Was the Vietnam War an undeclared or declared war?

Question

if it was officially a declared war, it would have meant that Congress declared it war. the President only has the power to send and command the troops wherever he wants, he doesnt have the power to offically declare war.

Answer 1

It was an undeclared war.

qwid_pro is definitely incorrect to say it was a UN sanctioned war. In fact it was in violation of both the 1954 Geneva Agreements AND the UN charter, and the US was the cause of the war.

Kevin T is also incorrect. The US did not go in to protect South Vietnamese forces. The US violated all aspects of the 1954 Geneva Agreements -- installing a dictator, a Catholic Seminary student, Ngo Dien Diem, in the South, first as Prime Minister then as President following declaring the southern TEMPORARY DEMILITARIZED ZONE as an independent country; by introducing military and civilian advisers into the south; by not allowing National elections to be held in the south before June 1956 as specified in the 1954 Geneva Agreements and by sending arms and other military equipment into the south in violation of the Geneva agreements.

Answer 2

Undeclared War

Answer 3

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RE:
Was the Vietnam War an undeclared or declared war?
if it was officially a declared war, it would have meant that Congress declared it war. the President only has the power to send and command the troops wherever he wants, he doesnt have the power to offically declare war.

Answer 4

It was undeclared! And those who think that's just legal semantics don't matter don't quite see the big picture.

On the battle field and in the skies it was fought like a war but President Johnson restricted tactics to a "Police action" pushing the NVA back across the 17th parallel. A basic stalemate for years. They would invade and USA would push them back into the north.

After the questionable "Tolkien bay" incident occurred, Johnson escalated the war but needed congressional approval. A formal declaration of war against the NV would have Congress and the public expecting a full scale invasion and a quick victory taking the entire war to the heart of Hanoi. The conflict already was unpopular with Americans and Johnson's didn't want the mess of a real war on his hands and a potential confrontation with the PRC. So he requested congress to pass the "Tonkin Gulf Resolution" which allowed Johnson war powers. Basically a blank check to conduct the conflict as he saw fit without the expectations of a full blown war. Of course his plan just made things worse.

Answer 5

Vietnam was not a war it was a conflict; the Gulf of Tonkin resolution passed by Congress gave President Johnson the authority and power to use military force but did not declare war. Since the majority of the fighting was in South Vietnam and we had been requested by the South Vietnamese government to assist we really had no one to declare war on. The air strikes on North Vietnam and "excursions" into neighboring countries were to destroy supply lines and depots used to support the Viet Cong. As North Vietnamese Regular Army became more common the air strikes were deemed necessary to stop them. The U.S. has not had a declared war since World War Two.
Korea was an United Nations effort and the troops there acted under the UN guidelines-the commander was an American.
Vietnam-The action was partially by the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and partly in accordance with the provisions of the SouthEast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) Treaty. This is why other country had troops in Vietnam also-it was not a soley American operation which is widely forgotten in most "history" of the conflict.
First Gulf War was again A United Nations show and done under that organizarions banner.
The current Iraq operation/conflict is again authorized by Congress in a resolution.
The use of resolutions to authorize the President to do something without declaring war means the politicians in Congress delegate their power to the President which enables them to either say "not my fault" or "didn't we do a great job" depending of the outcome or as they are doing now and did late in Vietnam second guess everything and claim no responsibility for it.
There really is no such thing as an undeclared war-there is wars and conflicts/police action which have become known as undeclared wars.

Answer 6

It was an undeclared war. But it was a war, despite what some people may say. So was Korea, the first Gulf War, the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Kosovo, and others.

That it wasn't declared by Congress is nothing more than semantics.

Vote for Rudy!

Answer 7

World War 2 was the last declared war.

Answer 8

vietnam was an undeclared war and begun as America helping and training the South Vieynam forces to protect it self from the North. Eventually the North began to be to strong for them and Amercian forces were intrduced to help the South and eventually became a war.

Answer 9

undeclared...the last declared war was world war 2 in 1941

Answer 10

It was undeclared just like Korea. We haven't declared war since World War Two. Come to think of it, we haven't won a war since WW@. Hmmmm.