Vietnam+the+Path+to+War

Merrill and Rose VIETNAM - THE PATH TO WAR You all know that the United States was involved in a major military conflict in Vietnam during the Cold War ... but why? What was America's "path to war"? Using the resources below and __Creating America__, your task this evening is to write a description in YOUR OWN WORDS of the causes of American involvement in Southeast Asia. Pretend you are writing it as a summary for on online encyclopedia or textbook. Your description should ...
 * be between ** two and four complete, well written paragraphs **
 * ** contain the following terms ** - France, Ho Chi Minh, communism, Ngo Dinh Diem, military advisors, Gulf of Tonkin, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Rolling Thunder
 * be** IN YOUR OWN WORDS ** (remember, it's easy to check this online)
 * ** contain two images ** THAT RELATE TO YOUR WRITING
 * Should **end with the first Marines landing in Vietnam** in 1965

Need some help? How about ... This voicethread, made by your favorite 8th grade American history teacher that you have this year (I like to limit my competition)



//Creating America// [|This cool animation] [|Into Vietnam (Overview)] from ABC-CLIO [|Timeline of the Vietnam War] [|Vietnam Online Timeline] Causes of the Vietnam War video below

Vietnam was a long, sad, bloody, and devastating war. Vietnam was controlled by Frances. Later Ho Chi Minh leads a communist revolte against the French and gets arrested. He flees to China and later to the Soviet Union, but Ho Chi Minh is not his real name. During WWII Ho Chi Minh leads a battle against the Japanese when they took over Indochina, and started to get the US support. Ho Chi Minh makes the Vietminh party and declares independence in 1945, after fighting the French for 9 years. Ngo Dinh Diem was the prime minster of the south,many didn't like Him cause he was roman catolic, and did not like Ho Chi Minh idea's. Ngo Dinh Diem was not a popular guy, his army, Army of the Republic of Vietnam was also very unpopular and not always the most liked army. In Vietnam there were over 11,000 military advisors sent in by Dwight Eisenhower or John Kennedy. At home people would wear POW/MIA bracelets for a person captured or missing in action, my mom wore hers every day to school along with many other kids. This battle was fought on both continents, where many lives were lost. Ngo Dinh Diem

While France fought to keep power in Vietnam, President Trumen followed a policy of containment that was made to try and stop the spread of communism to the western from of Europe. France asked the USA to join against Vietnam and they said yes. An agreement called the Geneva Accords divided up Vietnam in to North and South. People the were against communism that lived in the North fled to the South with the assistance of the US. John F. Kennedy is now the new President and was getting communist threats. Not only that but also had the cuban missle crisis haning about his head like a sword hanging from a thread. He said that is would be worse to do nothing. After this Deim will fall. Lyndon Johnson, an anti communist and president, did not want Vietnam to become communist. in 1964 his military advisers made plans to bomb North Vietnam to put pressure on Ho chi Minh to stop his suport of Viet Cong. In the Gulf of Tonkin, a US Destroyer, the Maddox claimed torpedo boats had fired at them. US plains flew over to try and spot the boats but none were seen. Though they could not see the boats they passed Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that let the President use military force in Vietnam. This is when they started to bomb Vietnam known as the operation Roling Thunder. March 1965, Johnson sent in troops, and bombs.

President Johnson stressing out about Vietnam.