9-2)+Vietnam

There has been a lot of communist drama in Vietnam in the fifties and sixties. Vietnam was held by the French in 1953, until Ho Chi Minh led revolts for communism. Vietnam splits in half, and the south is the free side that holds elections, but that didn’t happen because the people would all vote for Ho Chi Minh. Ngo Dinh Diem leads the south without an election. Truman had sent money to help france fight the communists. He is assassinated when Kennedy turns against him. Kennedy also sent many military advisors into Vietnam to consult the people. Shortly after a US ship is sunk in the gulf of tonic and we declare war but technically not.

When war started, the US had the strategy to choke them and then go in. To start off, the US bombed Vietnam with rolling thunder. The US then sent in troops by land, and the number of troops just kept going up and up during Johnson’s presidency. The first ones there were marines in 1965. The war turns out to be a bigger deal than they thought it would be.