Vietnam+Paragraphs

Previously, France ruled Vietnam along with Cambodia and Laos. Many people wanted Vietnam to become and independent nation, so they had protests and revolts against the French. Ho Chi Minh brought three communist groups together to form the Indochinese Communist Party, or the ICP. Because of this, many people were sentenced to death including Ho Chi Minh, who was sentenced to death, but was not present. During WWII, Japan took rule of Indochina. Ho Chi Minh came back to Vietnam to get this independance. The US aided him in fighting against the Japanese. Ho Chi Minh later declared independence for Vietnam. The war began between Viet Minh and France.

While the US was in The Cold War, France was having a hard time keeping control of Vietnam. President Truman continued following his policy of containment, to prevent the spread of communsim. In 1949, China was taken over by communists. Many American leaders were worried about communsim in Asia. President Truman agreed to help France, because the US wanted the support from France against the Soviets in The Cold War. The US also did not want Vietnam to be communist, thus they entered the war in 1950. Vietnam was able to defeat the French in North Vietminh. This caused a communist government to be created in the North. Vietnam was then split. Dien Bien Phu, an anticommunist, later became president of South Korea.

US presidents also had great involvement in the war. Truman, for example, agreed to help France when they needed aid from the US. Truman put the Rolling Thunder plan into action in 1965, which was a long lasting bombing offense. Kennedy also, does not want to be allow communsim at all. He also continued to send military advisors to Vietnam after he died. Johnson started to commit the US even more to the war in Vietnam, by also sending more advisors. These advisors weren't supposed to fight in combat, but President Johnson told them a U.S. military ship was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin, and the Vietnamese came back to attack two days later. So, Johnson told U.S. planes to bomb North Vietnam, and Congress told him he could take whatever steps necessary to help protect the U.S.