The Korean Civil War took place from 1950 to 1953. Similar to Vietnam, the North was communist and the South was capitalist. Also, like Vietnam, the North was supported by a communist country, China in this case, and the North was supported by the US. Since both Vietnam and Korea bore so much resemblance, it is no surprise that the US felt that they could not let Vietnam become communist. Also, due to the US fighting against China (a communist country) in the Korean Civil War, they saw China as their enemies. This adds to the fear and mistrust of communism.
In 1954, the Geneva Agreement was signed, dividing North and South Vietnam along the 17th parallel. The US supported the South Vietnamese government, led by the corrupt tyrant, Ngo Dinh Diem against the communist North, led by Ho Chi Minh. The US is taking sides and this shows increasing US involvement because they are taking an advisory role in supporting South Vietnam.
President Eisenhower devised the domino theory. The domino theory is Eisenhower’s fear that if one country turned communist (one domino getting knocked over), others would follow suit (knocking over one after the other), making communism grow more and more powerful. This shows the fear of the spread of communism, which Truman’s Doctrine vowed to stop. The US felt they should take a more active role in Vietnam, so as to prevent others following.
President Kennedy took over from Eisenhower as president in 1961 and implemented the idea of “safe villages”. These were heavily protected and guarded villages in which the South Vietnamese could live safely. This shows the US increasing involvement by inputting military involvement into Vietnam and putting Americans in Vietnam.
During Kennedy’s presidency, Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader of the South of Vietnam, was assassinated. Kennedy was becoming increasingly reluctant to support Diem’s regime in the time prior to Diem’s assassination, with him threatening American withdrawal from Vietnam. The Americans were aware of the assassination plot on Diem, but did nothing to prevent it. The assassination of Diem and the American’s failure to prevent it shows that the US is becoming more involved politically.
General Westmoreland ordered Search and Destroy against the NLF (National Liberation Front) in 1965, leading the US more deeply involved in Vietnam, with Vietnamese deaths on their hands. America was getting more involved militarily in Vietnam.
When President John F. Kennedy was also assassinated in 1963, Lyndon B. Johnson took over as president. He escalated the war and the involvement of the US dramatically. President Johnson, when he came into power knew little and understood little about the situation in Vietnam, so he continued the current policy in Vietnam as it was.
However, the Gulf of Tongking incident where Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked a US destroyer, led president Johnson to get congress to agree that the US can “use all measures necessary to repel forces”. US involvement in Vietnam was heightening greatly, with US forces allowed to kill any enemies
The US became completely submerged in Vietnam when Vietcong forces attacked a US base at Pleiku, which left eight Americans dead and destroyed ten of the American aircraft. This provocation led the US to have an excuse to elevate the war by bombing North Vietnam. Now that the US had some sort of justification, the war was then in full force. Operation Rolling Thunder was a part of this bombing campaign in North Vietnam, but air crews could not bomb main cities such as Hanoi or Haiphong due to Soviet relations.
The war between the US and North Vietnam was underway.
