Why did America become increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam?

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Why did America become increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam?

        The Vietnam war was started by the Vietminh who were led by Ho Chi Minh which wanted to turn all Vietnam into a communist country but a very large part of Vietnam, mainly the cities, were being ruled by the French who wouldn’t allow this to happen so the two sides went to war.

        Two other countries that also believed in communism were Soviet Russia and China, supported Ho Chi Minh by supplying weapons and money to try and ensure that Ho Chi Minh became the controller of all Vietnam.  The French on the other hand only had one country supporting them, America.  America believed in THE DOMINO THEORY that if one country falls under communism then the neighbouring countries would follow.  This gained added importance in the Second World War when communism spread throughout Eastern Europe.  So America supplied money and arms to the French, 80% of the French costs for the war, as they feared Vietnam could fall under communist hands. The French however didn’t have enough troops in Vietnam and it was difficult to keep them supplied so after a humiliating defeat in Dien Bien Phu in may 1954 they informed the Geneva Peace conference that they would be leaving Vietnam.  The conference decided that Vietnam would be separated into two parts along the 17th parallel.  Ho Chi Minh was in charge of the north and in the south Ngo Dinh Diem.  Ngo Dinh Diem didn’t believe that Vietnam should become communist but he used violence to earn power which made most of the country dislike him.  America also didn’t agree with his methods but he was the only leader that believed the same things as America, America sent over advisers and gave Diem a huge financial helper in 1954 ($250 million) to keep the communists out of South Vietnam.  This seemed to just make things worse for America as Diem kept his harsh methods and lost more support. Diem was losing the support of the Vietnamese people and refused to arrange elections in 1956, so agreed at the Geneva Conference due to the fear of communists winning the election.  America began moving troops into Vietnam and trained Vietnam armed forces to help Diem win the civil war in his own country and to defeat the communists from the North.  Diem acted very harsh towards the Buddhists and this made him even more unpopular.

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America’s support mounted to nearly 17000 troops just before President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 and Diem was over thrown.        People believe that he wanted to keep America’s record of a winning nation and make himself look like a good president if he could win the war.  America’s reason for being in the war, the defeat therefore changed into a personal war and had lost its true meaning of communism.  Kennedy’s follow up president, Lyndon .B. Johnson, who also believed in the Domino Theory, thought that the first vital domino was Vietnam and was on its way ...

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