The United States Gets Involved in Vietnams

By yuytan16
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    First Indochina War

    In this first phase of fighting, which lasted from 1946 to 1954, Ho Chi Minh led Viet Minh insurgents in the struggle to end French rule in Vietnam.
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    Geneva Accords

    The First Indochina War ended with a 1954 agreement known as the Geneva Accords. The accords split Vietnam into north and south but called for elections to reunify the country. The United States backed South Vietnam financially and militarily.
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    Diem's Death

    Three weeks after Diem’s death, Kennedy was also assassinated. The growing problem in Vietnam thus fell into the lap of a new president, Lyndon B. Johnson. LBJ knew that Vietnam was a potential quagmire that could suck the United States into protracted conflict. But he also believed that the communists had to be stopped. In May 1964, he expressed his ambivalent feelings about Vietnam to an adviser. “I don’t think it’s worth fighting for,” he said, “and I don’t think we can get out.”
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    Gulf of Tonkin Incident Riles the U.S.

    In July 1964, Johnson approved covert attacks on radar stations along North Vietnam’s coast. The CIA planned the operation, but South Vietnamese in speedboats carried out the raids. U.S. Navy warships used electronic surveillance, or close observation, to locate the radar sites. On August 2, in response to the raids, NVA patrol boats struck back. They fired machine guns and torpedoes at a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of North Vietnam. The ship was not damaged.
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    Ho Chi Minh Trail 

    North Vietnamese Army troops were moving south along the Ho Chi Minh Trail to help the Viet Cong. The United States feared that South Vietnam would fall without more direct support.
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    Operation Starlite

    Operation Starlite,started in August 1965, against 1,500 Viet Cong Trying to attack the naval bases in the US.The battle started with bomb and artillery attacks on Viet Cong. Helicopters flew many of the 5,500 marines to the battle, and others came ashore from ships. Supported by tanks and fighter planes, the marines successfully smashed the enemy force. In the victory, marines killed more than 600 Viet Cong, while 45 U.S. soldiers died. Johnson decided to send troops on March 8, 1965, about 3,