The Vietnam War Background: The French occupied the area where Vietnam is since the 1880’s. It was called Indochina and included Cambodia & Laos Ho Chi Minh left Indochina and went to France to receive his higher education between 1917 and 1923 After WWI, when the victorious nations were at the Paris Conference where the Treaty of Versailles was decided, Minh tried to present a petition for self-determination for the Vietnamese people - his petition was ignored Minh goes to China in 1924 and begins to organize the Indochinese Communist Party - also organizing Vietnam’s growing independence movement Minh emphasized national independence over social revolution - his movement was a nationalist one

WWII & Vietnam Ho Chi Minh returned to Vietnam in 1941 and began forming the independence movement which became known as the Viet Minh to fight the Japanese who had taken over Vietnam from the French Minh and his army are receiving aid from the United States and working jointly with them to defeat the Japanese in the former Indochina When WWII is over and the Japanese leave Vietnam in 1945, the dream of an independent Vietnam seems to be a reality On September 2, 1945, Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam an independent nation, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam

The French Return The French refuse to recognize the DRV and came back in to Vietnam to reclaim part of their empire - they manage to push the Viet Minh into the northern part of the country Minh wrote eight letters to President Truman imploring him to recognize the DRV as Minh had supported the U.S. in WWII Because of the fear of the spread of communism and Minh’s associations with communism, the administration condemned Minh as an “agent of international Communism” The U.S. sends aid to the French - Truman sends over $15 million in 1950 to help the French defeat the Viet Minh - aid to the French extends into Eisenhower’s presidency

Containment & The Domino Theory After China becomes communist in 1949 and the stalemate in Korea leads to a communist North Korea, the U.S. becomes even more concerned about containing communism from spreading President Eisenhower coins the term, the domino theory in this statement, “You knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly.” The U.S. is convinced if Vietnam becomes a communist nation, all of Asia will fall

The French Are Defeated Despite U.S. aid, the French are defeated by the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu in 1954 A meeting is held in Geneva, Switzerland to determine the future of Vietnam and is attended by France, Great Britain, the USSR, China, the United States, and representatives from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia The Geneva Accords called for a cease-fire and a temporary division of Vietnam along the 17th parallel until elections could be held to reunite the country Ngo Dinh Diem was appointed as Prime Minister of South Vietnam and knew that Minh was expected to win the national elections, so he cancelled the elections (which was supported by the U.S.) causing Vietnam to officially be split into the DRV in the north (led by Ho Chi Minh and the Republic of Vietnam in the south (led by Diem)

Ngo Dinh Diem The majority of South Vietnam was Buddhist but Diem was part of the minority that practiced Catholicism He began oppressive and violent actions against the majority population including Buddhist monks Many Buddhist monks and nuns protested by burning themselves to death in public Eisenhower made a deal with Diem - if Diem cleaned up his government and created a stable South Vietnam, Eisenhower would provide military aid and training to ward off the North Vietnamese Diem’s government continued to become more & more corrupt & out of touch causing an opposition movement to form known as the Vietcong The Vietcong began assassinating government official and South Vietnam becomes more & more unstable

Kennedy takes office Kennedy comes in to office in 1961 and continues to support Diem until it is clear that if South Vietnam is to survive, Diem must go The U.S. supports a military coup and Kiem is assassinated on November 1, 1963 Kennedy is then assassinated on November 22 and the Vietnam problem is passed on to Lyndon Johnson Kennedy had begun to consider a withdrawal from Vietnam and had ordered the removal of 1,000 advisors Before he was assassinated, he had said, “In the final analysis, it’s their war…”

Johnson takes a stand Lyndon B. Johnson took office after Kennedy was assassinated and was determined that he would not be held responsible for the fall of Vietnam to communism He increased the number of U.S. advisers to 27,000 by mid Intelligence reports were clear that the resistance movement, the National Liberation Front, was supported by and created in the south, but Johnson chose to believe that North Vietnam was responsible for any rebellion in the south Johnson authorized covert attacks against North Vietnamese territory along with secret bombing of the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos