Explain Why the United States of America Became
Increasingly Involved in Vietnam Between 1945 & 1966.

The Vietnam War was fought between North Vietnam communists led by their leader Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam anti-communists led by their president Ngo Dinh Diem. North Vietnam was trying to taking over South Vietnam to make it a communist country. That is when the U.S. came knocking on South Vietnam’s door and gave them much needed help in 1950. In Eric Foner’s and John A Garraty’s essay, “Vietnam War,” they explain, “from Washington’s perspective, . . . [a]ny communist anywhere, at home or abroad, was, by definition, an enemy of the United States” because of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “domino theory” (Foner). Eisenhower’s “domino theory,” was a theory that if communists took over Vietnam, they would gradually control all of Southeast Asia. The first aid given by the U.S. was to France. Willbanks explains in his essay that the U.S. provided France, a South Vietnamese ally, $2.6

The Vietnam War, lasting for approximately 20 years, was the longest and one of the most controversial wars in American history. Not only did the war take a heavy toll on the American troops fighting abroad, but it also led to riots and tension amongst Americans on the homefront. Two presidents devoted to winning the war against the spread of Communism in Vietnam as quickly and effectively as possible were Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although Johnson was a Democrat and Nixon was a Republican, their foreign policies in Vietnam were similar because they both kept secrets about the war from Congress and because both of their foreign policies were disliked by the American public. However, they differed because Johnson escalated the United

Reasons for United States' Involvement in Vietnam In this essay I will be writing about why America got involved in the Vietnam War, between the 1950s to the 1960s. This was a steady and slow process with many deaths all because of communism. It was very costly and bloody. This essay will focus on political reasons, military reasons and economy reasons.

1...The Vietnam war was a timely and expensive conflict between 1954 and 1975; the war pitted North Vietnam and its Southern Allies also known as the Viet Cong against South Vietnam and the United States. There were five Presidents during this time; Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Multiple things contributed to America losing the war of Vietnam and the fall Saigon. The strongest factors were the fear of communism, the fear of American military failures and domestic instability in America.

During the first three years of the war, the US began to finance the French and so Ho Chi Minh was ultimately forced to seek support from the Soviet Union and China, confirming US fears. Although the French were being supported by the United States, the Vietminh of the north was being equipped with weapons by China and the Soviet Union, who were both communist. The French greatly underestimated the force of the Vietminh, who used guerrilla warfare tactics against the conventional tactics of the French. In 1954, the weakening French army experienced a breaking defeat after surrendering a siege of 55 days at Dien Bien Phu. This fractured the French morale to continue fighting the Vietminh; they could not comprehend such a small nation had defeated a renowned European power.

Vietnam War DBQ Rough Draft The United States became involved in Vietnam affairs after the end of World War II, during the Cold War. The French were trying to colonize Indochina, which included Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. America wanted to have the French as allies against the Soviet union, so they proceeded to aid them in their colonization. Vietnam pressed for independence, and war broke out. The U.S. involvement in the war remains controversial.

French who still wanted to keep hold of Vietnam as it was very rich in

The Vietnam War loomed predominantly over three U.S. presidencies. When John F. Kennedy came to the presidency, he immediately inherited Dwight Eisenhower’s commitment to assist Saigon in its struggle

Assess the importance of nationalism to the Vietnamese up to 1965. A clear desire for nationalism and self-nationalism in Vietnam was evident as early as the 15th century, when historian Nguyen Trai stated “although we have been at times strong, and at times weak, we have always been Vietnamese and this will never change.” The importance and significance of nationalism and establishing a sense of self-determination was of vital concernment to the Vietnamese, in both the North and South of the country. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North) and the Republic of Vietnam (South) were both driving forces in the ambition of self-determination and their established sense of nationalism regardless of the

The US then further involved them in Vietnam by appointing a corrupt puppet government to take control of the south. By doing this they would have an active part in the running of the south of Vietnam which would be allowing them to take shots at Russia to give them yet another further advantage in the cold war. The president of this corrupt government was a man named Ngo Ding Diem. This caused problems mainly because he was a catholic and the majority religion in Vietnam is Buddhist. He oppressed the Buddhists by not allowing them to celebrate Buddha's Birthday which caused Buddhist Monks the most famous of which is Quang Duc to

The extensive conflict between France and Vietnam increased during the second Indochina War from 1954-1975. This critical battle persuaded the French into no longer maintaining their Indochinese settlements and Paris quickly requested for peace. As the two sides came together in Switzerland, Geneva, worldwide events were already shaping the future of Vietnam’s present-day revolt. In this essay, I will list numerous interesting things I found while also giving a short summary of what was going on during this time period.

To understand the US involvement in Vietnam, it is necessary to understand the background of traditional independence and opposition to larger powers throughout Vietnamese history. The Vietnamese had a long history and tradition of opposing invading powers. This opposition and culture was to draw the U.S. into the longest war it has been involved in. This was an indirect but vitally important cause of US involvement in the Vietnam War. As early as 500BC, Vietnam was a country that held a strong sense of nationalism, and endeavoured for the goal of autonomy, independence, and self-rule. Up until modern history, there have been several events that have contributed towards intensifying this sense of nationalism and resistance against foreign powers. National resistance against the Chinese empire was one of the earliest examples of resistance against nationalism. Throughout the period of pre-modern history from 210 BC to 1789, resistances against foreign control and rule such as that against the Nan Yue, the Song, the Ming, and the Qing, were frequent. These attempts at national resistance came down to the basis that the nationalist Vietnamese did not want foreign influence determining the political future, culture, or customs of their country. Another main example that increased a sense of nationalism was French Colonialism. The French, who were appealed by Vietnam’s unique location, natural resources, and the extensive economic opportunities

---After WWII and until 1955, France fought hard to regain their former territories in the region, but with a poorly organized army and little determination among the troops, their efforts soon collapsed. The French were finally defeated at Dien Bien Phu on the 8th of May 1954 by the communist general Vo Nguyen Giap. The French troops withdrew, leaving a buffer zone separating the North and South and set up elections in order to form a government in the South. The communist regime set up its headquarters in Hanoi under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. Many North Vietnamese left the country and fled south where the self-proclaimed president, Ngo Dinh Diem had formed the Republic of Vietnam.

Why USA Became Involved in Vietnam Before the Second World War, the region between India and China which now includes Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos was part of the French Empire. During the Second World War, however, Japan controlled Vietnam. After the war, the French tried to take over again but a communist group, the Vietminh wanted independence.

supply aid was all the USA was prepared to put in at that stage. The