PathtoWar

=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 advisers, 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

The french have ruled Vietnam from the 1800s to the end of World War II. This strip of land was not called Vietnam but rather French Indochina. Indochina consisted of two other countries, Laos and Cambodia. The Vietnamese citizens never really except control from France. There were many independent groups that revolted, who's goal was to make Vietnam independent. In 1930, a revolutionary leader by the name of Ho Chi Minh, made the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) from three Communist groups. The ICP did its work by organizing protests by peasants against the French government in Indochina. The French responded by arresting suspected ICP leaders, and executing them. In 1940, during WWII, Japan took control of Indochina. Ho Chi Minh came out of hiding and joined again with nationalists to form the Viet Minh. The Viet Minh trained soldiers in the jungle to fight off all foreign rulers. Because Japan was an enemy of the US, the US helped the Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh to fight off Japan. After Japan was defeated in WWII, Ho Chi Minh declared Vietnam's independence in Hanoi. France soon tried to take over Vietnam again, and war broke out.

While France was fighting to keep power in Vietnam, the United States was fighting the Soviet Union. President Truman was highly involved with the containment of communism in Western Europe. When China became a Communist nation, the US was scared. When France asked for assistance to fight Viet Minh, the US agreed to help for two reasons: 1. The US needed France to help them oppose the Soviet Union in Europe. 2. The US didn't want Vietnam to become Communist. President Truman offered Ten Million Dollars in military aid to the French at the beginning of the US's involvement. President Truman and Eisenhower explained the need to be in Vietnam as the "domino theory." If Vietnam fell to Communism, the rest of Southeast Asia would also fall.

Even with the US helping France in the war, France still couldn't defeat the Viet Minh. France called for peace meetings in Geneva, Switzerland. The agreement that they reached was called the Geneva Accords. The agreement divided Vietnam into north and south along the 17th parallel. Around this line was a demilitarized zone, also know as a DMZ. The line was only supposed to be temporary, because the two sides were supposed to hold elections in 1956 to find one single government that would control and reunite the nation. Until then, the nation was divided, with Ho Chi Minh ruling with Communism in the north, and Ngo Dinh Diem, who was an anti-communist, as prime minster of South Vietnam. Thousands of Anti-Communists living in the north fled to the south. The US provided transportation to the south. Ho Chi Minh had a lot of support from the people in North Vietnam, while Ngo Dinh Diem had little or no support from the people of South Vietnam. Ngo Dinh Diem rejected elections in 1956 because of this. Eisenhower sent more aid and military advisers to South Vietnam.

The Diem government in South Vietnam, wasn't a democratic one, and it was corrupt. He tried to kill his opponents, which included South Vietnamese Communists. Those Communists banded together with other upset South Vietnamese citizens and created the National Liberation Front. Diem called them the Viet Cong. The name became the common name for the group. The southern citizens weren't the only ones upset with Diem. The US continued to send aid, and the opposition to Diem also increased. US leaders told Diem to make political, economic and military reforms. Diem refused. With an operation backed by the US, a military coup overthrew Diem and killed him. Three weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated, and Vice President Lyndon Johnson was now in charge. After the assassination of Diem, South Vietnam could not find an effective leader. North Vietnam, continued to send troops and support to the southern Viet Cong. American military leaders planned to bomb North Vietnam, with the goal of pressuring Ho Chi Minh to stop supporting the Viet Cong. This plan needed to be passed by Congress, before anything could happen. A shooting incident in the Gulf of Tonkin jump started their decision. The destroyer //Maddox// and another destroyer had reported being fired on two different times by North Vietnamese Torpedo Boats. Lyndon asked Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Lyndon power to use military force in Vietnam. All but two senators voted for it. In 1965 Lyndon first started bombing North Vietnam. A short while after he sent the first combat troops to Vietnam.