Allied relations in Germany gave President Truman substantial reason to become apprehensive. In addition, the ideological differences behind Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech exposed an open and physical separation in Europe between the West and the East symbolized in the Berlin Wall. Therefore, the rising trouble in Greece and Britain's withdrawal notice followed by the Greek Prime Minister's visit left Truman without any choice other than to begin looking for means and ways to stall Russia.

Armed with inside first hand information and details about Russia's behavior from the 'long telegram', Truman was ready to make his move. Based on Kennan's recommendations, the President spelt out a containment policy that sought to curb both the Soviet Union's ideological and geographical advances. But then Greece and Turkey also had long standing discrepancies that had to be erased. The best way to bring them together would be to offer them assistance in a collective package. America was smart enough to play on the domino effect policy given Turkey's strategic geographical location in the region. By reaching out to these two vital countries on time and assuring stability in the region, the Soviet Union would eventually be contained.

Terms of The Truman Doctrine

All said and done, on May 22, 1947, the President signed the act into law. Prior to this he had request about $400 million in aid for both Greece and Turkey. Following the devastation of both countries after the war, there was an urgent need for reconstruction which if the U.S. could not provide, Russia would have done so. Hence the pledges of economic and military assistance to countries threatened by Communism in any way. Greece was bound to receive $300 million, while $100 million was destined for Turkey. The said amounts would be used for rebuilding social and economic infrastructures while military personnel would oversee projects and support the training of soldiers. This immediate backing would in the short-term replace British help while in the long-term it would not only stop Russia, but also place America in a top leadership position for the next forty years or so.

Brief Survey of the situation in Greece and Turkey

Greece and Turkey were two very important countries in determining not only the future of the region, but also that of America and her allies in terms of regional influence, political, economic and military leadership. Thus President Truman had to do all in his power and act as fast as he could to save the precarious situation in the area.

Greece

The situation in Greece was an insecurely degrading one. By December of 1944, the civil war was in its second phase. So far, the British had succeeded in averting the capture of Athens by the leftist National Liberation Front, backed by the Greek Communist Party. Marshall Tito from next door Yugoslavia was the brain behind them and between 1946 and 1949 in the third stage of the conflict they were sponsoring guerrilla forces against the post 1946 globally acknowledged Greek government. Whereas the rebels were very well funded, the loyalist received little or no help from Moscow. By this time in 1946, back at home, the British government was also facing financial difficulties with a reclining economy. They could no longer stretch out their already limited means. So they had to seek U.S. intervention. As such, in response, the U.S. came up with the Congress backed Truman Doctrine that granted Greece $400 million. The government forces finally prevailed in the end.

Turkey

On the Turkish front, Josef Stalin wanted some measure of control of the critical passage of Dardanelles that lay between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Being such a sensitive area in the region likely to fall into the wrong hands, especially with the British pulling out, the U.S. had to also step in with military and economic aid of $100 million to protect Turkish interests over the zone in question. By doing this, the U.S. was sure that stability would return and remain in the district.

The Policy of Containment

The major feature of the Truman Doctrine was the policy of 'containment'. Though President Truman did not directly mention it in his address to Congress and the nation suppression of Russian advancement was the core of his message. Barton J. Bernstein tells us that

"The containment doctrine, with its ambiguities and imprecision, was a major strategy and the guiding conception in American foreign policy from shortly after World War II until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 -- 1991, and some might argue that containment remained a policy into the twenty-first century for the United States in dealing with communist regimes in Cuba, North Korea, and China. In its most general form, containment denotes the American effort, by military, political, and economic means, to resist communist expansion throughout the world."5

The guiding principle of containment was one that would last until the late 1980s employed by successive U.S. presidents to continue restraining Communism in Russia and beyond, thus maintaining America at the top, especially abroad. It has its basis from the 'long telegram' from George F. Kennan, the then U.S. ambassador… READ MORE

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click EWRT 2 (64Z,65Z) - Swensson, 11S

find research paper @13 June - 19 June

EWRT2 RESEARCH PAPER: Critical Thinking about the Viet Nam Conflict

Size

Minimum 2000 words with at least six references (WIKIPEDIA is not acceptable as a reference--it is more myth than fact on the topic of Viet Nam) including at least one reference from the Internet and one reference from the Apocalypse, Unit 5, Logic. Posting, hard copy, web page, or email acceptable. If you include pictures and appendices, hard copy or web page may be your medium of choice. The medium is not important; the quality of the research and the argument will decide the grade. Early on in the quarter you should decide on a topic that interests you, and your choice of topic will drive your selection of optional books and movies during the quarter.

The joy of research comes from restriction, narrowing down to a very small topic, and researching deeply and imaginatively into it, and thinking deeply about it. You then organize an argument and document it, following the principles of Units 3, 4, 5, & 6 of the Apocalypse.

I encourage you to peer edit another paper, and have your own paper peer edited, according to the principles in Unit 9. For those of you who live in the area, we have a wonderful collection of 3000 books (and magazines and 1000 videotapes) on the Viet Nam Conflict in the DeCillis Collection, 2nd floor of the Learning Center. Mr. DeCillis is also available to assist you in finding references; his email is decillis_collection@hotmail.com

Find a topic, do some research, narrow that topic from your evidence, research more narrowly and then organize an argument. Also see the research topics on the Vietnam Conflict Research Portal found on the Internet at: http://www.deanza.edu/faculty/swensson/ewrt2vn.html.

