Question

Examine the reasons that forced America to withdraw from the Vietnam war.

Answer 1

• The prolongation of the war created strong reactions even within the US.
  
• It was clear that the US had failed to achieve its objectives:the Vietnamese resistance had not been crushed; the support of the Vietnamese people for US action had not been won.
  
• Thousands of young US soldiers had lost their lives, and countless Vietnamese civilians had been killed.
  
• Battle scenes were shown on the daily news programmes. Many became disillusioned with what the US was doing and writers such as Mary McCarthy, and actors like Jane Fonda even visited North Vietnam and praised their heroic defense of the country.
  
• The scholar Noam Chomsky called the war ‘the greatest threat to peace, to national self-determination,and to international cooperation’.
• The widespread questioning of government policy strengthened moves to negotiate an end to the war. A peace settlement was signed in Paris in January 1974.