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__Did Vietnam win the War, or did we?__

What did he think needed to be fixed?: He was majorly against communism, and he thought that the war that we had going on in Korea was pointless and needed to be stopped. While he was against communism, he was also against McCarthy and how he acted towards the situations. When the French asked him if he would help out with the fight against communism, he almost immediately sent people out to evaluate the situation during the Indochina War. He wanted to ease tension during the Cold War. He was in the military before coming a president, he’s more lenient with the idea of war being a solution to the countries problems. He also made sure that less nuclear weapons were made under his presidency. He is known for his highway system that he created. So to make it simple:
 * Stop communism and actually accomplish something unlike his predecessors.
 * Stop McCarthy from being so dramatic
 * Help the French out with their battle against Vietnam
 * Make less nuclear weapons
 * Ease the tension in the Cold War with attempted treaties
 * Make a highway system
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He did not want a ground war in Vietnam
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Desegregate public schools
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He wanted to stop Vietnam from falling to communism because he didn’t want it to spread to Laos and Malaysia, and ultimately leading to India falling to communism.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Trying to keep our containment policy in check.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">To spread the message of anti-communism: He decided not only to send people with bombs to villages with civilians in it, but he also made sure that they were packed full with napalm. He would refuse to publicly denounce people in front of American people. [McCarthy was the main one, Dwight was the one who pretty much made it apparent that he was being radical, and this isn’t the way that he should be going about this, not making him gain more publicity which would only fuel the flames. He went into war with Vietnam because he knew that Ho Chi Minh would win the political elections if Eisenhower didn’t intervene. That was a problem because Ho Chi Minh was communist, and we were trying to keep our containment foreign policy. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So pretty much:
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When it came to Vietnam, he started a war.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">With that war, there were bombs that he made sure we dropped called “Napalm Bombs”
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He didn’t publicly denounce communists/anti-communists until it got entirely too irrational.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He increased the amount of technology being made, using propaganda to sway people’s opinions easier.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He used his words to convince the American people that it was a good choice to prevent Ho Chi Minh from gaining power since he was communist.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">He used the video “We like Ike” to help him with his campaign. It had a catchy song involved, and it got a lot of attention.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">So pretty much he used the power of growing technology to help him get the vote into office, as well as use it to televise speeches so anyone can see what he has to say.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Was all of this even practical during that time period?: Since the French needed help, we got into affairs that we shouldn’t have even been into. But overall, yes it was practical because of all of the developments and the growing technology that was taking place. The only thing that wasn’t very practical is that we were trying to stop communism altogether. No matter what, unless we live in an ideal society, there will always be at least one communist country. Not completely sure why he thought that going into Vietnam was a very good idea, and I don’t know what the expected outcome was. If he was going for world peace, war is definitely not the way to go about it.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Yes:
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Growing technology, people getting easier to influence.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Highway system made it easier to go from point A to point B
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">No:
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">What was war going to accomplish anyways?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Desegregating public schools: considering that lynching was at a high at the time, and there were a lot of racists.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Evaluate how he did: I think that besides the fact that he made one of the most pointless and gruesome wars America has ever been in, he was an okay president. He made it easier for more people to have access to technology, and he expanded Social Security, one of the first times that this has been done. When it comes to the war and the decision to go in it, I don’t think that he went about it in a proper way. I think he could have still done his containment policy without starting a war. I mean, the reason that the war started was because the French asked for a little bit of help, but in my opinion, it was something that we really shouldn’t have even been a part of in the first place. I mean, I get that we were allied with the French, but with knowing our history when it comes to wars, we like to get involved. His presidency is often described as a peaceful easy going one, but with the war going on, I think that’s unrealistic.

Works Cited "Dwight D. Eisenhower." //Wikipedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, 30 Apr. 2012. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_D._Eisenhower>. "The Eisenhowers: The President." //Dwight D. Eisenhower: What's New at the Eisenhower Foundation//. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.dwightdeisenhower.com/president.html>. "Eisenhower's Views on the Popularity of Ho Chi Minh." //301 Moved Permanently//. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/vietnam/ddeho.htm>. "The Selling of a Candidate: Political Advertising at Its Worst and Best." //The Houston Teachers Institute: 1998//. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://hti.math.uh.edu/curriculum/units/1999/03/99.03.09.php>.