2007-05-24 10:36:01 · 6 answers · asked by qwertyuiop 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
He just followed Truman's and Eisenhower's lead in promoting containment of Communism, even not allowing a neutralist coalition government which included Communists, as had occurred in Laos in 1962. But some sources (Robert MacNamara, National Security Action Memorandum (NSAM) #263) suggest he was moving in a less hawkish direction and was considering a policy reversal after his reelection in 1964, withdrawing 1000 US troops.
2007-05-24 10:59:53 · answer #1 · answered by Erik Van Thienen 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe Kennedy's stated purpose was to stop the spread of communism wherever it may rear it's head. On the other hand, the preceding president, Eisenhower, warned us of the profiteers in the Military - Industrial complex who were not beyond profiting from sending soldiers to die. Many companies made a fortune from the Viet Nam War. Much like the way Bush is handling our involvement in Iraq. Although Bush's actions seem to only have a profit motive for large corporations, as militarily, a lame strategy would be a big step up.
2007-05-24 10:45:05 · answer #2 · answered by X X 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ummm...which Kennedy? If you want to get picky...we didn't really enter into the 'police action' in Vietnam until Johnson.
JFK, before the Vietnam war, had a policy of containment towards communism.
Don't know about Bobby...sorry.
If you're talking about Teddy 'Vodka' Kennedy, then I'm not sure but I can guess...he was probably not even aware of Vietnam at that time...too busy driving off bridges while driving drunk.
2007-05-24 10:54:47 · answer #3 · answered by VodkaTonic 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Kennedy's foreign policy was the same as the oil companies that have given us 2 wars in Iraq... OIL... or, in the case of Viet Nam.. Natural Gas (an estimated 78 PERCENT of the WORLD'S NATURAL GAS is under Viet Nam)
I think it's especially telling that when relations were normalized between the U.S. and the People's Republic of Viet Nam, the VERY FIRST INDUSTRY that went into Viet Nam was the OIL INDUSTRY... and it was the OIL INDUSTRY that pushed the Politicians to normalize relations.
2007-05-24 10:39:34 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Containment of Communism. The domino theory assumed that if one nation in a region fell to communism, the others in that region would fall as well. Containment was meant to stop the spread.
2007-05-24 10:40:26 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
to keep south vietnam from falling to communist north vietnam no matter what the cost.
2007-05-24 13:56:26 · answer #6 · answered by mark_grvr 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