Path+to+the+Vietnam+War

 From the late 1800s until World War II, Vietnam was ruled as part of French Indochina. In the 1930s, a leader named Ho Chi Minh formed the Indochinese Communist Party. Leaders of the party were arrested and Ho Chi Minh fled to China. During World War II, when Vietnam was ruled by Japan, Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam and secretly formed the Viet Minh to fight for independence. The US backed the Viet Minh in their quest to fight the Japanese. After World War II, France resumed control of Vietnam. So, the Viet Minh began to fight the French for independence in 1946.
 * Path to the Vietnam War **

When China turned communist in 1949, Truman was afraid of the spread of communism in Asia. In turn, he pledged military and economic support to the French, as part of his containment plan. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration continued Truman’s support of the French. Both believed in the domino theory, that if Vietnam fell to communism, other surrounding countries, such as Laos and Cambodia, would soon follow. In 1954, the French were defeated and began peace talks, the Geneva Accords, which divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel and resolved to host free elections in 1956 that would unify the North and South. Eisenhower refused to allow this, as the communist Ho Chi Minh would easily win. So, Ngo Dinh Diem became the leader of the US-backed government. The United States sent military advisers to South Vietnam to help train its army. His government was far from democratic though, as he arrested or killed opponents. Some of his opponents, the South Vietnamese Communists formed the National Liberation Front or Viet Cong. They fought to overthrow Ngo Dinh Diem and were supported by the North Vietnamese. By 1963, they were close to victory. On November 1, 1963, a US-backed coup overthrew Diem, who the Kennedy administration had lost faith in.

By late 1964, the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese had conquered most of the South Vietnamese countryside. President Lyndon B. Johnson wanted to bomb North Vietnam to force Ho Chi Minh to stop supporting the Viet Cong, but he needed an excuse to do so. The excuse he needed was when the USS Maddox was supposedly shot at in the Gulf of Tonkin by North Vietnamese boats. These reports were never confirmed. Congress approved the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Johnson almost total power to use military force in Vietnam. In March 1965, the US began bombing North Vietnam and in June the USMC launched the first US offensive in the Vietnam War. Ngo Dinh Diem, the puppet leader of South Vietnam The USS Maddox

