Ho Chi Minh and The Vietnam War

Kennedy was going to pull back on the Vietnam war: President Kennedy was going to get our troops out of Vietnam. He already had issued an order, NSAM 1093, that called for 1,000 military advisers to be called back home. The writer happens to have direct knowledge of this pull-out of troops. A very close associate, in the position to know, said that Sam Adams of the CIA research team, wrote a letter detailing what a grave mistake a conflagration in Viet-Nam would be. For the USA. Kennedy met with him a second time and Sam Adams felt that JFK was, in fact, going to get us out of this war. Robert Kennedy ran for president in 1968, believing the same thing as did his brother. LBJ's first act as president was to rescind NSAM 1093. There was too much money committed to this war. The Industrial Military Complex was now in

Vietnam got their independence in 1954. Vietnam divided the nation until they could hold an election to have a united Vietnam. A problem then arose, the north wanted a communist government and the south wanted a democratic government. China’s communist government influenced the north. South Vietnam was influenced by the United States to the East. The elections were canceled and North Vietnam attacks the south. The United States was funding and training south Vietnam until 1957. In 1957, an American ship was attacked. That was the point when the United States sent in soldiers and started bombing runs on the North(Cole).

At the advent of the 1960s, Eisenhower’s definition of the military-industrial complex had fundamentally been altered by President John F. Kennedy. Kennedy, along with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, consolidated the military industry process and set up controls similar to that of a major corporation.11 As Commander-in-Chief, Kennedy resisted pressure from senior military advisors to send additional troops into Vietnam. Kennedy’s desire was to have all troops out of Southeast Asia by 1965.12 These beliefs were reinforced by the failures of the Bay of Pigs operation in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Kennedy had no desire to escalate the Cold War which was contrary to what the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Central Intelligence Agency wanted. By refusing to go to war, Kennedy was also reducing the possibility of greater profits for many defense contractors. Despite the Warren Commission’s conclusion that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating Kennedy, the speculation that the CIA or members of the military-industrial complex were somehow

Before the 1900th century, various countries such as China and France dominated the country currently known today as Vietnam. Throughout the countries history the Vietnamese people were often times mistreated. The Vietnamese people had a strong craving for independence. In the early 20th century one man united the liberation cause; that man was named Ho Chi Minh.

Communism as a political philosophy has had both its critics and nationalist proponents throughout recent history. As a tool for nationalistic movements in recent, one of the most compelling examples is how communism was introduced and used by Ho Chi Minh to help Vietnam become a unified and independent nation in the 1970s. Ho Chi Minh, a Marxist Leninist, charismatic and populist leader, adopted communism through his experiences, struggles, and challenges. Communism came to play an important role in bringing Vietnam independence and freedom from the French and subsequent colonialist rulers. Ho Chi Minh used communist to help the Vietnamese develop feelings of patriotism and nationalism toward the country. Ho Chi Minh created several

Importantly, President John F. Kennedy policy on foreign helped make a great president. According to Bureau of Public Affair, “Kennedy’s foreign Policy”, Kennedy’s formed alliance with Latin America to help poor women and man that suffer from hunger and poverty. The United State hoped that Latin America will make the countries stronger. Next, Kennedy’s began American involvement with Vietnam. He’s getting involved because he received conflict advice from Vietnam. South Vietnam had a war about the Geneva Accord into Communist North Vietnam but not south. Kennedy’s goal is to containing communism so he supported South Vietnam and expand the military. And then American war in Vietnam was over because North Vietnam captured the capital city of Saigon. Now one of Kennedy’s important foreign policy

Since the late 1800s, Vietnam has struggled with maintaining independence. Vietnam was under the French control but the Vietnamese wanted to break free of the harsh rules put in place by the French, so Ho Chi Minh created the Indochinese Communist Party in 1940. After the Japanese conquered Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh created the Vietminh in order to gain independence from all foreign rule. Although the Vietnamese defeated the Japanese in 1945, the French had no thoughts of pulling out of Vietnam. By the end of 1945 the French had already reentered into Vietnam and conquered the southern cities.

From Eisenhower, Kennedy inherited the "Cold War" with the Soviet Union. In 1962, when American spy planes discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from the U.S., many thought the nation was at the brink of war. Kennedy imposed a blockade of Cuba but promised not to invade, and the Soviet Union dismantled the missile bases, resolving the confrontation. (Upon seeing photos of the dismantling, Adlai Stevenson, now Kennedy's Ambassador to the U.N, famously said, "We are eyeball to eyeball with the enemy, and I think the other fellow just blinked.") Kennedy also promised to send Americans to the moon and bring them back safely before the end of the decade, and although he did not live to see it, his promise came true. He called his program to make things better for Americans "the New Frontier" and he started the Peace Corps.

