Essay on A Closer Look at the Vietnam War

The Geneva Peace Agreement in May 1954 set the foundation for the developments in the next coming years in Vietnam. The Agreement accorded that Vietnam was to be divided at the 17th parallel into communist North and democratic South Vietnam giving each country independence, a 200 day legal migration period and general elections to be held at both zones in 1956 to reunify Vietnam. The division would cause developments in each country including economic development through the growing nationalism in North Vietnam, political developments through political ineptitude and corruption in South Vietnam and social changes

Vietnam in 1954 was a country that had nationalism flowing in their veins after the decades of being under French and for a short time the Japanese rule. All the Vietnamese wanted was to be its own country. The North started fighting back the French and did whatever they could to take back their homeland. The French were beginning to feel this under the numerous attacks the Vietnamese started against them. A number of nations met to determine how the French could peacefully withdraw. The Geneva Accords came from the meetings and a cease fire was initiated. The French left and their was a temporary division along the 17th parallel. A democratic election was to be held in 1956 that would reunite the country under one government.

Diem stood at odds with Ho Chi Minh who was, “eager to expand his base of support, Ho reached out to anti-communist nationalists: he especially wanted to attract Vietnam’s Catholic minority, and understood that the presence of a predominant Catholic in his first coalition cabinet would go a long way to accomplish this goal” (22). Diem refused to work with the Viet Minh and upon breaking communications with them would then work organize an anti-Viet Minh political party.

Diem was therefore determined to be the best man for the job of preventing communism in S. Vietnam. One reason is most likely because he was “Westernized” being that he “lived for some time in the Mayknoll Seminaries in New Jersey and New York State” (Genesis 116). He quickly gained the approval of American Catholics such as Cardinal Spellman, which “certified Diem as an important anti-Communist” (Scheer 116). Some Americans were skeptical of Diem at the time, but as Secretary John Foster Dulles simply stated, “the United States could simply not find ‘a better man’ to carry out its designs” and “Diem is only means US sees to save South Vietnam and counteract revolution. US sees no one else who can” (Gettleman 133). This is, however, a little unsettling being that it sounds as though the U.S. merely “settled” on Diem in lieu of a better candidate.

The Vietnam War was a pivotal changing point in the American foreign policy. Through the span of three presidents and the Cold War, Vietnam changed the outlook of America in the world wide arena. After the end of the Indochina war and oppression of Vietnam by the French, the country was split into the north and the south along the 17th parallel. Following the declaration of the Geneva Accord there was to be a demilitarized zone along the north and the south of the 17th parallel and each side of the nation would have 300 days to remove their personnel from the opposing side of the country. North Vietnam, or the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was controlled by the Vietnamese Communist Party (Worker’s Party) the

The Americans cringed at the thought of a Communist Vietnam, and picked up where the French left off. A peace accord temporarily divided Vietnam in half, promising elections for the whole country by 1956. With Ho in full control of the North, the Americans backed a French-educated anti-Communist named Ngo Dinh Diem in the South.

Diem wanted the elections of 1956 to be canceled for the same reason as he knew Minh had a larger following than he did. Diem being a catholic was not a favorable thing amongst a country with a majority Buddhist population. This led to a rise of another regime in the south Vietnam called the Vietcong. These people were against the rule of Diem and support the communist rule of Minh. They were an extremely violent group, and they massacred a lot of Diem’s political and government officials. Minh was very happy with this uprising of this radical group and wanted to support the Vietcong in every possible way. Minh started a trail called the Ho Chin Minh trail which ran from the North Vietnam all the way through Thailand and Cambodia to Saigon the capitol of the south. He supported the Vietcong with anything they needed through this trail. With Minh gaining more power and diem losing his support of what little he had was a big concern for the United States. The people of the south were tired of all the killings and bloodshed, most villagers of the south were tortured and killed by the Vietcong this led to a constant state of fear among these people. Diem decided to help these people by having them moved to safer locations. President Kennedy, before his assassination had planned to pull out of the war but the plan never went through due

In July 1954, France and the Viet Minh signed the Geneva Peace Accord. This resulted in dividing Vietnam along the 17th parallel into a northern section, under the control of the communist led by Ho Chi Minh as president, and a southern section led by the Catholic anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem. The partition was to be temporary until elections in 1956. However, Diem started arresting suspected communist sympathizers in 1956 to keep power for himself. The elections were never held, and in 1957 the North Vietnamese began guerilla warfare against the south. A French colony called Indochina have been occupied the Japanese during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War is the commonly used name for the second Indochina war, 1954-1975. The United States

