Start of the vietnam War
On May 7th 1954, Viet Minh forces won the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and ended the French involvement in Indochina. This victory led to the Geneva Conference where French and Viet Minh negotiated a ceasefire agreement. Under the terms set in place at geneva Vietnam was split at the 17th parallel for 300 days. 2 years later elections were held, however the situation did not look good under Americas eyes. First, they feared that the elections could not be fair and free under the Communist influence. Second, if the Communists won in Vietnam, Communism would spread to South East Asia and become a greater threat to the U.S. In 1955, after Ngo Dinh Diem became the president of the Republic of Vietnam (ROV), the United States began to support ROV by sending the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) to the South Vietnam. Diem started many anti-communism campaigns across southern Vietnam. By the end of 1958, around 40,000 political prisoners had been jailed. the Viet Cong, was established in 1960 consisting of all anti-government activists.Diem was overthrown and North Vietnam quickly increased their support in the South.One year later, the Gulf of Tonkin incident, involving three North Vietnamese Navy boats. This incident urged the Congress to approve the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on 7 August 1964 giving the President more power to direct military operations .Washington launched a bombing campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder in an attempt to force North Vietnam to stop their support for the Viet Cong. At this point war was declared on America and The U.S. now was involved in Vietnam with foot soldiers.