Vietnam
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Americas involvement in Vietnam was a very crucial part for the out come of the war. First of all Vietnam war started for the Americans in Feb of 1965 when president Johnson sent armed forces to combat, to save South Vietnam from being taken over from North Vietnam. Our motives were altruistic. We wanted the South Vietnamese to be able to determine there own form of government, with out interference from North Vietnam. Sfd 1.
There was no fixed beginning for the U.S. war in Vietnam. The United States entered that war incrementally, in a series of steps between 1950 and 1965
America first got really involved in Vietnam however in 1954 when the Geneva agreements were signed. The U.S. thought that these agreements enhanced the opportunity of communist exploration in South East Asia. The United States was determined to contain that exploration with help from our allies.
In the early 1950s the French were trying to help the Vietnamese gain there independence by putting an end to the Viet Minh resistance. The Viet Minh were a Communist- Orientated Vietnamese resistance group that was initially against the Japanese. Although the French formally got Vietnam there independence, the Vietnamese army was very dependent
on the French leadership. The U.S. would have rather seen Vietnam be more independent, there was nothing else that could work because if the French pulled out Communism would have taken over the country very quickly.
In response to a French request, the U.S. Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, Announced in May 1950 that we would give economic aid and military equipment to The Associated States of Indochina ( Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos) and to the French in order to assist them in restoring stability and for them to pursue a peaceful and Democratic Development. SFD 7
The first deployment of American soldiers was comprised of eight C-47s, they were transported to the French in Saigon on June 29 1950.
By late 1953 the French looked like they were going to lose the battle with the Viet Minh. When the French asked for direct military assistance from the United States ” The Eisnenhower administration took the position that we would only respond as part of a combined force of a number of our European and far eastern allies.”SFD 8. The British didnt want to get evolved in the war at all and Eisenhower was convinced that unilateral action on our part would be a mistake. So with out the help from all of the allies the French were left to face defeat at Dein Bein Phu ( Dein Bein Phu was a remote outpost and air field) 8
There was a Geneva Conference on the 26th of April1954.