Reasons For The US Involvement In Vietnam

Question 1

What was the background to the Vietnam war?

Answer 1

• Vietnam was ruled by the French until 1954. Then it was divided into two countries.
• The communist ruler of North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh, wanted to unite the North and South under his control. He supported the Vietcong in South Vietnam.
• President Diem ruled South Vietnam. He was strongly anti-communist, but we also a brutal and unpopular leader.

Question 2

Who were the Vietcong?

Answer 2

• The Vietcong (National Liberation Front) were the communist guerrilla soldiers fighting to overthrow President Diem and his government.
• By 1964, there were over 100,000 Vietcong in the South and they were killing thousands of South Vietnamese officials every year. Diem’s army could not get rid of them.

Question 3

Why did Americans get involved?

Answer 3

• America said it wanted to ‘save’ the South Vietnamese people from the evils of communism.
• Cold War; Americans were obsessed with stopping Communism, both abroad and at home.
• The Americans wanted to “contain” the spread of Communism in the world. It knew that the USSR and China, both Communist-ruled, were sending aid to Communism North Vietnam.
• The Americans also believed in the “domino theory”. If Vietnam became Communist, they were sure that neighbouring countries would do so too.
• Diem was a corrupt and brutal leader, who was very unpopular. He was a Catholic ruling a mainly Buddhist country and gave Catholics all the best jobs. This meant lots of South Vietnamese people did not like him and were more likely to start supporting the Vietcong.

Question 4

What did the Americans do to help Diem?

Answer 4

• At first, military advisers were sent to train the ARVN (the South Vietnamese army).
• The US also gave a lot of money and modern weapons to South Vietnam.
• By November 1963, when Johnson took over as President, there were 16,000 military “advisors” (but many were by now involved in fighting).
• The Americans encouraged Diem to force the peasants in areas dominated by the Vietcong to live in “strategic hamlets” (villages that were heavily defended against attack). This policy did not work. By 1963, the Vietcong controlled about 40% of the rural areas of South Vietnam.
• Diem was very unpopular because of his corrupt and cruel government. He was killed in 1863, but the leaders who followed were not much better.

Question 5

How did Johnson escalate the war after 1963?

Answer 5

• At first Johnson just continued the policy of using military “advisers”, as started by President Kennedy, but then Ho Chi Minh sent units of the NVA into the South to back up the Vietcong. Johnson now decided to increase American involvement.
• The Gulf of Tonkin incident in August 1964, (when US ships were allegedly attacked by North Vietnamese ships) gave him the excuse to attack the North.
• In 1965, he ordered the bombing of North Vietnam.
• He then ordered US combat troops into action to back up the weak ARVN. Johnson believed that they would lead to a quick defeat of the Vietcong.
• In March 1965, 3,500 marines arrived in Vietnam. From now on, General Westmoreland directed the war in Vietnam. By 1968 there were over 500,000 US troops in South Vietnam.