Presidential Roles In Vietnam

Harry Truman

• He refuses Ho Chi Minh’s pleas at the end of WWII to keep the French out of Vietnam

• Aids the French in their fight against Vietnam

• Sends 35 military advisors to Vietnam in May of 1950

Dwight Eisenhower• Increases support to

France• Supports Diem and

encourages him to cancel the elections in 1954

• Sends soldiers to train the ARVN– About 1,400 to 2000

troops in Vietnam when he leaves office

John F. Kennedy• Increases involvement

– Sends technology and more advisors

– Navy patrols rivers and coasts to stop supplies going to the Vietcong

– Air Force used to locate VC and drop Agent Orange

– 14,000-20,000 non combat advisors in Vietnam when he is assassinated

Lyndon Johnson• Johnson takes a strong anti-

communist stance but needs a reason for further involvement

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution – gave the President all power to take all necessary measures to repel any attack

• Launches first bombings• Sends first combat troops • Operation Rolling Thunder –

bombing raids on bases, roads, railways, and the Ho Chi Minh Trail

Lyndon Johnson• U.S. troops land at Da Nang in

1965• 60% of U.S. Disapproves of

Johnson and his handling of the war

• Johnson doesn’t run for a second term

• Turns Vietnam into a full scale war– 500,000 combat troops

Richard Nixon

• Plans on ending U.S. involvement

• Expands war to Laos and Cambodia

• Begins Vietnamization – train S. Vietnamese to fight their own war and take the place of U.S. troops

• Nixon Doctrine – U.S. would give money and weapons to countries, but wouldn’t fight wars for them

Richard Nixon

• Orders the bombing of N. Vietnamese cities to force them to negotiate peace

• March 1973 – He pulls all U.S. troops

• Promises continued support of S. Vietnam

Gerald Ford

• Urges Congress to give aid to S. Vietnam, but Congress refuses

• 1975 North Vietnam captures Saigon and unifies Vietnam under a communist government

• Official announces the end of the Vietnam conflict