During the periods of the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, the United States Government had many situations surrounding its international and domestic affairs. These situations, however, sometimes clashed with what the nation was striving for, socially and politically. The United State’s involvement in Vietnam was in some ways contradicting to the goals that had been set before the Civil Rights Movement domestically. While striving for equality between two different groups of people, the United States was fighting against communism half way across the world for economic reasons. Throughout the Cold War period many such overseas endeavors occurred in Vietnam that caused some to cynically view the government for its convoluted actions and ambitions.

The United States of America refused to acknowledge Ho Chi Minh and his newly established Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the mid 1940’s. The United States, however, did acknowledge and support the French occupiers within Vietnam. Fearing the spread of Communism throughout Europe, President Truman knew that he had to act as an ally to France in Vietnam, for the French helped keep Communism from European countries. French forces were constantly battling with the Vietminh but the United States refused to publicly acknowledge this strife as a communist threat. “It is not the policy of this government to assist the French to re-establish their control over Indochina by force…” (The Vietnam War, 109). However, when France requested support in 1950, Truman allocated $10 million to the anti-communist cause.

This conflict continued through the 1940’s and into the 1950’s as the Civil Rights movement began to gain momentum in the United States. This social movement was supported by the executive branch during this period and was greatly aided by efforts from Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. Truman worked towards heightened levels of equality amongst the American society through the late years of the 40’s and up until the end of his term in 1952. Truman “sent a ten-point civil rights program to Congress, the first presidential civil rights plan since Reconstruction” (949). Truman desegregated all federal institutions as well as military operations.

Truman’s efforts during this period lead to the Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. Now under the Eisenhower administration, the Supreme Court ruled, “separate facilities are inherently unequal” (949). The Supreme Court then “declared that local school boards… should move ‘with all deliberate speed’ to desegregate their facilities” (949). The law for desegregation was now in place and it was up to Eisenhower and the Executive branch to implement and uphold the law. As the President of the United States, Eisenhower enforced these new laws by initiating the desegregation of school systems. Southern states, however, defied these regulations, openly opposing desegregation. One such situation of defiance occurred in 1957 in Little Rock, Arkansas, when Governor Orval Faubas refused to allow blacks access to white schools. Eisenhower “knew that such resistance could not be tolerated” (950), and sent federal troops to enforce the law.

During the same year as the Brown v. Board of Education decision, French forces were still being supported by The United States, but were defeated by the Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu. All though the anti-communist fight seemed justified, the United State’s Vietnam policy starkly contrasted with the goals of the Civil Rights Movement: Freedom and Equality. As the Legislative and Executive branches of government worked towards social and political equality on American soil, the goals in Vietnam were the absolute antithesis. Supporting and aiding the French occupation, the United States was oppressing the widely supported Vietnamese Government. Ngo Dinh Diem was then established as the leader of South Vietnam and was well liked by the United States on account of his unwillingness to accord with Northern Vietnam. The United States then went on to send more than 500,000 men to Vietnam to fight the independent Communist Country of Vietnam.

Widely supporting the war in Vietnam, the Presidents of the Cold War period such as Truman and Eisenhower upheld contradictory foreign and domestic policies. There were many critics of the Vietnam War during the Civil Rights Movement, many of who viewed the war as convoluted and hypocritical.

Several years later in 1965, under the Johnson Administration, Congress passed the Voting Rights Act. This Federal law ensured the ability of the blacks to vote, for they had been widely restricted in southern states, and was institutionalized by federal force in southern states to ensure compliance. The United States of America was making sure that the voices and opinions of all Americans were being represented on a national level.

Meanwhile, however, the number of American troops in Vietnam was growing larger and larger. Vietnamese rebels, who came to be known as the Viet Cong, were constantly battling the American occupation. The support of a Communist Vietnam and of the Viet Cong amongst the Vietnamese was widespread. “The most disheartening feature of the news from Indochina was the evidence that the majority of people in Vietnam supported the Vietminh rebels” (The Vietnam War, 113). While Johnson was enforcing the right to vote for all American Citizens, he was, at the same time oppressing the will of the Vietnamese people. While the cause of fighting communism may have been a just reason for war if it threatened the U.S. directly, dominating an independent nation for their choice of socialism will never be.

With the death of President Kennedy in November 1963, Lyndon Johnson took his oath of office. A year later he was reelected by the highest margin ever accomplished by a presidential candidate. His campaign, however, was founded predominantly on his false image of a “peace candidate and Barry Goldwater, who advocated full scale air attacks on North Vietnam, as a war candidate” (The Vietnam War, 127). Johnson’s peaceful image quickly dissipated after several months of his term. The number of American troops in Vietnam increased eight-fold from 1965 to 1966. Johnson also agreed with the Pentagon’s assertion that air strikes on Vietnam would soon be crucial. His actions once elected to office did not represent his stated views and image of his campaign.

One year following Nixon’s election, he released what came to be known as the “Nixon Doctrine.” The doctrine explained “the immediate redeployment from Vietnam of a division equivalent of approximately 25,000 men” (The Vietnam War, 137). The following year, Nixon withdrew another 150,000 soldiers stating, “ ‘…we finally have in sight the just peace we are seeking…’” (The Vietnam War, 139). Several months later, however, American soldiers invaded Cambodia to destroy Viet Cong bases and supplies. Several days later, “American planes carried out the heaviest bombing attacks on North Vietnam since Johnson announced a cessation on November 1, 1968” (The Vietnam War, 139). At the same time, Nixon removed Federal support for the Civil Rights Movement. He opposed court orders to bus school children to integrate schools. Basically Nixon seemed more interested in fighting communists than in fighting for his own people.

Advocating peace and an end to the war in Vietnam, President Nixon was deceiving society as he furthered the destruction in Vietnam. As troops were withdrawn, Nixon increased bombings and attacks on North Vietnam. The aid given to South Vietnam from 1970 to 1971 increased by $100 million despite the lowered number of troops. The war was not ending, but escalating. Sightlessly stating that peace was within reach, Nixon blinded the American people to the true severity of the Vietnam War.

Amidst the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War, many actions of the Federal Government were complicated and their goals were often questionable. Several situations and their individual goals failed to coincide and many hypocrisies and contradictions arose within the United States government. The same government that helped ring the bell of freedom during the Civil Rights Movement oppressed the Vietnamese people and blocked their wish for a communist government. Presidents aided blacks in their quest to vote while refusing to hear the opinions of the Vietnamese. And some presidents even completely mislead the American people, portraying the antithesis of their true goals. The history of the United State’s foreign and domestic affairs within this portion of the Cold War period is an account of contradictory circumstances.