Vietnam-The+Path+to+War




 * A BRIEF HISTORY OF VIETNAM **

Pre 1800s – Vietnam has dynastic rulers, influenced by China

LATE 1800s – Vietnam is a French colony (called French Indochina)

1930s – communist revolts led by Ho Chi Minh – Ho Chi Minh flees to China and USSR (He Who Enlightens)

1940s – Ho Chi Minh forms Vietminh party in order to liberate Vietnam – declare independence in 1945

1954 – Vietminh successfully defeat French in north Vietnam and establish communist government in north

1954 – Vietnam is temporarily split by the Geneva Accords, with free elections to be held in 1956 to unite the nation

LATE 1950s – Civil War in Vietnam between Communist North and American-supported South


 * PRESIDENTIAL INVOLVEMENT **
 * < [[image:turningpoints/hst.gif align="left" caption="hst.gif"]] || [[image:turningpoints/dde.gif align="left" caption="dde.gif"]] || [[image:turningpoints/lfk.gif align="left" caption="lfk.gif"]] || [[image:turningpoints/lbj.gif align="left" caption="lbj.gif"]] ||
 * < **TRUMAN**

-sent economic and military aid to France to help them keep their colonies in Indochina (including Vietnam) || **EISENHOWER** -Felt that if one country falls to communism, then others would follow - the domino theory - helped establish a puppet state in South Vietnam and sent military advisors to help in the South - Ngo Dinh Diem leads South Vietnam - won’t hold free elections || **KENNEDY** -U.S. supports an overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963 -Doesn’t want to be soft on Communism -Continued to send advisors- at his death there were 16,000 Americans in Vietnam || **JOHNSON** -Commits the US more fully to the war in Vietnam -originally only sends a few more advisors ||


 * =** The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution **=

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-president can take “all necessary measures” to protect American forces and “prevent further aggression” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-A BLANK CHECK <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-Passes unanimously in the House and only 2 opposing votes in the Senate “All Vietnam is not worth the life of a single American boy” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-no complete evidence that ships are fired upon || || ||
 * Sec. of Defense Robert McNamera || ||


 * [[image:http://cdn.dipity.com/uploads/events/0bbab3dff8455159bcacb94c240ceb82_1M.png caption="external image 0bbab3dff8455159bcacb94c240ceb82_1M.png"]] || =** Operation Rolling Thunder **=

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">-drop bomb after bomb after bomb on Vietnam (more bombs than in Europe) ||

= =
 * = American ground troops enter Vietnam =

notes || ||

My questions about the Vietnam War: