Domino theory, rollback and containment

Rollback

Advocated use of military power to drive back soviets influence wherever it happened- contrast with containment Land war in SV = containment Air war in the north = rollback MARCH 1968

Containment

Communism needed to be contained and isolated or it would spread to neighbouring countries Truman doctrine

When was it used to justify increased U.S. involvement

Eisenhower- first to refer to it in danger of communists taking over like dominos - when Kennedy was a US senate, in a speech to the American friends of Vietnam he said " Burma, Thailand, India, Japan, the Philippines, and obviously Laos and Cambodia are those whose security is at risk if the red tide of communism overflowed into Vietnam" -Johnson's working group in 1964 reiterated the domino theory and the need to keep South Vietnam communist free 1965- 80% believed in domino theory

What was domino theory

Speculated that if one state fell to communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect