Us Involvement In Vietnam Essay

During World War II, the French Indochina was occupied by the Japanese. But after the war, the French tried to reclaim their former colonies in Indochina. While trying to reclaim their territory, the Vietminh, a Communist group, attacked the French in order to keep the land. The United States aided the French but it failed to led the French into victory. The French and Vietminh battled at Dien Bien Phu where the French were defeated. A treaty was signed in Geneva, Switzerland. The treaty granted self-government to Cambodia and Laos and arranged for Vietnam to be divided temporarily at the seventeenth parallel until elections could be held to choose a government to lead a unified Vietnam.

In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh set in place a Communist government in North Vietnam. In South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem refused to allow the scheduled elections to reunify Vietnam because of the Communists' track record of subverting elections and because he preferred to remain in power. Since the United States is opposed to communism, the United States aided Diem in his mission to keep Vietnam from begin Communist. Many people in South Vietnam supported Communism and wanted to reunite Vietnam under Communism. These people were called the Viet Cong and they rebelled against Diem with the support of North Vietnam, Soviet Union and China. The United States sent more military aid

This boat was manned by South Vietnamese special forces but governed by the United States. A US destroyer call the USS Maddox was headed to the same mission on an intelligence gathering When the USS Maddox saw the South Vietnam PT boat being chase by two north Vietnamese boats. The USS Maddox shot and destroyed the Vietnamese boats. When new of what happen came to President Johnson spoke with the Congress and the U.S. Department of Defense. They resolved to give the president extensive authority to increase U.S. involvement in