In 1950 the French government appealed to the US for support. By 1953 the USA had spent $300,000,000 altogether. The USA wanted to prevent areas of the world becoming communist. The Cold War was at its height in the early 1950s, when the French appealed to the USA for aid. The US government saw Vietnam as another Korea. Once the US became involved, it sent more and more aid in an effort to prevent all its investment being lost. After the French left in 1954, the USA continued to support the south, even after Diem took over. This was the belief that if on country fell to communism, its neighbours would follow the US came up with name the Domino Theory. In November 1960 President Eisenhower sends 17 officers to Saigon to help the ARVN, but by 1961 there were 685 advisers and when he became president in 1961, Kennedy increased the number of
military advisors from 700 to 15,000 Kennedy had been embarrassed by the failure of the Bay of Pigs and wanted to defeat communism to get more support from the public. They both saw South Vietnam as a place to stop communist and the Domino theory working and America was determined to do anything to stop communist.
The only reason Eisenhower and Kennedy supported Diem because he was anti-communist. By 1963 Diem's rule in South Vietnam was so corrupt that he was facing continuous opposition. Several Buddhist monks burned themselves to death in protest. Diem faced opposition from trade unions and a general strike was called. The South Vietnamese army was called ARVN which was helped by the USA, but before there were soldiers in Vietnam the military advisers helped the ARVN with military tactics to help them fight the NLF ‘National Liberation Front’ but Diem called them the Vietcong. The Vietcong’s supports grew very quickly by 1961 there were 20,000 but in 1964 there was 100,000. The 3 aims of the NLF were to over throw Diem, get USA out and Re-unite South and North Vietnam. Kennedy threatened to withdraw military aid and then backed a plot by South Vietnamese generals to arrest Diem. He was murdered just three weeks before Kennedy's own assassination,
Johnson visited South Vietnam and went much further than Kennedy. He increased US support to 23,000 men. Johnson became determined to send combat troops to Vietnam. In August 1964 the USA claimed that US warships had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. In January 1965 the CIA staged a landing of North Vietnamese troops. So President Johnson asked the government to pass a law so he could take “all necessary action” on Vietminh and the Vietcong, Johnson was able to use this as an excuse to start 'Operation Rolling Thunder'. This was the beginning of heavy bombing of North Vietnam. Operation Rolling Thunder led to heavy bombing of North Vietnam that was far worse than anything that had been seen during the Second World War. The aim was to destroy military bases and equipment in North Vietnam and to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail He hoped these tactics would force the North Vietnamese to give up. The North Vietnamese army, NLF or Viet Cong, very rarely fought in open battles. They used guerrilla tactics, Therefore, it was impossible to find Viet Cong soldiers, because as they did not wear uniform. After a fight they would scatter and it would be impossible to find them. The Viet Cong were supplied from the north by the Ho Chi Minh trail, which ran through Laos and Cambodia. The USA also used the tactic Search and Destroy missions were sent into the jungle. Their success depended on the body count. The number of dead Vietnamese brought back. It was usually impossible to tell which side they had been on. Maybe the reason Johnson increased the amount of men in Vietnam was because there was an election coming up and wanted to get more voters on his side.
The numbers of US casualties rose by 1967. These returned to the USA in body bags amongst the troops in Vietnam. There was increasing opposition in the USA by Civil Rights' leaders. From 1968 there was a wave of protests across the USA, particularly at universities. Some students were shot when the National Guard was called in to end the unrest. Draft- altogether served in Vietnam. This was the first war to be shown live on television and in colour.
In 1969 he began peace talks, and started the withdrawal of US forces, but at the same time stepped up attacks on North Vietnam. Nixon began to withdraw US forces in 1969, but he did not want to reveal that to the North. To cover the withdrawal he stepped up
Operation Rolling Thunder, US forces also invaded Laos and Cambodia and bombed both countries. Talks between the USA and the North Vietnamese went on for 5 years. Agreement was finally reached in 1973 when the US withdrew. The defence of South Vietnam was then taken over by the ARVN,. It held out until May 1975. When South Vietnam fell it was united with the North. Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. The Vietnam War causalities were high 2,000,000 men, women and children were killed. Over 7,000,000 tonnes of bombs were dropped on North Vietnam, more than three times the amount dropped during the 2nd World War, but the biggest blow to the Americans was that
the war cost $120,000,000,000
So the main reason for USA getting involved was to stop the spread of communism throughout Asia but they failed because the neighbouring countries Laos and Cambodia eventually became communist so there Domino Theory was right. I think if America had of stayed in Vietnam for another year or 2 the communist in Vietnam would eventually of fallen and the country would of been joined as 1 as a democratic country.
