Why did America become increasingly involved in the affairs of Vietnam beaten 1954-1965?

From 1946 onwards the Vietminh who were an organisation set-up and led by the patriotic, communist Ho Chi Minh fought heavily with the French. They fought with far more primitive weapons than the French who used modern powerful weapons supplied by the US. But where the Vietminh lost out on technology they made up with ferocity, patriotism and their tactics. They fought using Guerrilla warfare and this suited the environment and gave a major advantage to the Vietminh.

The USA had become indirectly involved by funding the war for the French, but this was not enough for them. The French who primarily fought to preserve their empire differed in the reason why America became involved. They saw this conflict as a stand against the worldwide spread of communism and not as war between colonialists and Nationalists. The USA was fighting for the wrong reasons.

The year 1954 was a major turning point, which brought about the direct involvement of USA.

The battle of Dien Bien Phu, in which the French were defeated by the Vietminh. This caused the French to leave Indo-China. The Geneva peace agreement led to the temporary partition of Vietnam. This was to be temporary the elections were to be held in 1956 in which the Vietnamese could vote for their leader.

The Vietminh leader Minh controlled North Vietnam and Bao Dai Controlled South Vietnam; he was disliked and was ousted by Diem.

Diem was a Nationalist and was supported by the Americans. Diem had no intention of holding the elections and stated that the communists would not allow free elections in the North. This broke the Geneva peace agreement and the USA supported his actions. This breached the agreement and the agreement was promised to be defended by the Americans.

In order to keep peace in South Vietnam in 1959 President Eisenhower poured in economical aid and modern weapons and sent military advisors. In 1961 Eisenhower left the office and by this time 685 advisors were in Vietnam. Eisenhower believed in the 'Domino theory', he thought that if Vietnam fell to Communism the surrounding countries would fall like dominoes around it. This was the main reason USA was involved.

Diem set up the A.R.V.N and the new President Kennedy gave approximately $270 million to them. He sent up to 10000 advisors to help Diem. He did this as Communist North seemed to be winning as the peasants in the south disliked Diem as he taxed them and took away there land, where as the Vietminh gave peasants land and helped them. The USA was again fighting for the wrong reasons as they thought it was non-communist against the communists. In fact the peasants didn't understand what communism was they followed Vietminh as they helped them.

The US government set up strategic hamlets, which was a costly failure they fortified selected villages, which they thought, could be most easily defended against the Vietminh (Vietcong). Then villagers were sent to live in them. These were very unpopular with the Vietnamese.

The involvement up to 1963 by USA had cost 50 American lives and more than $400,000,000 for a corrupt government. The South Vietnams army wouldn't fight for their country and the Guerrillas ruled the countryside. The US had to get out or take control and win the war. Kennedy disliked Diem, as he was a bad leader and a bad name for America, he had to support him as they fought communism. In November 1963 A.R.V.N officials assassinated Diem, as they were afraid that the US would withdraw support if Diem stayed in power. President Kennedy knew of the assassination but did nothing. A few weeks later Kennedy himself was assassinated. Throughout the summer before his death, President Kennedy increased his involvement as troops and helicopter crews aided the A.R.V.N against the Vietcong.

The new president, Johnson had the opportunity to pull the US out of involvement in Vietnam he choose not to, he in fact increased the involvement as not to look weak. He poured more money and bombed the Ho Chi Minh trail.

The Gulf on Tonking incident provide the excuse needed by President Johnson to seize control of the war and send troops into Vietnam and win the war. On the 11th November 1965 the American Destroyer 'Maddox' registered a radar mix-up and thought it was being attacked. The President was told, and he went public and stated they were under attack even though a second message was relayed saying it was an error and not attack. The President ignored this and led the public to believe they were being attacked. He did this as he wanted to grasp hold of the war, and now the public was on his side.

The result of this was an escalation in USA's involvement in Vietnam. The congress passed the 'Tonking resolution’, which was take all necessary measures to win.

The war effort was in place and the US navy and the South Vietnam navy fought the Vietminh navy.

On the 11th of February 1965 President Johnson made it clear that he thought 'Operation Rolling Thunder' would win the war. The plan consisted of bombing North Vietnam key military targets, such army barracks, bridges and cities in an attempt to bomb the Vietminh in to submission and stop communism in Vietnam and hopefully the Middle-East.

From 1954 to 1965 the Americans became increasingly involved due to fear, hatred, and the attempt to contain communism. At first America were indirectly part of the war, they gave financial aid and equipment to the South Vietnamese. They increasingly became involved when the prospect of communism endangered their 'Back yard'. The USA was dragged in to the war by their complete and utter hatred of Communism. The US thought the war was communism against nationalists where in fact it was between colonialists and Nationalists. The later part of the war consisted of two Nationalist parties who wanted power over Vietnam. America's tunnel vision saw the Vietminh led by a communist. This meant America would do any thing they could to defeat the Vietminh (communists). And that aim dragged them feet first in to the war they were fighting for the wrong reasons.