Professor Hess
American Government
November 09, 2014 This was a period in time in American history from 1959-1975 that many trials and tribulation occur in the United States. The cause of this commotion was the Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War was a prolonged draw out struggle between the country of Vietnam under a communist government and the United States. All while South Vietnamese was trying to prevent the spread of communism. With the pressure of the war, the country was shook up. Many U.S leader lost the public support for the war. During the Vietnam war, there were various Presidents in office; Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. Each president share their own …show more content…
In the early months of the Vietnam war, Eisenhower was coming into his presidency. Continuing the reign and policy's of president Truman, Eisenhower continue to help the French. The US involvement in the Vietnam war consisted of giving materials and monetary aid to the French. In the course of Eisenhower administration, his policy would switched from aiding the France to an experiment to build up South Vietnam. Vietnam was now divided into two, with Ho Chi Minh in control of the north and the Emperor Bao Dai in control of the south. Around the exit of Eisenhower presidency, he would send his Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles to set up the South-East Asia Treaty Organization also known as SEATO. The SEATO agreement would set up allies with Great Britain to protect South Vietnam. With Eisenhower leaving offices, John F. Kennedy would take control. John F. Kennedy was a firm believer in containing communism. In John F. Kennedy first speech in becoming president, he made it very clear that he would continue with the policies of President Eisenhower. John F. Kennedy also stated "he would support the government of Diem in South Vietnam." Kennedy was so convinces to support the theories of "Domino" because he felt if South Vietnam would fall to communism, other states in the region …show more content…
Johnson would soon step into office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Lyndon D. Johnson was a support of the hawks; he also kept the support of South Vietnam. Lyndon B. Johnson wasn’t going to give up on Vietnam, he stated “If we quit Vietnam tomorrow we’ll be fighting in Hawaii and next week we’ll have to be fighting in San Francisco.” Lyndon B. Johnson encourages the advisors to take a more forceful approach to the communist in Vietnam. Around this time there was a new leader in South Vietnam, his name was General Khanh. General Khanh would make it very clear to president Johnson, that “that he did not believe that the South Vietnamese Army could withstand the National Liberation Front (NLF). General Khanh believed the NLF was stronger than South Vietnamese. Lyndon B. Johnson would do everything in his power to help General Khanh. With the new election right around the corner, Lyndon B. Johnson was concern about the election. With Johnson winning the election and Vietnam war still in progress, he was determined to stop communist and fight for what he believe in. When Lyndon B. Johnson took officer in 1963, he sends over more than 400,000 troops. The American people would soon realize there was no end to this war anytime soon. In 1965, Lyndon B. Johnson would change the whole ball game by ordering the