9+Vietnam+path

=VIETNAM - THE PATH TO WAR =

You all know that the United States was involved in a major military conflict in Vietnam during the Cold War ... but why? What was America's "path to war"? Using the resources below and __Creating America__, your task this evening is to write a description in YOUR OWN WORDS of the causes of American involvement in Southeast Asia. Pretend you are writing it as a summary for on online encyclopedia or textbook. Your description should ...
 * be between ** two and four complete, well written paragraphs **
 * ** contain the following terms ** - France, Ho Chi Minh, communism, Ngo Dinh Diem, military advisors, Gulf of Tonkin, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Rolling Thunder
 * be** IN YOUR OWN WORDS ** (remember, it's easy to check this online)
 * ** contain two images ** THAT RELATE TO YOUR WRITING
 * Should **end with the first Marines landing in Vietnam** in 1965

The country Vietnam started off as a colony of France. Vietnam is not a peninsula on one side you have the Pacific ocean and up by the capitol Hanio is the golf of Tonkin, but the other side is Laos and Cambodia. But in the 1930's a Communist leader came to power in Vietnam Ho Chi Minh, witch means bringer of light. Later Vietnam divided and the north was led to communism and the south was free and they were in a civil war.

This is a time where the US wanted to contain communism from spreading both Kennedy and later Lyndon Johnson. NOw that vietnam has split communism in the north and freedom in the south. The south's leader was Ngo Dinh Diem who favored the US and the North Favored soviet union. But you can trace American involvement in the war all the way back to the President of Harry S. Truman. As Kennedy slowly easies into the war he is un sure of what to do so he turns to his military advisors, but then he was assassinated and the presidency is handed to Johnson who is more toward going to war. Then we were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin witch The president used for a so called blank check to wage war without declaring it. It passed throughout congress with the exception of 2 senators, and then we divided the first operation know as Operation Rolling Thunder where the US constantly dropped bombs on North Vietnam. Then 3,500 marines and 20,000plus military advisors were drooped in vietnam in 1965.