Path+To+Vietnam+War

=VIETNAM - THE PATH TO WAR = =In the late 1800's, Vietnam was a French Colony, but in the 1930's, Ho Chi Minh led a communist revolt against the French. He is arrested but gets away and flees to China then to the Soviet Union. When IndoChina is taken over by Japan Ho Chi Minh leads a war against Japan. After the war France came back and tried to reclaim Indochina but Ho Chi Minh Forms the Vietminh party which declared independence, fight and win. The Vietminh set up a communist government in the north. = = = =This happens when the U.S was practicing containment and they weren't happy with what was going on in Indochina. So they decided to split Vietnam temperarolly and hold an election to unite the nation. Before this happens though, south Vietnam is created and is the total opposite of the north. The south didn't support the elections because Ho Chi Minh would be elected. This starts a civil war between the North and the South. =  The vice president Lyndon B. Johnson became president. Johnson approved the bombing of North Vietnam to try to get them to try to force them into agreeing with a treaty. This was called operation rolling thunder and it did not succeed. Eventually Johnson had to keep sending more and more troops to defend bases and key locations then we had full involvement in Vietnam. **
 * The U.S. helped fund the south Vietnam army because Ho Chi Minh was a believer in communism and the U.S. didn't want communism to spread. The U.S. Realized they could not stop communism if they kept Ngo Dinh Diem. So the U.S. funded an overthrow of Ngo Dinh Diem. Only a few weeks after this President Kennedy was assassinated.