Introduction
It is one of the most interesting foreign policy of the United States of America in the 1960s era. Subject wise it falls under international relations study but this theory has more to it than just plain dull words. The theory was both innovative and dramatic. It would not be surprising if a film-maker decides to make a movie on the imaginative domino theory in South-East Asia. Yes, it’s theatrical and people have wondered, pondered and re-used the term over and over again, even after its actual first use. The term was coined and first proposed by U.S. President Harry S. Truman, but it actually became popular in the 1950s when U.S. President D. Eisenhower related to South-East Asia, indicating North Vietnam’s situation.
Domino Theory
It should be noted that domino theory was used outside of the South-East Asian context as well, mostly during the cold war; it referred to the speculation of states coming under Communism’s influence which would cause similar transformations of its neighbors which was a big concern for United States of America specially because it was the period when the Cold War between U.S.A and U.S.S.R. reached to its zenith. The United States government became increasingly worried when a nationalist communist army led by Viet Minh (English "League for the Independence of Vietnam"), a national liberation movement founded on May 19, 1941, defeated the French troops and formed the communist state of North Vietnam. Both of these post WWII superpowers were competing against each other to become more influential worldwide and this theory gave U.S.A. an agenda which for their national interest have to be prevented.
Interestingly, the domino theory did not work out. But if we think about its validity at the time, it gets quite complex. It was power politics at a soaring level. The situation was definitely apprehensive for United States’ prestige especially after the foundation of Truman Doctrine by U.S. President Harry S. Truman on March 12, 1947 who in a speech to congress declared that United States as “leader of the free world” must support democracy and fight communism globally along with NATO and United Nations.
When U.S. President D. Eisenhower first used the term, perhaps he did not think about the aftermath of this theory. This dramatic theory is essentially took shape out of United States’ significant fear of Communist domination. The post WWII initial developments in South-East Asia made domino theory strong, but subsequent developments dismissed it completely. Domino theory generalized all the south-east Asian countries without much rationale and that is why it failed.
The Growth of Communism in South-East Asia
Communism was spreading in South-East Asia. North Vietnam already had a communist government supported by Viet Minh as well as the other communist parties of the neighboring countries such as Khmer Viet Minh and Khmer Rouge from Cambodia, Pathet Lao from Laos and The Vietcong or National Liberation Front, from South Vietnam. This is the set-up which convinced the U.S. lawmakers that the domino theory is valid and the situation might worsen if the neighboring countries also get the communism fever.
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War is also called the Second Indochina War was basically domino theory in action. In 1959 the Second Indochina War commenced between North and South Vietnam. North Vietnam was backed by all the communist regimes and actors: Viet Cong, Khmer Rouge, Pathet Lao, People’s Republic of China, Soviet Union and North Korea while South Vietnam was backed by the U.S. led anti-communist allies, mainly South Korea, Australia, Philippines, New Zealand, Khmer Republic, Thailand, Kingdom of Laos, Republic of China (Taiwan). Vietnam was divided into two parts after the first Indochina War (against France) which ended in 1954. The domino theory was comprehensively used to justify the war with North Vietnam by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations. In the beginning, it was only Viet Cong guerillas fighting against the South Vietnamese army along with the U.S. forces. North Vietnamese army joined afterwards. At the climax of the war, there were more than 500,000 U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.
In 1960, when John F. Kennedy took charge of the white house he vowed in his inaugural address "pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and success of liberty.” Kennedy sticks to the foreign policy laid by former presidents Eisenhower and Truman. In 1961, Cold War crisis, Kennedy assumed that anymore failure of the United States would hurt its reputation badly in front of its allies; hence he was determined to win the war in Vietnam. He disputed that South Vietnam’s fall would mean a huge threat to the non-communist world. If South Vietnam loses to communism, neighboring countries of Laos, Cambodia, Philippines, Malaysia, and far-off countries of Australia and New Zealand would fall too.
When the war was close to the end, the whole conflict of Vietnam from an outsider’s perspective was a joke. United States of America, the most richest and powerful country was fighting with a far-off small state far-off from it just based on speculative theory for 15 years without any positive result. Not to mention the war expenses and the sheer number of casualties.
South Vietnam’s President Ngo Dinh Dieminstituted a policy of relocating the rural population of South Vietnam to isolate the Communists. This action led to a resentment among the locals, while Diem’s persecution of local Buddhist sects facilitated protests. When Buddhist monks resorted to dramatic self-immolation in front of news cameras, Kennedy instructed Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge to organise a military coup. On Nov. 1, 1963, Diem was overthrown and murdered. South Vietnam then underwent a succession of coups d’état that undermined all pretense that the United States was defending democracy.
