The Vietnam War Begins - Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Revolution - North Vietnam
         Ho Chi Minh was the communist leader of North Vietnam. He didn't really like France for torturing his people so much, so he decides to rebel.

• “In France, December 26, 1920. You all have known that French imperialism entered Indochina half a century ago. In its selfish interests, in conquered our country with bayonets. Since then we have no only been oppressed and exploited shamelessly, but also tortured and poisoned pitilessly. Plainly spreaking, we have been poisoned with opium, alcohol, etc. I cannot, in some minutes, reveal all the atrocities inflicted on Indochina. Prisons outnumber schools and are always overcrowded with detainees. Natuves are arrested and sometimes murdered without trial. Vietnamese are discriminated against.”

Ho Chi Minh then writes a Declaration of Independence from France, resulting in Dien Bien Phu in 1954, AKA Vietnam’s “Independence Fight.” The United States chooses to support France, because they have been close allies for a very long time, and supported each other frequently. John Foster Dulles, the US Secretary of State responds: "Assured Senate that under no circumstances would the United States be required to put down an internal uprising or get involved in a civil war."

This period of avoiding conflict, was of course, bound to end, and soon.

Ho Chi Minh.

The Vietnam War Begins - Ngo Diem and the Defense Team - South Vietnam
         Ngo Diem, leader of South Vietnam refused to hold free elections in 1956. The Vietminh in the South grew restive. The National Liberation Front formed to fight politically for a unified country. Rostow and Taylor, Kennedy’s most important advisers, were sent to south Vietnam to train troops. ARVN (South Vietnamese forces) was formed. They had over 15,000 advisers by 1963. Vietnamese citizens didn’t like Ngo Diem. In November 1963, ARVN, acting with the knowledge and approval of the CIA, overthrew then killed Diem. The president was furious, and ordered that all such actions be directly controlled by him. 
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“If American lives must end, and American treasure be spilled, in countries we barely know, that is the price that change has demanded of conviction and of our enduring covenant.” - Lyndon B. Johnson.

    21,000 advisers by 1964.
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The Vietnamese public was unwilling to pay for the high cost for the war, so there were many who tried to avoid it.  There was also great fear of Communist China's intervention.


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Ngo Diem.