Why Did we Begin The War?
The Vietnam War revolved around the American belief that communism was threatening to expand all over south-east Asia. However, the initial reason that the United States entered Vietnam was to provide aid to the French in their battle against Viet Minh in North Vietnam.
The United States entered the Vietnam War in a series of steps between 1950 and 1965. In 1950, President Truman authorized program economic and military aid to the French. In 1954, when the French wanted to allow the creation of communist North Vietnam, Eisenhower undertook the building a nation from South Vietnam by creating a government, taking control from the French, placing military advisers to train a South Vietnam Army, and allowing the CIA to conduct psychological warfare against the North. In 1961, Kennedy secretly sent 400 Green Berets to teach the South Vietnamese how to the counterinsurgency against Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam. It was not until under Johnson, in 1964 in the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that the United States was almost fully committed to the war. By March of 1965, the United States was at war in Vietnam after Johnson authorized the bombings of targets north of the 17th parallell and the dispatching of 3,500 Marines to South Vietnam.
The United States entered the Vietnam War in a series of steps between 1950 and 1965. In 1950, President Truman authorized program economic and military aid to the French. In 1954, when the French wanted to allow the creation of communist North Vietnam, Eisenhower undertook the building a nation from South Vietnam by creating a government, taking control from the French, placing military advisers to train a South Vietnam Army, and allowing the CIA to conduct psychological warfare against the North. In 1961, Kennedy secretly sent 400 Green Berets to teach the South Vietnamese how to the counterinsurgency against Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam. It was not until under Johnson, in 1964 in the Tonkin Gulf Resolution that the United States was almost fully committed to the war. By March of 1965, the United States was at war in Vietnam after Johnson authorized the bombings of targets north of the 17th parallell and the dispatching of 3,500 Marines to South Vietnam.