Background to Vietnam War
- Originally a French colony (Indochina)
- Ho Chi Minh and his communist supporters resisted Japanese occupation during World War II
- After World War II the French reoccupied
- Ho Chi Minh fought the French and defeated them in 1954 (Dien Bien Phu)
- Laos, Cambodia granted independence
- Vietnam divided along the 17th parallel
A Divided Country
- South Vietnam was led by a Catholic named Ngo Dinh Diem
- The mainly Buddhist south had opposition in the form of the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Viet Cong (a guerilla force)
- The North (Ho Chi Minh) supported both of these groups
- The North never accepted the Geneva agreement of 1954
American Involvement in Vietnam
- U.S. saw this as another situation in which containment was necessary (SEATO)
- The U.S. had supported the French (military advisors)
- Kennedy increased troops in 1962 from 500-10,000
- CIA overthrows Diem in 1963 (corruptness)
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident, 1924
- A fabricated incide was set up; an American destroyer (USS Maddox) was torpedoed
- Led President Johnson to install the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
- Lead to the commitment of regular ground troops and air support
- 200,000 troops in 1965 - 600,000 in 1968
Summary
The Vietnam War was the prolonged struggle between nationalist forces attempting to unify the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States (with the aid of the South Vietnamese) attempting to prevent the spread of communism. Engaged in a war that many viewed as having no way to win, U.S. leaders lost the American public's support for the war. Since the end of the war, the Vietnam War has become a benchmark for what not to do in all future U.S. foreign conflicts.As the fighting between the Viet Cong and the South Vietnamese continued, the U.S. continued to send additional advisers to South Vietnam. When the North Vietnamese fired directly upon two U.S. ships in international waters on August 2 and 4, 1964 (known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident), Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave the President the authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam. President Lyndon Johnson used that authority to order the first U.S. ground troops to Vietnam in March 1965.