Compare and contrast the policies of the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R towards Vietnam in the 1960s and 1970s.

As the Cold War progressed, the playing field for superpower altercations-by-proxy began to expand well past European boundaries, beginning with Korea in 1950. Vietnam was only one of the prominent (if not tragic) examples of the globalization of what should have been a small-scale confrontation. Instead, both the U.S.A and the U.S.S.R opted to fight out their differences by proxy. In Vietnam, this meant channelling personal hostilities through what should have …

…tween Soviet and American policies to Vietnam. The Soviets did not involve themselves in Vietnam on an anti-capitalist platform, but America's engagement was publicly anti-communist, thus their policy to Vietnam was coloured by nations of an ideological crusade. Not only would this encourage deeper involvement, but as Nixon's efforts show, it was difficult for the U.S.A to get out of a situation that its own policies had proclaimed "moral" to be involved in.