Why Did Eisenhower Decide to Intervene in Southeast Asia?

The 1950s were a time of turmoil in the United States. Not only was there the issue of segregation in our own country, but the wars overseas were an added problem that Eisenhower had to face. While Eisenhower was president, he was forced to make the decision to become involved in battles overseas in both Korea and Vietnam. Although his decision was originally not to become involved in the conflict in Southeast Asia, there were many things that happened during the course of the issue that made him change his mind.

Eisenhower decided to intervene after realizing that the French were losing the war.

Due to his strong military and political background, he realized that if the French lost their stronghold at Dien Bien Phu, it would lead the way for the communists to slowly invade and conquer other countries who were weaker at the time.

If the French lost, it left takeover wide open and eventually the Viet Cong would conquer as far as New Zealand and Australia. The communist government that would come along with the hostile takeovers of such countries would threaten the otherwise colonial government. This was not acceptable to Eisenhower.

Eisenhower Wanted a French Win in Indochina

When the conflict in Southeast Asia began, Eisenhower had vowed to stay out of it. This was primarily because the Americans had just departed from Asia after the Korean War.

Eisenhower knew that a French win was important, but rather than become directly involved with the air strike that the French wanted using atomic bombs, Eisenhower committed only nine bombers and 200 troops to the French in an effort to help them win the war for Indochina.

Many thought that the French were deliberately losing the fight to provoke Eisenhower to intervene in Southeast Asia to prevent the loss of Indochina because of how important its location was. Of course, whether this is true and whether this is why Eisenhower intervened in Southeast Asia is not fully clear.

Getting the American People on Board

Once Eisenhower made the decision to get involved in Southeast Asia, he needed the support of the country. Eisenhower strongly urged the people of the United States to back the effort by telling them that if Indochina was lost to communists, other countries would fall behind it like a group of dominoes and would eventually threaten the American way of life.

Once the people of the United States supported the war effort, Eisenhower had little choice but to intervene to ensure the French would win and maintain their stronghold.

However, Eisenhower’s advisers urged him to use nuclear weapons, but since a peace had just been signed with Korea, he did not want to risk engaging in another war with them as well. This was the reason he did not want the presence of American troops in Southeast Asia in the first place.

He also believed that the use of nuclear weapons would lead other communist allies of Southeast Asia to use their stockpile of nuclear weapons against the United States on our own soil. Instead, Eisenhower chose to intervene by sending more troops and bombers to help the French and maintain control of Indochina to by time until a peace treaty could be signed.