Vietnam+Path+2

France ruled Vietnam as part of its colony called the French Indochina from the late 1800s until WWII. The Vietnamese never accepted the French rule, in which various groups of nationalists began to revolt against the French. They wanted Vietnam to become an independent nation. Ho Chi Minh was a revolutionary leader who united three Communist groups, which was later formed as the Indochinese Communist Party. Many members were arrested, they were mostly peasants, and Ho Chi Minh was sentenced to death. He later on secretly returned to Vietnam and hid in a jungle camp. Also later on other nations joined the ICP and the ICP then was called the Viet Minh. Since Japan was against Vietnam and the United States, the U.S. decided to aid Ho Chi Minh. In 1946, war broke out between France and the Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh was able to create a peaceful solution to the conflict.

France was also aided by the United States, not just Ho Chi Minh alone. France asked the United States to help them and the U.S. agreed. The U.S. needed to help France because they needed French support in opposing the Soviets in Europe. Another reason why the U.S. wanted the help the French is because they did not want Vietnam to become a communist country. President Truman first entered the United States in the 1950s with $10 million in military aid to the French, and after Eisenhower became president he still aided to the French. This concept is called the domino theory; if a country fell to communism then nearby countries would also topple. For an example, the United States feared that if Vietnam became a Communist country, then the rest of Southeast Asia would follow.

In May of 1954, France met with the Viet Minh for peace talks in Switzerland. The two sides reached an agreement called the Geneva Accords. This described the agreement were Vietnam was divided into North and South along the 17th parallel. Surrounding this line was a demilitarized zone (DMZ). The two sides also agreed to hold elections in 1956 for a single government that would reunify the country. Ho Chi Minh became the leader in the North and Ngo Dihn Diem became the leader of South Vietnam. The United States brought transportation for the anti-communists who wanted to flee to South Vietnam. Unfortunately, Diem had little support from the people in South Korea compared to Minh was had a lot fo support from the people. Diem wanted to not hold national elections in 1956, but President Eisenhower changed his mind. Diem was a person who did not establish a democratic government. His governing went so bad that he ended up jailing, torturing, and killing his opponents. His opponents created a group that Diem called the Viet Cong because they were Vietnamese Communists.

This group tried to overthrow the Diem government and reunite the country under Communist rule. The members of North Vietnam wanted to support the Viet Cong by sending soldiers and supplies along the network paths called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Thus supply line wove though the jungles and the mountains of Vietnam. By 1963, when John F. Kennedy was in the White House, the Viet Cong was close to victory. Kennedy continued to send military advisors and military equipment to South Korea, but later on in 1963 the U.S. had more than 16,000 military personnel there. When the aid increased, so did the South Vietnamese opposition to Diem. American officials have told Diem to make political, economic and military reforms. With the U.S. support, a military coup overthrew Diem in 1963 and without Kennedy’s wishes; the coup’s leaders killed him. Three weeks later, President Kennedy was assassinated and Lyndon B. Johnson became president.