The above question is probably critical to understanding the Vietnam War, along with its aftereffects in neighboring Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines, and Indonesia. These cases can help familiarize you with the broader topic of the Cold War and its impact on the world. Furthermore, this investigative research should help examine a key question regarding these events, with the Vietnam War as a focal point: How successful was the United States in containing Southeast Asia's communism? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Corps/Investigation Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev's (1958-1964) goals to expand the USSR's sphere of influence are reflected in the use of such terminology. He claims that the world is moving towards socialism and that this could be achieved with “wars of liberation”. In addition to this, his words advanced impending Soviet support for groups attempting to overthrow the capitalist governments under which they lived. This confirmed the suspicions of the West and President John Fitzgerald Kennedy, who saw it as a simple attempt by the USSR to expand its interests. In fact, it was interpreted as a declaration of war on capitalist nations. In short, President John F. Kennedy (1961-1963) and the White House attempted to convince the American public of the threat posed by communist forces in Southeast Asia. JFK's attempts aimed to balance idealistic principles with considerations of long-term practicality when dealing with the Vietnam War. In other words, the ideological fight against communism is what helped JFK push for American involvement in Vietnam, and where that wasn't enough, the potential military and strategic gains were emphasized. But ultimately, President JFK failed in his attempt to win the long-term support of the American people. Furthermore, the president and the White House were unable to lay a solid and pragmatic foundation for achieving America's objectives in Vietnam. Even after committing so many resources to fighting the Vietnamese communists, America ultimately achieved nothing. The above point is vital to bridging the gap between the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and that of Lyndon B. Johnson. Helps understand the overall escalation of the war under Kennedy. Much of America's defeat in Vietnam stemmed from two things. On the one hand, secrecy within both the White House and the Pentagon has led to errors of indecision. But on the other hand, the failures caused by the corruption and sheer incompetence of the Diem regime. An example of the first point would be that while the US Army recommended rapid and decisive aerial bombardment, McGeorge Bundy and John McNaughton advocated bombing. incursions that progressively grew. A lack of agreement of this kind inevitably led to American failure. The second point, the incompetence/corruption of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime of South Vietnam (1955-1963) can be seen as an accelerating factor behind the first point. While the United States focused on helping South Vietnam eliminate the communists, the former did not take the latter's political instability into consideration. To quote: "Behind the outward success of Diem's ​​regime, however, lay fatal problems...many local officials and policemen were involved in extortion, bribery, and theft of state property...many of these officials were, as the same Diem, Northerners and Roman Catholics". further alienated them from the local population.” All of this led to the addition of more American enemies to the effortof containment, including communist (the Viet Cong) and even non-communist guerrilla groups in South Vietnam. The cartoon below effectively describes how overwhelmed it would be from Kennedy's assassination in 1963 onwards. With the Vietnam War triggering containment policies by the United States, the next step is to analyze how it affected neighboring Southeast Asian states. The aftermath of the Vietnam War allowed the Cambodian communist group the Khmer Rouge to seize power in Cambodia: made possible by the destruction caused along the shared border with Vietnam. Furthermore, Cambodia has also experienced problems such as war refugees and the problem of military bases built by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) within Cambodia itself. Therefore, the Khmer Rouge were able to overthrow a weakened government and take control of the country. To stop the flow of communist rebels between Vietnam and the neighboring nation of Laos, the U.S. military was willing to conduct aerial bombardments along these nations. borders on a large scale. Indeed, some have argued that American and CIA military efforts in Laos surpassed those in Vietnam: “For the Laotians who took refuge in caves to escape what is considered the heaviest bombing in history, the campaign was certainly no secret… Striking the Pathet Lao in the north and Ho Chi Minh's trail in the south, the U.S. Air Force averaged one strike every eight minutes for nearly ten years." borders) weakened the government of neighboring Laos, making it easy for the Pathet Lao to come to power in the latter. Taking the above into account, it is easy to assume that American attempts to contain communism in Southeast Asia ironically caused the exact domino effect the former feared. In an effort to end the communist takeover of Vietnam, they caused communist governments to come to power in both Cambodia and Laos. While US failures in containment during the 1960s are evident in this survey so far, questionable successes are ideal to mention: starting with Indonesia. America's commitment (perhaps paranoia) to countering the threat of communism reflects the CIA's willingness to turn a blind eye to crimes against humanity committed by non-communist governments in Southeast Asia. In Indonesia, the mass killings of alleged communists at the hands of the Indonesian army and Muslim militias in 1965-66 are a brutal and effective example. Muhammadiyah mosques told congregations that all those who joined the communist party must be killed, stating that they belong to the "lowest order of infidels, whose bloodshed is comparable to the killing of a chicken." In neighboring Philippines, the rise of the Hukbalahap (HUK) rebellion of 1967 greatly attracted the attention of the CIA. Harsh measures were soon taken to crush the communist HUK, both by the American and Philippine governments. America's dogged commitment to stopping the formation of a communist government in the Philippines has become increasingly evident through declassified CIA documents. The United States might have succeeded in containing communism in Indonesia and the Philippines, the atrocities committed to accomplish this bring the American fight against communism into question. After analyzing the chaos caused by containment policies in Southeast Asia from 1960 to 1970, the emergence of leftist and communist groups outside Southeast Asia can be seen as a backdrop created by the ripple effect of former. Groups against Western and American imperialism were making themselves heard in some First World countries, including the United States itself. As much as the phenomenon may be a note a.