Vietnam War

Victoria Digiacomo

U.S History Since 1877

Robert Forrant

7 May 2015

Vietnam War

The United States turned inward in the 1920s and 1930s. After the United States participation in World War 1, the nation was ready to focus on a return to normalcy. In the 1920s, Americans were creating a new way of living with its innovative thinking. This new way of living only lasted so long until the stock market crashed in October 1929. Now for the first half of the twentieth century, the United States was in Isolationism. The country kept to themselves, had a small military budget, a small army, and had a narrow economic policy. At this point in time the United States didn’t care about what happened to the rest of the world until Vietnam was split into two sections; Ho Chi Minh led communist in the North and the South was supported by the French regime.

Before World War 2, Vietnam had been part of the French Empire. During the war the Japanese took over, and when they retreated the people of Vietnam took the opportunity to establish their own government led by Ho Chi Minh. The U.S and the French, who controlled the south at this time, didn’t want unification to take place and Ho Chi Minh took over the nation (Vietnam, slide 6). Vietnam had appealed to the U.S to support their independence, but Truman and Eisenhower supported the French in trying to keep economic control over the region as part of a wider cold war struggle against the Soviet Union (Vietnam, slide 7). In July 1954, Veit Minh forces won the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and ended the French involvement in Vietnam (Vietnam, slide 9). This victory led to the Geneva Peace Accords where France and Vietnam negotiated a ceasefire agreement. Vietnam was temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, and elections were to be held two years later in 1956 to establish a unified government (Vietnam, slide 10). However, the accords did not please the United States government....