General Topics:

A. Find one argument in ***** Luther King*****'s seminal antiwar sermon *****"A Time to Break Silence,*****" and argue the reliability (See Unit 5 for this definition-an argument is reliable when we are sufficiently convinced of its truth to believe it or act upon it.) of that argument. Examples might be MLK*****'s claim that Ho Chi Minh*****'s land reform was benevolent, that the US set up *****"concentration camps,*****" or that the poor bore a disproportionate share of the burden of the war. Some Vietnamese students have used their grandparents as sources on land reform-think imaginatively. For the sermon see: http://www.deanza.edu/faculty/swensson/king.html.

B. Analyze a major work, again using outside references in addition to that work. Examples of major, outside works, are included in the Supplemental Reading List for the course, such as:

Neil Sheehan*****'s A BRIGHT SHINING LIE

Phil Caputo*****'s A RUMOR OF WAR

Loren Baritz*****' BACKFIRE

Prochnau*****'s ONCE UPON A DISTANT WAR (The media in VN)

THE DEER HUNTER

APOCALYPSE NOW (REDUX)

GO TELL THE SPARTANS

C. Do an analysis of ONE of the ten links (see the Overview Power Point Presentation on the Vietnam Conflict ) to Viet Nam enumerated in Loren Baritz*****' BACKFIRE. Or, using those reasons why we did what we did and Baritz*****' tripartite scheme that says the US goes to war because of its (1) mythology, (2) its reliance on technology, and (3) its bureaucracy, attempt to answer a question already raised by a student in this course: *****"When should the US go to War?*****" Or starting with Baritz*****' notions about technology, examine the function of the helicopter in DISPATCHES-make connections between and among. QUAGMIRE may well be a source in ANY paper for this course, or KIEU, or H&E or C&M or PA.

D. Argue a contribution of a cultural group to the Viet Nam Conflict. Examples might include Women in Viet Nam, Hispanics in Viet Nam, African-Americans in Viet Nam, Filipinos, Puerto Ricans, Koreans, or Native Americans. It will, of course, be necessary to RESTRICT within this topic say to Nurses, the PHILCAGV (Philippine Civic Action Group, Vietnam), or the Lone Mountain Apaches.

E. Examine the role of the Media in Viet Nam. There are hundreds of available sources on this topic, but some which come immediately to mind are ONCE UPON A DISTANT WAR, QUAGMIRE, DISPATCHES, THE GREEN BERETS, Malcolm Brown*****'s RED SOCKS AND MUDY BOOTS; there are many books that address this topic in the DeCillis Research Book Collection.

F. A comparison argument (or contrast, but not both) between a limited aspect of the Viet Nam Conflict and our Conflict in Afghanistan.

G. Select any limited topic of interest to you about the Viet Nam Conflict and submit (via email) a written outline of your argument. I will be glad to help you with sources; that process can start as soon as you begin to think about a topic. Email me @ ewrit2@gmail.com

One example of Process

One morning I was reading a detailed chronology of the early years of American involvement in a book published in 1965. There I read that on 15 November, 1963, *****"a US military spokesman in Saigon reports that 1000 servicemen will be withdrawn from Viet-Nam, beginning December 3*****" (Raskin and Fall 393). I had always thought that this decision was Top Secret and contained within National Security Memorandum 263, and would have been declassified after the off year election. Recall that Diem was assassinated on 1 November, Kennedy on 22 November. Kennedy, who was a Democrat, was in Texas campaigning and his decision to withdraw troops was classified so that he would not be accused of being soft on Communism. An examination of this critical period and decision would make an interesting research paper. Oliver Stone made a movie with his hypothesis (JFK). What is yours? Well, you would have to do some initial research. I would start with books on JFK*****'s involvement in Viet Nam. I would also go to the WEB. Note how small my area of focus is. There is great JOY in doing narrow research. It is how we generate new knowledge.

One quarter I had a student who did a research paper on what contributed to the American massacre at My Lai. She did original research, much of it by email, with historians, *****s, Viet Nam Veterans, and others. Much of the research was open to the class, on the listserv. In her final paper she disagreed with a major author who had sent her his thoughts on why My Lai had happened. It was a splendid paper. Yours will be too-if you find a small topic that creates passion. I will certainly take papers on the antiwar movement in the US, or Japan; I will even take papers on *****'Hanoi *****' Fonda.

And if you have a relative who served in the Vietnam Conflict (or lived in Vietnam during *****"The American War*****") see me about doing a first person interview.

I AM PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN INTERVIEWS WITH FORMER ARVN MEMBERS.

WORKS CITED

Raskin, Marcus G. and Bernard B. Fall. THE VIET-NAM [sic] READER: ARTICLES AND DOCUMENTS ON AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY AND THE VIET-NAM CRISIS. New York: Random House, 1965.

NOTE: you must incorporate the works from the course into your papers, as discussed above. And ALL of your research MUST be documented in accordance with the principles of good documentation discussed in Unit 6. Any student who passes off the work of others as her/his own will receive an F on the paper. I have failed students in the past for this reason. I put your web work into search engines. I encourage you to work with each other, even though you are writing separate papers. In your Works Cited (See Unit 6) include a statement regarding with whom you worked and for how long.

Do NOT even cause me to question your work. Stay Honest!!! -- JKS

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