vietnam war begins
early involvmentThe US decided to help the French, who are out allies, to prevent the spread of communism into Southeast Asia. The Senate was convinced that we would not get involved with a Civil War. There was a domino theory which is what the US was scared for. Diem refused to hold an election in 1956 in Vietnam so the South grew restive. The French eventually left Vietnam leaving the North and the South separate. However, the United States continued to send supplies to the South to help out.
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years of escalationNorth Vietnam fired on the ships of the United States Navy in 1964. President Kennedy sent in military advisers to help support and train the South Vietnam group, ARVN. The US kept sending more and more people in over the years while the South was struggling to keep up. There was Operation Rolling Thunder where a whole bunch of bombs were dropped over Vietnam. We struggled on the grounds because of their guerrilla warfare, the US couldn't tell if the person was a citizen or a soldier.
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american reactionsThe public was not happy about the US getting involved in another war. They did not want to pay a high amount of money for the war and to support the troops over there because they didn't want to be involved in the first place. They were also in fear that the Chinese would get involved and that could lead to many different issues. There was also a fear with the enemy in Vietnam because nobody could pick them out, so they were scared for the troops.
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