Vietnam Research Project

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Vietnam Research Project

1. Vietnam was a conflict that was originally fought by the French.

They acted this way to follow the 'Truman doctrine' but by 1950, war

had flared up again and America joined. In '54 Eisenhower had come up

with the 'domino theory' as a justification for the involvement. This

theory stated, "If South Vietnam falls to the Communist, Laos,

Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, India and Pakistan would also fall like

dominos. The Pacific Islands and even Australia could be at risk."

After the French were defeated in 1954, Vietnam was split in two; the

north was Communist, led by Ho Chi Minh, and the south was Capitalist

under Ngo Dinh Diem. Diem's regime got billions of dollars from the US

but remained very unpopular with most Vietnamese people. The US

prevented the elections that were promised under the Geneva conference

because it knew that the Communists would win. Vietnamese Buddhist

monks protested against American involvement by suicide, mainly by

burning themselves.Operation Phoenix was organised by the CIA. This

led to the arrest and murder of thousands of Communists in the south.

First the US sent in military advisers, and then President Johnson

sent in troops in huge numbers. This shows that America had one main

reason for getting involved in Vietnam; to stop the spread of

communism. They didn't want to get involved in this conflict, so they

let the French try to resolve it, helping them with a donation of $15

million, including a military mission and military advisors. American

involvement officially began in 1950 when the US government recognized

the Bao Dai government and began sending the French aid to fight off

the communist backed Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh, and also when

Communist forces from North Korea invade the Republic of South Korea

on June 25. In response top this President Truman appealed to the

United Nations to take action. The UN quickly labelled North Korea the

aggressor, and Truman followed up by immediately sending US air and

naval support to Korea. America got involved in this war in stages,

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