Australias Involvement In Vietnam

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Part B

In the 1960s communism was spreading to the biggest nations in the world now what is communism. Communism is where by the government controls the nation. When communism was in Vietnam it hit North of Vietnam and slowly it was going to spread to the South. The ANZUS forces wanted all nations to be under capitalism. Capitalism is where there is private ownership of a business and property. When the news spread about communism there was a fear of communism in Asia and soon Australian. The Australian population was divided when it came to sending Australian soldiers to the Vietnam to help the America in the war. Some Australians felt that the decision to go to war in Vietnam was a good idea. These groups were the liberal government catholic church. Some groups like the R.S.L opposed to going to Vietnam War and the S.O.S mums and the Protestant Churches.

When the Menzies government announced Australian troops were going to be sent to Vietnam there was a huge division in Australian society. Many people supported the government's decision and many people opposed the government’s decision. The Liberal Party was all the way with the Menzies decision and the actions he had taken. When Menzies retired in 1966 and Harold Holt took over the leadership, the liberal party was behind him in every decision he made. Holt brought Australia in a very close relationship with America. He was very close friend with the American President Lyndon Baines Johnson. People referred to him as LBJ. In 1966 after a visit to Washington, where Holt was given a kind welcoming by Johnson, he energetically declared that when it came to Vietnam, Australia was behind America and 'All the way with LBJ'.  Many people believed Vietnam to be too far away for the 'average' person to care about. At the same time as the Australian government made the announcement that it was sending troops, the Pope called for negotiations to take place in Vietnam for a peaceful resolution. Apart from the reaction at the election polls, opinion polls also showed widespread support among the people for the government decision to go to war. In a Morgan Gallup poll held in May 1965, 52% said they supported government policy in Vietnam, 37% opposed it and 11% were undecided. Sending troops off to fight in wars was seen by many ordinary Australians as not only the right thing to do but as a good way of increasing Australia's prestige in the world.

Anti-war protests had been taking place in Australia since 1962 when the first military forces had been sent into Vietnam. Since then, protests had taken place for various reasons at various times, but it was not until the announcement in April 1965 that they really began to take shape. The Protestant churches formed the committee for Canberra Vigil, a prayer vigil outside parliament house to condemn both the communists in Vietnam and the government for sending troops. Many of the trade unions called the government support of America's foreign policy in Vietnam 'blood for dollars', or 'diggers for dollars'. They believed the Australian government was sacrificing the lives of Australian troops to ensure that America would boost the economy by spending more money in Australia. In later years, no other group would be more associated with anti-war activities, but reaction in the universities immediately after the announcement was quite mixed, with some support as well as opposition. The letters encouraged the government to engage in negotiations with the Viet Cong and North Vietnam. It was really only after the start of conscription the next year that students began to come out in force against the War.  There was also a large and angry anti-war movement growing. In the month between the announcement and the deployment of troops Vietnam, anti-war demonstrations had begun. Wives of soldiers who were deployed received angry phone calls and letters and anti-war literature was handed out.

Psychologically, Australia had been prepared for another war since the conflict in Korea. Compulsory military training and universal conscription had been briefly re-introduced in 1951. The Australian people had been told so often to prepare for war that they all thought it was only a matter of time before they would have to go into battle with the communists. Many people were thinking why wait until it's too late and fight them when they invade our own land - let's go out and meet this threat head on. This reason is pretty straightforward and is linked to the fear of communism. Geographically, Vietnam is on Australia's doorstep. If South Vietnam were to fall to communism, and as the domino effect theory suggested would happen - other Asian countries like Thailand, Myanmar and Malaya were to follow. So Australia to go to war in my opinion was the right thing to do.