Vietnam War

            
            
             The United States fear of Communism began before Vietnam. The fear of Communism crept in continuously throughout the Cold War. The United States became paranoid that Communists from the Soviet Union were bound to overthrow democracy in America. The president and his administration prosecuted anyone who seemed deceitful to their country and involved with the Communists party. Thousands of civilians lost their jobs. The Hollywood Ten for example, famous actresses, actors and directors who were accused of being involved with the Communist Party and their lives were forever ruined. The Rosenberg's received the death penalty because of the accusation of being spies for Russia. The fear and paranoia of Communism did not destruct after the Cold War. The government's paranoia of the Communist party escalated once again during the war of Vietnam. Although President Lyndon Johnson feared Communism, his decision was incorrect to escalate troops in Vietnam; he should have withdrawn troops immediately because of the continuous protests and chaotic events occurring in the United States and the intense fighting against guerilla warfare.
             President Lyndon Johnson and his administration's main reason for escalating troops was because they wanted to use South Vietnam as an example, the administration wanted to prove to that the United States would not stand for Communist aggression. Past historic events from World War II with Adolf Hitler, at Munich in 1938, displayed that if aggression is not immediately handled the aggressors become more encouraged. Johnson and his administration also wanted to take over this war because if South Vietnam were to fall to the Communists its" neighboring countries, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand, would fall to communism as well. This theory is referred to as the domino theory. "Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines and obviously Laos and Cambodia are among those whose security would be threatened if the red tide of Communism overflowed into Vietnam" (option 1 Senator John Kennedy's speech June 1956).