Vietnam Fact Sheet: Harry S. Truman, President From 1949-1953

Vietnam Fact Sheet

Harry S. Truman, president from 1949 to 1953, helped the French in 1946 by sending them 160 million dollars. The Vietnamese ended up defeating the French at Dien Bien Phu, thus causing the Geneva Accord to divide north and south Vietnam at the 17th parallel. This division created a North Vietnam with a communist government, and a South Vietnam with a somewhat democratic government. In the 1950s, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was president, there was an idea or belief that stated that if one land in a region came under the influence of communism, then surrounding countries would follow and do the same. This was called the Domino Theory. South Vietnam was considered to fall under communist control by North Vietnam making

Kennedy became president, he sent advisors to Vietnam. After 160,000 advisers were sent in 1963, Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas; therefore, Lyndon B. Johnson took over as president. The Gulf of Tonkin incident off North Vietnam lead Congress to grant powers to President Johnson,thus the U.S. involvement in Vietnam began to escalate in 1964. About 100,000 U.S. troops were in South Vietnam by 1965, and 500,000 more were there by 1967. The goal of victory in Vietnam considered to be vital to national security and prestige, had

However, in 1970, Nixon started Vietnamization, that involved withdrawing 540,000 US troops from South Vietnam over a period of time. It also included South Vietnam taking responsibility of fighting their own way by giving them American money, weapons, training. In 1971, a man by the name of Daniel Ellsberg from the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, a secret history of the war. These papers claimed that the U.S had been involved in large scale bombings in Laos and Cambodia as well as raiding the the coasts of North Vietnam. Ellsberg said that the U.S had not only lied to the people but to Congress itself. Regardless of the accusations, Nixon was still re-elected in 1972. A year later, the Paris Peace Corps was signed and saw the Viet Cong, the U.S and both North and South Vietnam agree to restoring peace. Both sides agreed to pull all troops from Laos and Cambodia and agreed to a ceasefire. In 1974 the Watergate Scandal occurred. This was the end for President Nixon as he was accused of being involved in the apparent theft of secret documents and having wiretapped phones. They were also linked to having involvement in Nixon’s re-election campaign. The thieves were arrested in the DNC. This meant the resignation of President Nixon and put Gerald Ford in