Vietnam+Path+to+War

=VIETNAM - THE PATH TO WAR =

You all know that the United States was involved in a major military conflict in Vietnam during the Cold War ... but why? What was America's "path to war"? Using the resources below and __Creating America__, your task this evening is to write a description in YOUR OWN WORDS of the causes of American involvement in Southeast Asia. Pretend you are writing it as a summary for on online encyclopedia or textbook. Your description should ...
 * be between two and four complete, well written paragraphs
 * contain the following terms - France, Ho Chi Minh, communism, Ngo Dinh Diem, military advisors, Gulf of Tonkin, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Rolling Thunder
 * be IN YOUR OWN WORDS (remember, it's easy to check this online)
 * contain two images THAT RELATE TO YOUR WRITING
 * Should end with the first Marines landing in Vietnam in 1965

//Creating America// [|Into Vietnam (Overview)] from ABC-CLIO [|**Vietnam War** - the **Causes**] [|Timeline of the Vietnam War] [|Vietnam Online Timeline] Causes of the Vietnam War video below

The nationalist wanted the french out. during a 10 year period the rebel Viet Minh caught on and they end up over throwing their colonies. Vietnam was then split into two, the french were in the south and the communist Viet Minh in the north. The US who supported the french also supported Ngo Dinh Diem, the leader from the south. Ho chi Minh was the leader of the revolutionary army. The north who wanted to reunite the country went to war with the south and because of this the south asked for the US to help.

The US agreed to aid the south in their fight against the north. Eisenhower sent military advisors over to vietnam and JFK increased them by the end of 1962. The US feared that Vietnam would become a communist country which could have an inlfuence on other countries around it. in 1964 Johnson announced that he sent a ship over to vietnam. The north then attacks two smalll southern islands and the ship that was sent over, Maddox, was near by. He ordered planes to bomb the north in aid of south vietnam against aggression. Johnson authorized operation "rolling thunder". It is support to force North Vietnam to stop supporting the Vietcong guerrillas in the south.