This document provides a summary of the origins and escalation of US involvement in the Vietnam War from 1945 to 1968. It describes how the US initially supported France's colonial rule over Vietnam but later backed Ngo Dinh Diem after the French defeat in 1954. It then discusses the escalating US military involvement and troop deployments under presidents Kennedy and Johnson due to fears of communism and the domino theory. By 1965, the US was conducting extensive bombing campaigns and had implemented the draft, but mounting protests and the Tet Offensive in 1968 turned public opinion against the war.

1. Origin and Escalation of
the Vietnam “Conflict”

2. History of Imperialism
• China (independence in 1000 C.E.)
• French in the 1600s
• Creation of Indochina
• Japan 1940-45
• China and England 1945
• French Part Deux! (1946-1954)

3. Fork in the Road
• Ho Chi Minh declared independence in 1945
• US DOS was divided
• France asks for and gets the return of its colonies
• Viet Minh defeat in the French in 1954: Battle of
Dienbienphu
• What if?

4. And the U.S. picks...
Ngo Dinh Diem!
• Catholic
• Friend of the French
• Torturer
• Corrupt
• Boycotts Elections 1956

5. Fear of Communism
• Truman Doctrine (1945-53): containment
• Eisenhower (1953-1961): domino theory
• 1960 U.S. Presidential Elections

6. John Fitzgerald Kennedy
the Democrats take control of the White House

7. JFK: A New Path?
• his appearance was symbolic
• view towards Diem
• boots on the ground (increase to 16,000
“advisors”)
• Diem and the power of the press
• McNamara’s (DoD) belief about the future
of Vietnam

8. Change of Plans
• Fall Assassinations
• JFK’s plans for next term?

9. Kennedy Quotes About Vietnam
• “But I can’t do it until 1965--after I’m reelected...or
there would be a wild conservative outcry against [my
reelection]”
• “If I tried to pull out completely now from Vietnam, we
would have another Joe McCarthy red scare on our
hands...”
• “We don’t have a prayer of staying in Vietnam. Those
people hate us.”

10. Lyndon Baines Johnson
• relationship with JFK
• LBJ maintains the status quo--the U.S. had “to win
[the] contest against the externally directed and
supported Communist conspiracy.”
• Gulf of Tonkin resolution (July 1964)
• Election in 1964

11. Escalation Part II
54,791 sorties in 1965 (Frankum 34)
• Operation Rolling Thunder
• “search and destroy” raids
• implementation of the draft (1965)
• Operation Phoenix (1967)
Ronald B. Frankum Jr. Like Rolling Thunder. Lanham, MD: Rowan &
Littlefield Publishers, INC., 2005.

12. Effects of Escalation
• increased protests in the U.S.
• Tet Offensive (1968)
• LBJ decides not to run for reelection