What problems did Kennedy face in SE Asia?

Write a PEE paragraph explaining some of the problems faced by Kennedy in Vietnam.

These can be problems he faced at the beginning of his presidency, or problems which developed over time.

Extension is to criticise another pupil's point to prove the strength of your own.

A problem Kennedy faced in Vietnam was the involvement Ho Chi Minh had in South Vietnam - he was exacerbating the situation. Ho Chi Minh was sending troops to south Vietnam to try and make it an unstable country and the north Vietemese government were providing weoponry for the fighters in south Vietnam. Therefore, this was a major problem facing Kennedy as the threat of south Vietnam being taken over by communism was growing and it was an aim of his to prevent the spread of communism. It was a hard decison for Kennedy to make on what actions to take because it was important not to go against the Geneva accords. Also, taking Kennedy's characterisitcs into consideration, he was inexperienced and an ex American soldier, so it was important that he didn't make rash decisions which could have possibly affected their goal in Vietnam. So, the Geneva accords and his own characteristics had a major say on what decisions Kennedy made towards preventing communism.

One problem Kennedy faced in Southeast Asia was the Geneva Accords. For example the Geneva Accords stated that no foreign troops were allowed in Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. This shows that one of the problems Kennedy faced in Southeast Asia was the Geneva Accords because by not being allowed to have troops in Vietnam it would ever more difficult for Kennedy to enforce the US foreign policy of Containment. This was also a problem because if Vietnam was lost to Communism then Kennedy would lose a lot of public support as had Truman after the loss of China and there would be a high possibility that Kennedy would not be made president for a second time.

One problem that kennedy faced in South East Asia was the communist insurgents. These were sometimes South Vietnamese people fighting against there own nation, in terrorist acts. They had revolted because of Diem's corrupt regime as well as him taking them away from their cultural traditions of living in small villages. This was a problem for Kennedy becasue he did not understand this he thought that it was the north Vietnamese launching small raids on the South therefore he may have wanted to increase US support but was restricted because of the Geneva Accords.

One problem that JFK faced in Vietnam was that Diem was unpopular, this is because he was trying to impose Catholic ideas onto a Buddiest society. This was a large problem for Kennedy because it meant that the people of South Korea disliked their governemt, which could have resulted in the people over throwing the government and by doing so turning to Communism. Furthermore this would have also been a problem for Kennedy becuase it could encourage the domino affect; causing other countries in the area to fall to Communism. This is a problem as it breaks the USA's policy of containment.Another problem that Kennedy faced in Vietnam was insurgence in the south. This was a problem for Kennedy because it would be very difficult to do anything about it because it was impossible to tell who was insurgence and who was innocent south Vietmanese citizens.

A problem Kennedy faced in South East Asia was the treat of expanding Communism. The North Vietnamese forces who seemed Communist were threatening to take over the whole of Vietnam. Kennedy stated that he wanted to continue implementing the foreign policy of Containment and also believed in the 'Domino Theory', if Vietnam was to fall to Communism then other countries in South East Asia will follow. This was a problem for Kennedy because if Vietnam was to fall to Communism then it is likely that he would lose support of the public which he had previously worked had for in the elections.

One problem that Kennedy faced in SE Asia was that communist supporters in South Vietnam were being armed with weaponary by the North. Kennedy therefore had to make a decision as to how he could support Diem and South Vietnam without breaking the Geneva accords. In Laos, South Vietnam the fighters that opposed Diem were being armed and this made the situation in Laos more critical as an uprising could occur at any time. A month before Kennedy came into power the National Liberation Front was formed in South Vietnam as a result of Diems unpopularity. Kennedy then had to make a difficult decision in how to increase involvement in South Vietnam, he needed to keep his popularity from the US population by opposing communism but he could not break the Geneva accords and therefore could not land US troops.

One of the main problems Kennedy faced was that of Diem; Diem, although anti-communist and Catholic, like Kennedy in belief, did very litter to help Kennedy's cause. Diem was a menace to the people that his government ruled over, he denounced the buddist belief and made Catholocism the official religion of the scounts, this lead to extreamests such as Thich Quang Duc, who burned himself alive to show the people of vietnam that he would not sit by and let Diem oppress him any longer. Kennedy faced the creeping problem as slowly but surley the South Vietnam eased their way over to the side of the Vietcong. Diem had not only turned the South Vietnemese against Kennedy, he had pushed them into the grip of his enemies. This was a major problem for Kennedy as back home in the US, it made him look like he was letting communism walk all over him, this was loosing him support and popularity.