Just War Theory and the Cold War

In one of my history classes, we examined and analyzed the history of U.S. foreign relations. one topic that came up was the just war theory during the Cold War. The United States used the just war theory to go to war in Korea and Vietnam. U.S. leaders justified military intervention by claiming that they were protecting these countries from the threat of communism. Both these conflicts were very costly and little was gained in both these conflicts most notably in the Vietnam War in which the U.S. lost the South to communism. they justified the huge losses in Korea by claiming that they managed to complete their main objective which was to defend the south from the communist north. They had a more difficult time the justify their war in Vietnam. By the later part of the war U.S. losses were very high and U.S. citizens were becoming tired of the war and hearing of troops being killed and wounded in a country that was geographically far away and irrelevant to them. Bombing raids were killing many civilians and alienating southern allies. The troops themselves were unable to trust their own allies due to the lack of distinction between friend and foe. military leaders were lax on their rules and allowed soldiers to treat the villagers horribly including allowing the massacre of a whole village of civilians. The U.S. was also losing their diplomatic reputation due to the fact that its allies were questioning whether defending a country from communism was really worth the cost. Eventually, the U.S. had to concede defeat. This was due to a lack of enthusiasm of  U.S. citizens about the war, the high cost in both lives and economically, the citizens of Vietnam no longer wanting a U.S. presence, and the loss of prestige and reputation from the war. All of these factors forced to the U.S. to concede defeat and withdraw from Vietnam and watch the south fall to communism.