In the mid-1960s, Lyndon B. Johnson tacked his name onto a long list of U.S. presidents presiding over conflict in Vietnam. More so than his predecessors, however, President Johnson’s involvement was arguably more significant, because he was the first U.S. president to commit the United States to a ground war in Vietnam. His escalation of the war in early-1965 came as a surprise to many, considering his pledge to deescalate the conflict during the 1964 election campaign against Republican Barry Goldwater. However, in analyzing declassified executive documents, the Johnson Administration had, by the summer of 1964, decided that escalation in Vietnam was the only course of action which could feasibly end the conflict and establish stability in the region. Following President Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, Johnson felt it necessary to continue his predecessor’s legacy in Vietnam, although his reasons for doing so were less refined than were Kennedy’s. Unconfident in foreign affairs, Johnson was assured in one thing: his alarmist views on the spread of communism. Spurred on by the criticism of his contemporary Republican opponents, Johnson took a hardline stance at the beginning of his presidency, declaring that he would do whatever necessary to stop the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, understanding that a withdrawal from Vietnam would undercut the legitimacy of U.S. foreign commitments, Johnson—albeit reluctantly—ignored the suggestions of political

After John F. Kennedy was assassinated in November of 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson was immediately sworn in to take his place. Kennedy was killed at a crucial time in his presidency. Kennedy had recently killed off the Vietnam leader that the United States had put into power, Diem. Due to this and an overall increase in soldiers fighting, the combat in Vietnam was beginning to thicken more than it ever had. Lyndon B. Johnson was left with a lot on his plate, but he still maintained a strong belief to not “lose Vietnam.” Therefore, as the Viet Cong became more of a threat to our nation’s security, Johnson sent more troops to fight against the oppressive nature of communism.

Eisenhower, an avid anti-communist, hardened his policies against the Soviet Union as well as its allies, and by 1955 he had pledged his support to Diem and the South Vietnam. In 1961, President John F. Kennedy sent a team of experts to report on conditions in South Vietnam and recommended an increase of the American military, economic and technical aid in order to assist in the confrontation of the threat of the Viet Cong. Kennedy strongly believed in the “Domino Theory,” according to which if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, others would follow. Kennedy therefore increased U.S. aid, although he did not fully commit to a large-scale military intervention.

As the Cold War escalated in the United States, Eisenhower and Washington would make their anti-communist policies felt by stopping Ho Chi Minh from realizing his goal of reunification of Vietnam. The Americans would erect a new non-communist government in Nam, or south, and put at its helm, Ngo Dinh Diem.

Ho Chi Minh’s time in France introduced him to the teachings of communism; this exposure to new ideas gave him a renewed sense of nationalism and ideas as to how to change Vietnam to better represent Vietnamese people in a postcolonial world. His teachings and radical ideas deeply contrasted with the United States government’s desire to contain communism, eventually leading to American involvement in the Vietnam Conflict. This conflict had lasting consequences that are still present today, namely due to the United States using Agent Orange to weaken the Vietnam

Eisenhower took no time to dwell on the passed for that the psychological factors that Eisenhower is forced to deal with call for quick results and immediately began thinking about the future events to occur in Indochina. With China clearly a player in the communist movement Eisenhower knew they would be next to act along with his Secretary of State, John Dulles. With the support of each other they were positive that the Chinese would soon intervene. The misperception of a leaders view towards the action of their adversary increases the chances of a nation to make unreasonable decisions indicating motives for war. Stoessinger went on to state that “the American expectation of a Chinese invasion was so powerful that it defied all evidence to the contrary” (Stoessinger 108). These perceptions were seen on both sides creating a near definite chance for war; by 1954 America was involved in a proxy war in Indochina with the French still fighting under U.S. aid in the Battle for Dien Bien Pu putting America on the brink of becoming a direct

Ho Chi Minh Ho Chi Minh was a Communist, who had announced Vietnam independent. He was a Marxist and believed in “national Communism ". Throughout the war with the French, Ho Chi Minh took refuge in northern Vietnam and settled there with his followers. He founded the Indochina Communist Party and the Viet Minh. North Vietnam was a deprived area and was cut off from the agricultural profit of South Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh was forced to ask assistance from main Communist allies, the Soviet Union and China. Both aided North Vietnam before and during the war. (Dong Si Nguyen, Duong xuyen Truong son: hoi uc.  Hanoi: Nha Xuat Ban Quan Doi Nhan Dan, 1999). Ho Chi Minh declared the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. This had been a tremendously significant event in world history perhaps the most important event since the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. It marked the first occasion in human history in which a radical national movement under Communist leadership had succeeded in overthrowing the influence of a colonial state and establishing and maintaining its own new, independent form of social and political system. However, Ho’s type of communism was markedly different than that of Marxist ideology that had been the metaphorical icon of the October Revolution. alike to Jose Antonio’s fascist movement, the hierarchical communist party (later renamed the Vietminh) conformed intimately to the ideas of the person at its head, but unlike Antonio’s movement, did not