Why was the United States fighting in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia?

Question

What were America’s political and economic interests in this area and how did they affect the countries involved, especially Cambodia?

Answer 1

Allegedly, the US was fighting Communism, as they feared the so-called Domino Effect (if one country in a reason becomes Communist, then others around it will fall like dominos).

There was also SEATO, the South East Asian Treaty Organization, that said the US agreed to help any South Eastern Asian nation that had signed the treaty, if they were attacked.


There are also those that feel the US has deliberately stayed at war "somewhere" in the world contnually since WWII in order to keep the economy flowing.

Answer 2

I'm Vietnamese so I think I can answer this question. I don't think the US fighting in Laos and Cambodia (I haven't heard about this information, but may be I was wrong, sorry).
From 1949 to 1954, the State of Vietnam had partial autonomy from France as a state within the French Union. When France and Japan stop their war in Vietnam, because of USA had defeated Japan in the World War II and France couldn't continued this war after 9 years attacked the North of Vietnam (Bac Ky), the USA came in and continued it. The game was not over!
The Second Indochina War, better known as the Vietnam War, pitted the recently-successful Communist Vietnam People's Army against United States troops and the United States-backed ARVN (South Vietnamese soldiers).
This war, I think, it's just about the economy problem that the USA thought they can have after defeat the Vietnamese Communist Party and control the State of Vietnam in the South. Vietnam, as my Geography book say, is the most important area in the Indochines and have a very better advantage than the other country in South East Asia because of the position of it.

Answer 3

if you are talking about the days of the Korean Conflict it was to stop the spread of Communisms. We did not want China to take over the Far East and we feared their weapons that we sold them. That is why part of Vietnam is Communist and part is Democratic. Side note we also had the lao-ions spy on their own kind that is why we had a large population of immigrants in the 1980 called the hmong. (Unfortunately, we had them betray their home country and in return gave them "salvation" in our country. AKA thew them into a new culture and expected them to figure it out. The majority of them now live in Wisconsin and Minnesota..nice huh?)

Answer 4

The U.S. was there to contain Communism where it was and to make sure that it wouldn't go into those countries.