Hi guys, I have to do an undergrad paper on the reasons for the Vietnam War. I have already explored containment/ domino theory but I'm kinda stuck for my last point. I was considering writing about American exceptionalism as catalyst, i.e. the notion that the United States was a guardian of the 'free world' and had a duty to preserve and protect democracy but I don't know if this is far fetched? I can find a lot of sources on how the war undermined American exceptionalism, but not how it contributed to the decision to intervene. Do you think this would be a rather dubious point? Or do you have any suggestions about what I should research instead? Thank-you!
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Have you delved into the Pentagon Papers?
Daniel Ellsberg was a young analyst working for the RAND Corporation, a private think tank for the CIA. He was given the task of compiling and analyzing all of the available data pertaining to the American government's involvement in Vietnam starting from 1945. As he delved deep into the background leading up to the war he started doubting the reasons given for the US getting involved so he went to his superiors, then Congressmen and finally released his report to the press. This report became known as the Pentagon Papers.
The New York Times released excerpts from this report for three days before the government got an injunction and stopped further releases. The Washington Post then picked up the torch and started releasing the report until it to was shut down by the government. Then other newspapers began releasing the papers one after another until the government got a blanket injunction preventing all papers from releasing information from Elsberg's report.
Ellsberg finally found a sympathetic ear with Congressman Mike Gravel, a Senator from Alaska. He called a meeting of the Building and Grounds Subcommittee that he chaired and read the report aloud during his subcommittee hearing on June 29, 1971. Gravel read the papers aloud in a room filled with reporters until 1:00 a.m. then entered the entire 4100 pagers into public record.
The next morning the courts ruled in favor of the newspapers and the injunctions stopping the papers from being published was ended.
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