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A Vietnam Communists ,Ho Chi Minh drew on history to stir up nationalist feelings. He helped found the group called the (OFO) Oppose Foreign Occupation.
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On this day Japan surrenders to the Allies , also on this day Vietnam declares its independence.
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Aid rose to $10 million to more than $100 million by 1951. The U.S was paying %80 of the war cost in Indochina.
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Thousands of soldiers had already died in Korea trying to halt the spread of communism
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The Viet Minh launched a surprise attack on a large French Base in Dien Bien Phu, in the mountains of northern Vietnam.
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The French and Viet Minh sighed the Geneva Accords to stop fighting and have Vietnam be split at the 17th parallel making the north and south Vietnam.
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Eisenhower warns the U.S that if Vietnam is lost to communism then the Southeast Asia will also be taken by communism to even Japan calling this the effect the "Domino Theory" which motivates the U.S. to intervention with Vietnam.
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The Viet Minh finally overran the French Base, ending the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and shatter French Morale. The French lack public support began to pull out of North Vietnam.
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U.S used its influence to put and anticommunist South Vietnamese leader, Ngo Dinh Diem, in charge. Diem began building an army.
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Under the accords, national elections to reunify Vietnam were scheduled.
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Viet Minh formed a group called the (National Liberation Front) they invited anyone who opponents of Diem to join. Diem called them the Viet Cong for slang for communist Vietnamese but most of the members were noncommunists.
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Kennedy becomes president, he sends an inspection team to south Vietnam to evaluate the situation.
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The number of military advisers had soared to around 9,000 but JFK resisted calls to send U.S soldiers into combat.
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Nine Buddhist demonstrators were killed by police in the rally opposing Diem's. Several Buddhist monks protested by publicly setting themselves on fire.
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The North Vietnamese advance on to the South along the route. Johnson knew that the South Vietnam's army is very weak and ineffective army and wouldn't be able to stop the North's attack.
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Lyndon B Johnson says "I don't think it's worth fighting for, and I don't think we can get put"
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President Johnson approved covert attacks on North Vietnam's Coast. The CIA planed the attacks but the south carried out the raids.
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Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, this allowed the president to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attacks against the forces of the U.S.
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The North Viet Cong's attack a U.S. Air Base in the south. After that President LBJ responds by bombing the military staging areas north of the 17th parallel.
