Three causes of the Vietnam war and the U.S. involvement

1. Three causes of the Vietnam war and the U.S. involvement Truman provided aid to the French (economic & military)- May 1950 Post WW2 France tried to reassert control in Indochina ( Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), Ho Chi Minh started Vietnamese anti- Colonial movement Vietminh

2. America support the South and not the North because the South agreed to a democracy. The North also had communists working with communist China. Another cause of the Vietnam War was America's support of South Vietnam.

3. Stopping the spread of communism was an issue for America. The Domino Theory come from President Eisenhower because he believed if one of the country's on the brink of communism falls, its only a matter of time before other do too. This was another reason for the Vietnam War. To stop the spread of communism, Americans aided in the war for the South and supported the anti-communist leader, Ngo Dinh Diem.

4. Vietnam War Time Line 1950-1965

5. 1950-1954 U.S gets involved. (1950) Bao Dai appointed Ngo Dinh Diem, an anti-communist, Roman Catholic and Prime Minister. (1954) Dien Bien Phu battle where the Vietnamese overran the French. (1954)

6. 1955-1956 Diem rejected the provisions of the Geneva Accords that called for Vietnam wide elections within two years. (1955) Washington believed that the popularity of Ho-Chi Minh and the Vietminh would guarantee a communist victory. (1956) Geneva Conference. (1956)

7. 1960-1963 Diem's increasingly dictatorial governing style triggered several failed coup attempts and heightened violence in the country side. (1960) Diem Assassination. (1963) Kennedy Assassination. (1963) In August (1963), Ambassador Lodge was instructed to tell the generals dissatisfied with Diem that the United States would condone a coup so long as the anti-communists struggle continued.

8. 1964-1965 During (1964), an estimated ten thousand North Vietnamese troops infiltrated the South. Tonkin Gulf Resolution. The Vietnamese fired a torpedo at us and they missed and then we returned fire and inflicted heavy damage. Johnson was granted full military powers. (1964) The first major U.S combat units arrive in Vietnam. (1965) Operation Rolling Thunder. President Johnson ordered the bombing of North Vietnam. (1965)

9. Cold War Time Line Issac Sweeney, Taylor Pepin, Jed Scott, Jenna Salvas, and Brenna Whelan

10. 1950-1955 • 1950- Korean War Begins • 1952 - First Hydrogen Bomb - Eisenhower was elected • 1953- Korean War cease-fire signed • 1954- USSR first small nuclear plant

11. 1955-1960 • 1956- Soviets crash uprising in Hungary • 1957- Soviets launch Sputnik 1 • 1958- U-2 incident • 1959- Fidel Castro comes to power in Cuba • 1960- Kennedy's elected president • National Liberation front forms in South Vietnam

12. 1960-1965 • 1961- U.S. Launches Bay of Pigs Invasion • 1962- U.S. & USSR face off in Cuban missile crisis • Kennedy's assassinated • 1963- Lyndon B. Johnson back up • 1964- Johnson's elected president

13. 1965-1970 • 1968- Warsaw troops invade Czechoslovakia • 1965- U.S. Troops enter Vietnam • 1966- Mao Zedong begins cultural revolution in China

14. Key People Ho Chi Minh: Lead the Indochinese communist Party (1930) Helped form the Vietminh and declared Vietnam an independent nation. Ngo Dinh Diem: A strong anti-communist, as well as South Vietnam's President

15. Key People John F Kennedy: One of the presidents during the Vietnam war. Supported Diem by sending money and US troops to South Vietnam Lyndon B Johnson: Escalated the US role in Vietnam. He was JFK's successor(next in line) to Presidency. He also signed The Civil Rights Act in 1964

16. Key People Robert McNamara: A foreign policy adviser - Secretary of Defense. He supported General Westmoreland in the fact that Vietcong was going to surrender. Dean Rusk: A foreign policy adviser – Secretary of State. He was a key decision maker in the State Department (advised the President)

17. Key People William Westmoreland: The American commander in South Vietnam. Requested more troops in Vietnam Richard Nixon: Elected in 1969 as president, announced the first US troop withdrawals from Vietnam Henry Kissinger: National Security Adviser, also planned to end America's involvement in Vietnam

18. Groups Involved in the Vietnam WarBy: Mark Peterson, Kaley Ledoux, Tristan White, Anthony Simpson.

19. North Vietnam (The Vietminh) played a direct roll in aiding and organizing South Vietnamese rebels prior to 1960s. One million soldiers died, as well as 500 million civilians. North Vietnam

20. Australia & New Zealand • Both sent troops to Vietnam as part of SEATO ( Southeast Asia Treaty Organization) They were allies of the United states. Their goal was to stop the spread of communism.

21. United States • President Kennedy was worried about the spread of communism, so he devoted his time to assisting South Korea, along with Australia and New Zealand.

22. Vietcong • This was a military branch of the national liberation front. It was commanded by the central office for South Vietnam. They depended on the Ho Chi Minh Trail for supplies.

23. Russia • The Russian military supplied Mig-17 Mig-21 jet fighters to the North Vietnamese airforce. Needless to say, they wanted the spread of communism. They also supplied general artillery, trucks, and other forms of assistance.

24. Russians in the Vietnam War

25. Laos • During the time of the Vietnam war, Laos was also going through its own civil war. It received military aid from North Vietnam also the United States offered support to the anti-communist forces. The soviet union and communist China aided communist forces of Vietnam and Laos. The war in Laos was considered to be a “secret war”.

26. Laos in the Vietnam War