Vietnam-+The+Path+To+War

The Path to War Directions

The U.S. sought to end the rule of the Japanese in South East Asia. In doing so the U.S. gave money to Viet Minh, a group of fighters. Ho Chi Minh, who liked the U.S., led the troop, winning large areas in Northern Vietnam back. Japan surrendered to end WWll and pulls their troops out. Ho saw this as an opportunity to push out the French. France had ruled Vietnam as its colony from the late 1800s until WWII. The Vietnamese people did not accept the French rule. This caused revolts from many groups of nationalists. Ho Chi Minh, a revolutionary leader, declared Vietnam’s independence. France wanted to reclaim control of its colonies in East Asia.

France asked the United States to help them and the U.S. agreed because they needed French support in opposing the Soviets in Europe and they did not want Vietnam to become a communist country. President Truman and Eisenhower aided the French using the “domino theory”. If a country fell to communism then nearby countries would follow. France and Viet Minh met in 1954 for peace talks and reached an agreement; the Geneva Accords. The two sides also agreed to hold elections in 1956 for a single government that would reunify the country. Ho Chi Minh became the leader in the North and Ngo Dihn Diem became the leader of South Vietnam. His governing went very badly and he just started eliminating people that were in his way. His opponents created a group that Diem called the Viet Cong because they were Vietnamese Communists.

This group tried to overthrow the Diem government and reunite the country under Communist rule. The members of North Vietnam supported the Viet Cong and sent help. The Viet Cong was close to victory in 1963 when JFK was in the White House. The South Vietnamese opposition to Diem increased when the United States aid increased. With the U.S. support, a military coup overthrew Diem in 1963 and without Kennedy’s wishes; the coup’s leaders killed him. Three weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated.