Causes of the Vietnam War

At the end of World War II Europe was divided by two ideological super powers. President Truman had hoped that newly conquered Eastern Europe would hold free elections and determine their own course of government. Stalin had no intention of releasing his grip on the lands, and an "Iron Curtain" descended on Europe. Woodrow Wilson's dream of a general association (league) of nations was formed in the way of the United Nations, but this organization could do little to stop communist expansionism. Wilson, in earlier years, had believed it was the role of the United States to promote democracy and freedom throughout the world. Modern day democracy has its base in Christianity and classical liberal thought. Both clash against socialism and communism. Leaders of the West, such as Truman, saw the Soviet Union through Wilsonianism eyes. They were convinced that democracy was morally superior to other forms of government and saw communism as a threat against idealist dreams of world harmony. This lead American politics to embrace the idealist notion of promoting and defending liberal democracy worldwide. Communism was seen as the opposite of democracy, and therefore a threat to international peace and world stability. What Wilson (and later Kennedy and Johnson) failed to recognize is that western ideas of individualism, liberalism, constitutionalism, equality, liberty, the rule of law, democracy, free markets, separation of church and state, often have little resonance in Confucian, Buddhist, or Orthodox cultures.