Vietnam+Path+to+War

The US didn’t put large amounts of forces into Vietnam until 1965, but we had been fighting with Vietnam since WWII. What the US wanted to do was to end Japan’s control over southeast Asia. Because of this the US hired Vietnamese gorilla fighters known as the Vietminh lead by Ho Chi Minh. He was a communist but he admired the US. The US pulled the little troops they had in Vietnam out after Japan surrendered. Vietnam was ruled by the France government, so after they kicked out Japan Ho CHin Minh decided to try to get rid of France next, France is and ally of the US. The French eventually pulled out their troops and Vietnam was agreed to be split in two at the 17th parallel. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the north half, the more communism half, and Ngo Dinh Diem was the leader of the southern half, the more anit-communism half. But Vietnam wanted to be ruled by one leader so a vote was to be held and Ho chi Minh was thought to win. Communists in the south formed a group called the National Liberation Front, they tried to over throw Ngo Ninh Diem and get Vietnam back as a united nation. The Vietcong, as the communist group came to be known as, destroyed roads and assassinated government official. Kennedy and his military advisors saw south Vietnam as the last and only hope of stopping the spread of communism in southeast Asia. So the US sent some people over to south Vietnam in order to help and teach the south Vietnamese how to fight better against gorilla warfare. After Kennedy was assassinated his vice president Johnson became president. In August 1964 the fighting was taken to the next level. The USS Matix was patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin when it was shot at by a north Vietnamese torpedo ship started shooting at it. Two days later the USS Matix reported it was under attack again. Johnson was so mad that the north Vietnamese did this he order air strikes to attack north Vietnam. The first Marines landing in Vietnam in 1965.