At the end of World War 2 the USA and USSR had emerged as the two superpowers. A ‘cold war’ started which is a war where no fighting takes place. It was a war between capitalist USA and the communist USSR, dividing the world between two opposing ideologies. The cold war was brewing from the end of the Second World War, with the USSR angry at the USA for not informing them of the use pf the atomic bomb to end the war with Japan. In 1947 to reflect the American anti communist view abroad they also imposed the same restrictions on communists in the USA. From 1947-1950 over 3 million Americans were investigated for their political beliefs. The Un-American Activities Committee started to investigate Hollywood writers and actors who they believed had shown communist sympathies in their writings. 10 were put on trial and were imprisoned for failing to comment on their political stance.
Eisenhower 1952-1960
He had a military background and fought in WW2 for the USA. He stated that “ you have a row of dominoes, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is certainly, that it will go over very quickly.”
This was known as the domino theory because he thought that if one country went communist all of the other countries around it would follow on.
Harry Truman’s policy was that communism mustn’t spread outside the USSR. Diem also believed in containment so that Vietnam doesn’t become communist as well as the USSR. Eisenhower supported the domino theory and was keen to stop communism in its tracks. Truman and Eisenhower put Diem into power because he was as much against communism as they were and they felt that he would stop communism expanding into Vietnam. However Diem was becoming corrupt, he was unwilling to be a puppet ruler (someone who would act and do what the USA wanted.) he constantly rejected their advice and made decisions that upset the south Vietnamese people. Because of this the Americans were slowly becoming entrenched in Vietnam and were being dragged in by Diems actions.
John F. Kennedy was elected president of the USA in November 1960. Kennedy made it clear, in his first speech that he intended to continue Eisenhower’s policy of supporting Diem’s South Vietnamese government. He argued that if South Vietnam became a communist state the whole non-communist world would be at risk. He thought that once South Vietnam went communist then Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Philippines, New Zealand, and Australia would all follow. Kennedy agreed with his advisors that with a fairly small increase in soldiers the USA could prevent a NLF (national liberation front) victory in South Vietnam. He arranged for the South Vietnamese to receive the money necessary to increase the size of their army from 150,000 to 170,000. He also sent another 100 military advisers to Vietnam to help train the South Vietnamese army.
After John F. Kennedy was assassinated, his deputy Lyndon B Johnson became the new president of the United States. He believed that the defence of the USA was dependant on the VIETCONG never gaining victory in South Vietnam. Johnson told his joint chiefs of staff that he would do all that was necessary to prevent the NLF winning in South Vietnam but was unwilling to take unpopular measures like sending troops to fight in a foreign war, until after the 1964 presidential elections. As the elections were not due for another 11 months, the Joint Chiefs of Staff feared that this was too long to wait. Firstly Johnson increased the amount of military advisors from 11,50 in 1962 to 23,000 in 1964. On March 8th 1964, 3.500 us marines arrived in South Vietnam, they were the first ‘official’ US combat troops to be sent into the country. Initially their job was to block the Ho Chi Minh trail and aid the ARVN, though later this was extended to include search and destroy missions. Within 18 months the USA was involved in a full-scale land and air war, with the Americans pounding military targets and Vietcong supply routes.
