Notes
Backround to Vietnam War:
A Divided Country:
- Originally a French colony
- Ho Chi Mihn and his communist supporters resisted Japanese occupation during WW2
- After WW2 the french reoccupied
- Ho Chi Mihn fought the French and defeated them in 1954 (Dien Bien Phu)
- Laos, Cambodia granted independence
- Vietnam divided along the 17th parallel
A Divided Country:
- South Vietnam was led by a Catholic named Ngo Dinh Diem
- The mainly Buddihest south had opposition in he form of the National Liberation Front and he Viet Cong
- the North (Ho chi Minh) supported both of these groups
- The north never accepted the Geneva agreement of 1954
Summary
In 1965, President Johnson claimed that an American destroyer was allegedly torpedoed. This allegation meant that US troops were deployed to Vietnam. As a result, the Tet Offensive was launched on the American troops by the North Vietnam army.
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No event in American history is more misunderstood than the Vietnam War. It was misreported then, and it is misremembered now.
Richard M. Nixon
Richard M. Nixon