France Steps Out, U.S.

Steps In In 1954, after suffering a decisive defeat at Dien Bien Phu, the French decided to pull out of Vietnam. t the !eneva "onference of 1954, a num#er of nations met to determine ho$ the French could peacefull% $ithdra$. &he agreement that came out of the conference 'called the !eneva ccords( stipulated a cease fire for the peaceful $ithdra$al of French forces and the temporar% division of Vietnam along the 1)th parallel '$hich split the countr% into communist *orth Vietnam and non+ communist ,outh Vietnam(. In addition, a general democratic election $as to #e held in 195- that $ould reunite the countr% under one government. &he .nited ,tates refused to agree to the election, fearing the communists might $in. /ith help from the .nited ,tates, ,outh Vietnam carried out the election onl% in ,outh Vietnam rather than countr%$ide. fter eliminating most of his rivals, *go Dinh Diem $as elected. 0is leadership, ho$ever, proved so horri#le that he $as 1illed in 19-2 during a coup supported #% the .nited ,tates. ,ince Diem had alienated man% ,outh Vietnamese during his tenure, communist s%mpathi3ers in ,outh Vietnam esta#lished the *ational 4i#eration Front '*4F(, also 1no$n as the Viet "ong, in 19-5 to use guerilla $arfare against the ,outh Vietnamese. First U.S. Ground Troops Sent to Vietnam s the fighting #et$een the Viet "ong and the ,outh Vietnamese continued, the ..,. continued to send additional advisers to ,outh Vietnam. /hen the *orth Vietnamese fired directl% upon t$o ..,. ships in international $aters on ugust 6 and 4, 19-4 '1no$n as the !ulf of &on1in Incident(, "ongress responded $ith the !ulf of &on1in 7esolution. &his resolution gave the President the authorit% to escalate ..,. involvement in Vietnam. President 4%ndon 8ohnson used that authorit% to order the first ..,. ground troops to Vietnam in 9arch 19-5. Johnson's Plan for Success President 8ohnson:s goal for ..,. involvement in Vietnam $as not for the ..,. to $in the $ar, #ut for ..,. troops to #olster ,outh Vietnam:s defenses until ,outh Vietnam could ta1e over. B% entering the Vietnam /ar $ithout a goal to $in, 8ohnson set the stage for future pu#lic and troop disappointment $hen the ..,. found themselves in a stalemate $ith the *orth Vietnamese and the Viet "ong. From 19-5 to 19-9, the ..,. $as involved in a limited $ar in Vietnam. lthough there $ere aerial #om#ings of the *orth, President 8ohnson $anted the fighting to #e limited to ,outh Vietnam. B% limiting the fighting parameters, the ..,. forces $ould not conduct a serious ground assault into the *orth to attac1 the communists directl% nor $ould there #e an% strong effort to disrupt the 0o "hi 9inh