PathToWarInVietnam


 * VIETNAM - THE PATH TO WAR

You all know that the United States was involved in a major military conflict during the Cold War ... but why? What was America's "path to war"? Using the resources below and Creating America, your task this evening is to write a description in YOUR OWN WORDS of the causes of American involvement in Southeast Asia. Pretend you are writing it as a summary for on online encyclopedia or textbook. Your description should ...


 * be between two and four paragraphs
 * contain the following terms - France, Ho Chi Minh, communism, Ngo Dinh Diem, military advisors, Gulf of Tonkin
 * be IN YOUR OWN WORDS (remember, it's easy to check this online)
 * contain two images THAT RELATE TO YOUR WRITING
 * Should end with the first Marines landing in Vietnam in 1965

Need some help? How about ... //Creating America// [|Into Vietnam (Overview)] from ABC-CLIO [|**Vietnam War** - the **Causes**] [|Timeline of the Vietnam War] [|Vietnam Online Timeline]

It all started when the French took over Vietnam and made it one of their colonies. American involevment didn't start untill WWII, when Japan took it over. When this happened, America gave money to a band of vietenmise fighters called the Vietnmen, led by Ho-Chi-Min, a Northern Vietnam Comunist. He admired the USA and he won back big parts of Vietnam from the Japanese. Then they began their fight for Independence against the French.

Meanwhile, Truman was worried about the USSR (Soviet Union (Russia today)). The United states hated communism. So, not wanting Communism to spread, we helped the French instead of Ho-Chi-Min who had been sending letters asking for aid. Since we never responded to his letters, he asked for help from fellow Communists. The USSR and China were glad to loan them weapons and supplies. Not to mention money. Once this became a fight against Communism, the USA pledged economic and millitary support to help France and not let the people of Vietnam be turned over to communism.

President Eisenhower believed in something called the Domino Effect. This was the belief that if one country fell to Communism, all the countries surrounding it would fall to Communism as well. Eisenhower thought that if Vietnam fell to communism, "you mite as well take no steps foreward and fifty steps back," (quote from claire). He thought that all of southeasst Asia would eventually fall to communism. The French lost thier fight in Vietnam in 1954 and prepared to get out of Vietnam.

Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallel. The Northern half was led by Ho-Chi-Min, the communist. The Southern half was controlled by the anti-communists of southern Vietnam. Elections were to take place so that Vietnam could be reunited. The people obviously liked Ho the best. The US made sure that Vietnam wouldn' fall to communism, they made sure that these elections never happened. The US gave Southern Vietnam economic and millitary support. (Did that sound familiar?? Like, I don't know, KOREA???) Their leader was Ngo-Dinh-Diem,a Roman Catholic, like myself. He was extremly disliked by his people. The National Liberation Front was a group formed by southern Communists.

John F. Kenedy (JFK) was elected president in 1960. Russia and China vowed to protect communism. They would back up North Vietnam if necessary. So JFK began to send military equiptment and advisors to help Southern Vietnam in 1961 to teach southern vietnam how to fight the Gorilla styled fighters called the Viet Cong, who sided with the North. Soon, the North was conserned about the growing american involvement in the war.

Ngo-Dinh-Diem's support was lessening in the South. Since he was Roman Catholic, he showed favoratism to the other Catholics (ironically, as it happene, JFK was catholic aswell. our only catholic president. but that has nothing to do with this) and he was unfair towards budists since they believed in more than one god. This angered them.He was harsh to anyone who opposed his rule. This caused a large uprise in the southern vietnam people. Leaders didn't think they could win a war with the leadership of Diem. The US replaced him. His power was removed and he was assasinated, and strangly, JFK was assasinated three weeks later.

Johnson came to be president. He belived in the Domino effect and did not want Southern Vietnam to fall to Communism. He didn't want to leave vietnam. He chose the leader to replace Diem. The US backed him up in hopes of him building a stronger government. He wasn't able to do so. This fact made it difficult do defeat the communists and the Viet Cong. In '64 a US distroyer was fired on by some of north Vietnam's missles. Because of this, Johnson orderd airstrikes against Northern Vietnam. He asked congress to pass the Golf of Tonkin resolution, bassically giving him the power to do anything with the millitary in vietnam without asking congress. He started to think of stratagies to use in Vietnam. Because of multiple attacks by the Viet Cong on US positions, growing political tension in the South, and the North's support of the Viet Cong, Jonson's advisors told him to mount a Bombing Campaign. He listened. Hence operation Rolling Thunder.

Since South Vietnam's army was about to collapse, he sent in the troops. That was the path to war in Vietnam. First the Marines, then the true Army. ||