what would the U.S. be like if the Vietnam War never happened?

Answer 1

We might still have some respect from the rest of the world. Our people might have more confidence in our government. Our soldiers would have never had to face the humiliation back home. Probable the most important aspect of all, the men who died would still be with us today (at least most of them).

Answer 2

I've been studying Vietnam and the Vietnam War since I was a kid, and I am surprised a question like this is not asked more often. I had thought extensively of this “What If” scenario for a long time. Here are my thoughts…

In my opinion, the Vietnam War cold have been avoided, with perhaps the most pivotal point of U.S. involvement in Vietnam being JFK's assassination. JFK had ordered to withdraw a small number of U.S. advisers from Vietnam a couple weeks before he was assassinated, while Johnson immediately rescinded that order upon taking office. This and other actions suggest that the Vietnam conflict would not have turned into a costly and bloody war had Kennedy remained alive.

Kennedy probably would have negotiated a peaceful settlement with Khrushchev over concerns in Vietnam. Vietnam would be much like Korea, with a communist North and a democratic South. The U.S. would leave a small contingency of advisers in Vietnam indefinitely. Kennedy would be re-elected to a second term.

Internationally, the U.S. would be viewed as being more passive. More communism vs democracy civil wars would flare up around the world with outcomes similar to Korea. The cold war would likely shift from Soviet Union vs U.S. to Soviet Union vs China, and probably ramp up to being a full-scale war lasting years and killing millions. Both countries would destroy each other militarily and economically. The U.S. might eventually intervene on the Soviet’s side. China would be defeated, but both the Soviet Union and China would be relegated into extreme poverty for decades.

Domestically, the U.S. would be more socially conservative (I don't mean politically conservative). There would be no war protests and the 60's would be an extension of the 50's as like the 90's were to the 80's. We would concentrate more on space exploration and land on the moon a few years earlier than Kennedy's proclamation of being there by 1970. The first moon landing would probably happen towards the end of Kennedy’s second term, and make Kennedy into a historical icon paralleling Lincoln and Washington in our country’s history. This would fuel a new government policy front, which is space.

Not having the burden of Vietnam War, the U.S. would not have acquired the huge spending deficit and would be much stronger economically. The U.S. economy would be way ahead of any country or region in the world, and would eventually control the world financially. Our standard of living would be many times better than any place else in the world. Furthermore, we would control space.

A large portion of government expense would go into science and space exploration instead of the military. The space exploration projects we see now would have been accomplished 20-30 years earlier. Several space stations would already be in orbit. We would have a permanent moon station and mining it for fuel. We might already be walking on Mars by now.

Most of our electric power would come from nuclear fusion and the fuel for the fusion reactors would come from the moon. Because fusion is much more efficient and cleaner than fossil fuels, OPEC would not have as much control over the world’s economy by controlling oil prices. In fact, the U.S. would be in control of the world’s power supply, because the U.S. would be the only source for cheap and plentiful supply of CO3 from the moon. Hostilities in the Middle East would continue, but would be less significant to the world as it is now.

Socially, I believe the U.S. would be less interesting (for lack of better words) than it is now. Citizens would be more trusting of our Government as it managed to keep us out of a bloody war in Vietnam, got us to the moon and strengthened the economy. There would be less protesting and more respect for our government. Music and art in the 60’s would be focused on happy things and space exploration instead of social upheaval.

All of this would happen, but Kennedy was assassinated, Johnson took over and ramped U.S. involvement in Vietnam into a full scale war.

Answer 3

Well we would've seen if the "Domino Theory" was true or not. We might've also jumped into to a war with Iran in the late 70's if we weren't still feeling the effects of Vietnam. Maybe we would've become more Isolationist like we had in the past.

Answer 4

More importantly, what would VIETNAM be like if they did not have to fight the U.S. after they already defeated the French?

Answer 5

we would probably be worried about the continuous spread of Communism throught that region.

Answer 6

We would definitely be more populated.