Diem In Vietnam

The year is 1955, and the US has prioritized building a strong nation in the South of Vietnam under the US favored leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem. The following year, Diem decided to not hold the Geneva-mandated reunification elections, as he believed the Communists would win the election. Therefore, Diem, along with help from the CIA(Central Intelligence Agency), ousted former Emperor Bao Dai, and created the Republic of Vietnam(RVN). The RVN never became the full structure of democracy the US had hoped, but they still stuck with Diem, and he remained in power. As the early 1960’s came around, the US increased involvement and funding into helping Diem fight and the South fight the civil war against the Viet Cong, under the JFK administration. In 1963, things begin to take a turn for the worst in the case of

In november, Diem was overthrown and assassinated, and next month, JFK would be assassinated as well(Tucker). This left vice president Lyndon B. Johnson in charge of dealing with a very delicate situation involving government and military power. A famous resolution or law came later this year, when the North Vietnamese attacked the USS Maddox, and Johnson not only retailed with air strikes on the North, but met with congress and the Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution was passed, meaning that the president was granted merely total control of the armed forces in US efforts in Vietnam. This incident and resolution is major important point in the war, as there is a continuation of power shifts and governmental issues, and these issues would not just go away, but they would continue well on into the later 21st century, even today. Starting in early 1865, Johnson order an almost continuous air strike on North Vietnam, until it ceases in 1968. While the magnitude of the war is increasing, gradual approach the Americans took allowed for the Communists to create better defenses and other successful adjustments, leading Johnson to seize the bombing program as a whole late in