When the U.S. military learned that they were going to fight in the Vietnam War, although they did not know why they did so, no one would think that they would be mired in the Vietnam War. After the end of World War II, the United States became a superpower, and only the Soviet Union could barely match it. Therefore, in the eyes of the American high-level and the US military, when the United States enters the Vietnam battlefield, North Vietnam will be quickly defeated, and the United States will usher in a victory again.
However, the harsh reality tells the US military that they have come to hell. Endless wars, endless rainforests, corpses strewn across the mountains, and hateful eyes of the Vietnamese people have made it difficult for the U.S. military. Throughout the Vietnam War, U.S. casualties reached more than 300,000, and the United States spent at least $250 billion. Twenty years of the Vietnam War set the entire United States back several years, and although they won all the battles, they eventually had to withdraw from Vietnam and declare defeat. Then, we can't help but ask, the US military has been mired in the quagmire of the Vietnam War for twenty years, with heavy losses, why not drop atomic bombs and directly solve the North Vietnamese problem, but choose to fight with the North Vietnamese to the death?
The answer to this question is actually very simple: the United States does not drop atomic bombs, not because it does not want to use them, but because it cannot be used and does not dare to use them. Of course, the top level of the United States and the US military do not care about humanitarianism, but they must take into account the attitude of the American people and the international community. During World War II, Japan, as one of the core of the evil fascist camp, stubbornly resisted, and the United States dropped the atomic bomb as a just act, so the resistance was very small. But the Vietnam War was different, it was originally a civil war in Vietnam, but the struggle for hegemony between the capitalist lineup dominated by the United States and the socialist lineup dominated by the Soviet Union made it evolve into a local war. In fact, the American people have always supported the United States to participate in the Vietnam War, and the international community has been condemning the United States. Under such circumstances, if the United States drops an atomic bomb on Vietnam, not only will the international community not agree, but the American people will not agree.
Of course, if the atomic bomb is dropped on Vietnam, the problem can be solved, even if the people do not agree to the high-level fierce heart may be done, but what is more fatal is that the effect of the atomic bomb on Vietnam is very poor. Vietnam is hilly, mountainous and tropical, and the North Vietnamese guerrillas are numerous, scattered, and the industrial base is relatively weak. If the US military wants to drop an atomic bomb, there is no target worth hitting, and the power will be seriously weakened after the second is dropped.
Moreover, what the United States wanted was not to destroy Vietnam, but their strategic goal was to help South Vietnam resist North Vietnam, or even destroy the North Vietnamese regime and support a pro-American regime. However, after the atomic bomb was dropped in Vietnam, the entire land, rainforest, and water flow of Vietnam would be contaminated by nuclear pollution, and even if the United States won, it would get a piece of wasteland. What's more, the United States could not ignore the Soviet Union behind Vietnam, which also possessed the atomic bomb.
When the Vietnam War was in its later stages, the WAR-weary mood of the US military was high, the popular opposition was fierce, and the entire United States urgently needed to get rid of this quagmire and reduce losses. In this case, the United States dropped the atomic bomb, which undoubtedly allowed itself to continue to be trapped in the quagmire and make it more difficult to get out. Therefore, the United States would rather fight with Vietnam for twenty years than drop atomic bombs, not because they do not want to, but because it will do more harm than good to the United States.