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
 * continue the following terms - France, Ho Chi Minh, communism, Ngo Dinh Diem, military advisors, 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

Need some help? How about ... //Creating America// [|Into Vietnam (Overview)] from ABC-CLIO [|**Vietnam War** - the **Causes**] [|Timeline of the Vietnam War] [|Vietnam Online Timeline]

The colonial French admitted defeat in Vietnam in 1954 after they were defeated by the Viet Nimh in the battle of Dien Bien Phu, which began with the signing of the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence on September 2, 1942. As a result of this war, there was a peace conference held in Geneva, Switzerland in which it was decided that Vietnam would be divided at the 17th Parallel and the French troops would move to the southern portion before withdrawing from the country entirely. The northern portion of Vietnam was led by communist Ho Chi Minh who wanted to spread communism to the south by winning the election, However, Ngo Dinh Diem, the prime minister of the south refused to allow the election to occur to prevent the spread of communism. This led to the rebels in the north declaring war on the south and Ngo Dinh Diem was forced to ask for US troops for support.

The US accepted the offer and between 1960 and 1962 the United States increased the number of military advisors in Vietnam from 900 to 11,000. Even though they received support the South Vietnamese Government was crumbling due to the lack of public support and Diem was assassinated on November 1, 1963 which did not help the current situation. US officials were beginning to worry that if Vietnam was lost to communism a number of countries would follow in its footsteps. There was much indecision over what should be done in Vietnam.

August 1964 was a turning point in the tensions between the nations, because North Vietnamese troops unnecessarily attacked the USS Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin. President Johnson's first reaction to this was to order Operation Rolling Thunder in which US planes bombed northern Vietnamese cities. The second thing he did was visit Congress asking for authority to act and it was overwhelmingly granted. In March of 1965, Johnson began rolling out ground troops to Vietnam to protect democracy. ||  || Images courtesy of ABC-CLIO. Left- Marines landing in Vietnam. Right- Eisenhower meeting with Ngo Dinh Diem. ||
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