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Ho Chi Minh, a Vietnamese communist drew up a 2,000 year old history of resisting foreign rule to try and stir up nationalist feelings. In northern Vietnam, he also helped to found a group to oppose foreign occupation, members of this group were known as Viet Minh.
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japan formally surrendered to the allies, Vietnam declared its independence as well.
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They opened fire on the port and killed some 6,000 Vietnamese civilians.
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United States was paying 80 percent of the cost of the war in Indochina.
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Vietnam launched a surprise attack on a large French military base at Dien Bien Phu, in the mountains of Northern Vietnam.
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French and Viet Minh signed Geneva Accords, under this agreement, the fighting stopped and Vietnam was split temporarily along the 17th parallel.
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Viet Minh finally overran the French base, ending the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and shattering French morale.
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The U.S. used its influence to put an anticommunist South Vietnamese leader in charge. Ngo Dinh Diem, the anticommunist leader, began to build an army.
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Kennedy originally was against military intervention to help the French. His ideas about the strategic importance of Vietnam started to shift after years passed by. So he offered his own version of the domino theory.
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The Viet Minh formed a group called the National Liberation Front and invited all opponents of Diem to join. Diem referred to the group as Viet Cong, slang for "Vietnamese communists".
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At a Buddhist rally opposing Diem's policies, South Vietnamese police killed nine demonstrators. Buddhist monks publicly set themselves on fire as a form of protest. Kennedy realized Diem failed as a leader.
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Lyndon B. Johnson, LBJ, asked military to begin the planning for the bombing of North Vietnam.
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Operation Starlite was the first major assault by U.S. ground troops. Against 1,500 Viet Cong who were preparing to attack a U.S. air base near the coast.
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The escalation that Senator Gruening feared began after the Viet Cong attacked a U.S. air base in the South. LBJ ordered the bombing of barracks and military staging areas north of the 17th parallel in response.
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Johnson decided to send troops out after weighing all the advice he had received about American Involvement in Vietnam. About 3,500 marines waded ashore at a beach near Da Nang, South Vietnam.