And lastly, a date for the elections was fixed for July 1956. The United States were getting really concerned about the elections and whether communism (Ho Chi Minh) or capitalist (Ngo Dinh Diem) would win. A touch of corruption in the Diem government sparked a flame that would send US troops into Vietnam. The reasons why the US became involved in Vietnam are as followed: The domino theory – America was certain that if Vietnam fell into communism then the surrounding countries e.g. Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand would fall as well which means America will lose all its economic aspects and trades which would limit the amount of countries they can trade with, Failure of the Geneva agreement, VC attacks on American air bases e.g. Pleiku, Growing strength of NLF, Lots of money in south Vietnam (funding into Diems army), Failure of US advisors, collapse of French Indo-China, Failure of strategic hamlets, American fear of communism and US weapons manufacturers saw a market for their products developing.

In 1959 the Geneva Conference permitted the foremost powers to come to an agreement on Indochina which would temporarily divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel. Going forward, the country

to strengthen other areas of Southeast Asia against the anticipated expansion of international communism into the region (Duiker, 105).” With the victory in the 1955 elections the U.S. were able to establish a client regime to our maneuver France and its pro-French religious sects (Katt Hoban Discussion: January 27, 2016). Diem’s regime was given monetary aid, military equipment and advisors to have the country’s armed forces be trained by the United States government. The US government was interested in governing a regime capable of surpassing Ho Chi Minh in the North with deeply rooted hatred for the French and fear of the Communists to possess dominance (Young, 45). As Diem set about shaping his government, he used family resources to fill the

A second consequence of the battle of Dien Bien Phu was the appointing of Nga Dinh Diem as Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam. Due to the communist control in the North, Vietnam had gained the express attention of the United States. Due to their strong anti-communist stance, the US decided to back to back Ngo Dinh Diem as Prime Minister of the State of Vietnam. This was due to the fact that Diem was a devout Catholic and ardent anti-Communist. Diem took office on 1 July 1954, he had heavy financial support from the US to help fix Vietnam, much of which has been destroyed in the war. His immediate task was to crush his rivals; this included two religious sects; the Cao Dai and Hoa Hao, which he destroyed with military offensives and bribes. Also his firing line was emperor Bao Dai, who he got rid of by rigging a referendum. Diem promoted members of his family into high government positions, which lead to more of a mess than

Ho Chi Minh signed an autonomous agreement with the French in a conference. But his success was worth nothing when he returned home to find that the agreement was not effective. The French had already began bombing Vietnam to try and reoccupy the country. As Vietnam was low on resources, they took to fighting guerilla warfare and used a hit-and-run tactic. The USA and Europe backed France, while China, being a Communist country, backed Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was grateful for China’s support and won the guerilla war. Independence was proclaimed. Post-war Vietnam was split up into two, yet the Vietnamese did not get a say in this. Ho Chi Minh did not like the idea of fellow Vietnamese turning on each other, the South on the North and visa versa. He wanted unity between the entire Vietnam, and secession was the last thing they needed.

This is why, the U.S started to back up and support Ngo Dinh Diem, an anti-communist politician, who strongly disagreed with the rebellion of old Vietnamese. In 1955, Diem managed to be the leader of the South Vietnamese government, declaring the Republic of Vietnam and cancelling the scheduled elections in 1956. However, his governance proved to be very unpopular, demonstrating corruption and persecution.

Representatives of eight countries—with Vietnam represented by two delegations, one made out of supporters of Ho Chi Minh, the other of supporters of Bao Dai—met in Geneva to discover an answer. They closed with an understanding as indicated by which Vietnam was to be partitioned at the seventeenth parallel until races, planned for 1956, after which the Vietnamese would set up a bound together government. It is difficult to assess Ho’s role in the Geneva negotiations. He was represented by Pham Van Dong, a faithful associate. The balance displayed by the Viet Minh in tolerating an allotment of the nation and in tolerating control of less region than they had vanquished amid the war takes after the example set up by the man who had consented to the 1946 arrangements with France. Be that as it may, this adaptability, which was likewise a reaction to weights applied by the Russians and Chinese, did not accomplish everything for the Viet Minh. Hanoi missed out in light of the fact that the races that were to ensure the nation 's reunification were put off inconclusively by the United States and by South Vietnam, which was made on an accepted premise as of now. The control displayed by the Viet Minh in tolerating an allotment Ho Chi Minh 's administration got to be harsh and unbendingly totalitarian. Endeavored agrarian changes in 1955–56 were led with insensible ruthlessness and suppression. "Uncle" Ho, as he had gotten to be known not North Vietnamese, could protect his