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Ho Chi Minh was a communist rebel in the French territory of Vietnam. He saw his people starving and suffering so he used his communist ideas to help the people. Ho Chi Minh is important because once Vietnam was divided he lead the North.
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North Vietnam declares independence from French and stage attacks against French officials occupying North Vietnam. This angers North Vietnam and causes Ho Chi Minh's ride to power.
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When the Geneva Accords were enacted, it split Vietnam into a North a South on the 17th parallel. This divided the nation and what the people thought, making the North communist and the South free.
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The "Domino Theory" states that if one nation falls to communism then all nations around it will also cave in. Meaning that if North Vietnam takes control of South Vietnam then all surrounding countries will turn communist.
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Under control of Ho Chi Minh, the Vietn Minh drive out the French. The U.S. did not know how to respond, because they are allies with the French but also support independence.
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Ngo Ding Diem canceled the elections because of the popularity of Ho Chi Minh. He knew that he would lose and Vietnam would become Communist, so in response he canceled the elections.
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The National Liberation Front, also known as the Vietcong, was a group of people in the democratic south that supported the communist ideas of the North. They worked with the North to do operations in the south.
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Ngo Dinh Diem was the leader of South Vietnam and the U.S. supported him until he had extreme ideas and started killing civilians. Once the U.S. stopped their support Ngo Dinh DIem was killed by Vietcong.
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Quang Duc, a buddhist monk, set himself on fire to protest Ngo Dinh Diem's persecution of people who are not Catholic. He did this in front of people on the streets of Saigon.
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From earlier sign in JFK's presidency, he showed that he was most likely going to try to pull the U.S. out of the Vietnamese conflict, but then he was killed. LBJ then took office and kept U.S. forces in Vietnam.
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The USS Maddox was supposedly fired upon by three North Vietnamese torpedo ships, but all missed so there was no evidence of the attack. This would give LBJ a reason to push for U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
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With troops in Vietnam a the actual war had broken out and full U.S. involvement ensued. This was important because with this, the U.S. was now completely in the war and was not going to pull out.