Washington encouraged its SEATO allies to contribute troops. Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines all agreed to send troops. Major allies, however, notably NATO nations, Canada and the United Kingdom, declined Washington's troop requests
The Soviet Union reacted to American escalation by trying to reconvene the Geneva Conference and bring pressure to bear on the United States to submit to the peaceful reunification of Vietnam. China bluntly refused to encourage a negotiated settlement and insisted that the U.S.S.R. help North Vietnam by pressuring the United States elsewhere. The Soviets, in turn, resented Peking’s assertion of leadership in the Communist world and had no desire to provoke new crises with Washington. The North Vietnamese were caught in the middle; Ho’s ties were to Moscow, but geography obliged him to favour Peking. Hence North Vietnam joined in boycotting the March 1965 Communist conference in Moscow. The Soviets, however, dared not ignore the Vietnam War lest they confirm Chinese accusations of Soviet “revisionism.”
Many in the U.S. had come to oppose the war on moral and practical grounds, and Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson decided to shift to a policy of “de-escalation.” Peace talks were begun in Paris. Between 1969 and 1973 U.S. troops were withdrawn from Vietnam, but the war was expanded to Cambodia and Laos in 1970. Peace talks, which had reached a stalemate in 1971, started again in 1973, producing a cease-fire agreement. Fighting continued, and there were numerous truce violationsOn 15 January 1973, Nixon announced the suspension of offensive action against North Vietnam. The Paris Peace Accords on "Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam" were signed on 27 January 1973, officially ending direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. A cease-fire was declared across North and South Vietnam. U.S. POWs were released. . In 1975 the North Vietnamese launched a full-scale invasion of the south. The south surrendered later that year, and in 1976 the country was reunited as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Aftermath
The loss of human capital was highest in the Vietnam War since WWII. The number of civilians killed in the conflict is around 2 million and around 1.1 million soldiers and guerilla fighters. According to the United States estimate the number of South Vietnamese soldiers dying in the war was amid 200,000 to 250,000. The Vietnam Veteran Memorial was dedicated to the memory of the 57,939 lost souls of the U.S. soldiers. Later, the number was updated to 58,200. Among the names inscribed there were Canadians, and soldiers from other countries who fought for the U.S. led allies in South Vietnam. South Korea, a major U.S. ally lost 4000 soldiers, while Australia lost around 500.
Cold War perspective
In July 1945, the Potsdam Conference was held after the Allie’s victory over the Axis in Berlin. The Allies in the post-World War II were ready for the daunting experience of balance of powers among the new leading nations over ideological differences. The conference was attended by the British premier Winston Churchill, Clement Attlee, United States President Harry S. Truman and the Soviet leader Stalin.
Initially, Washington D.C. did not change their view about Moscow. On the basis of Potsdam agreements, The Truman administration was willing to get along with their counterparts. According to Potsdam agreements, its major objective was to unite Germany and administer it as a single economic body, and hence Soviet cooperation was required, but Stalin did not let go off East Germany and closed the borders. This was the seed of the Cold War which in following years turned soar. The Vietnam War is an example of the conflict of ideologies, democracy against communism.
Conclusion
During Eisenhower’s regime the theory was placed more strongly than anyone else perhaps because he used to give speech without any prepared note. The theory was seldom put strongly in proper documentation by the American think tanks. When Kennedy was asked about his state on the theory before his death in 1963 in a television interview, he responded by saying, “I believe it. I believe it. When the scale of war escalated with huge number of American soldier casualties, the belief in domino theory gradually got lessened because of the tremendous war costs and casualties.
On the whole, domino theory was the political weapon United States wanted to use to fight communism, with South Vietnam as its combatant. Domino theory supporters inflated the strength of anti-communist nationalism in South Vietnam, which was an effort to justify United States involvement. It wasn’t a valid theory. This theory generalizes most facts to show it is vulnerable communism. Its ambition of becoming the only superpower has led itself to a fad. And from a humanitarian point of view we may ask the question, if United State’s foreign policies are worth being entertained. Conflicts which follow to war, causes unspeakable suffering and devastation for all the parties involved in it. The world in this new millennium needs leaders who would work for integrated advancement of all the societies rather than destroy each other.
Bibliography
http://www.h-net.org/~hst306/documents/domino.html
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/COLDdomino.htm
http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1965.html
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3750
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=2630
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