1. The Vietnam War Part 2: Increased U.S Involvement (1956-1968)
What was John F. Kennedy’s stance on U.S. involvement in Vietnam?
How did the Johnson Administration escalate American involvement

2. South= Ngo Dinh Diem (pro-West)
JFK and Vietnam ( )
Vietnam was the 17th Parallel
North = Ho Chi Minh (communist)
South= Ngo Dinh Diem (pro-West)
Ngo Dinh Diem 1956= refused a nationwide election…feared that it would be “fixed”
Ho Chi Minh and Vietcong = angry, start to arm themselves.
CIVIL WAR
Kennedy = sends 15,000 military advisors to train South Vietnamese army

3. JFK and Vietnam ( )
Kennedy = Strategic Hamlets: troops armed villages where peasants were moved.

4. Ho Chi Minh Ngo Dinh Diem
Whose team are we on?
Ngo Dinh
Diem

5. Ngo Dinh Diem = not a popular leader
JFK and Vietnam ( )
Ngo Dinh Diem = not a popular leader
1963 = He’s Catholic, he outlaws Buddhism

6. USA aids in the assassination of Diem
JFK and Vietnam ( )
Nov. 1, 1963
USA aids in the assassination of Diem
Nov. 22, 1963
JFK is assassinated!

7. Johnson and Vietnam still part 2…we’re still getting more and more involved in the Vietnam conflict…

8. Biggest Decision for Johnson
Do we go to Vietnam to contain Communism??
The Truman Doctrine (1947) = Containment Policy
“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”

9. Johnson and Vietnam (1963-1968)
1963: Lyndon B. Johnson = President
LBJ has to decide:
Do we go to Vietnam? Or Withdraw Troops?
Johnson decides to go to war = afraid it would look like U.S. gave up, “soft on communism”
1964 Re-Election Year! 
Event U.S. Ship is attacked in the
Gulf of Tonkin (truth? Propaganda?)

10. But, War was never Declared?
2.) Johnson and Vietnam
Johnson and Vietnam ( )
But, War was never Declared?
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (1964)
Congress gave power of war to the President
“take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack”
1965: LBJ sends 50,000 combat troops
Operation Rolling Thunder = bomb N. Vietnam
1968: 500,000 troops