The document summarizes the key events of American involvement in the Vietnam War. It describes how Vietnam was divided after French rule, with a communist North under Ho Chi Minh and a democratic South led by Diem. Fearing communism would spread, the US supported France and later sent troops to South Vietnam. Despite American military assistance, North Vietnam was able to defeat South Vietnam and reunify the country as a communist state in 1975 after the US withdrew.

1. The Vietnam War
Wash, Rinse, Repeat……

2. Pre-American Involvement
• Like Korea, French
Indochina (Vietnam) also
fell to Japan during World
War II.
• When the war
ended, France took
Vietnam back over.
• Vietnamese
nationalists, led by Ho Chi
Minh, however were strong
and willing to fight the
French for independence.
• Finally, the nationalists
were communists!

3. Guess What?
• Fearing all of Southeast
Asia would follow
Vietnam into
communism, America
supported the French
with money and
weapons to keep
control of Vietnam.
The Domino Theory!

4. Victory for Ho Chi
• Ho Chi Minh was able to defeat the French in 1954
and Vietnam became free.
• Just like in Korea, though, the country was divided
into two parts.
• North Vietnam was communist under Ho Chi Minh
while South Vietnam was democratic under Ngo
Dinh Diem. Diem was very corrupt…..

5. Shades of Korea
• The North Vietnamese
wanted all of Vietnam
to be one communist
country and invaded.
• Right away, America
began sending
weapons and
“advisors” to South
Vietnam.

6. The Gulf of Tonkin
• America continued
sending advisors into
Vietnam in the 1960s
under President
Kennedy.
• In 1964, though, after
the “Gulf of Tonkin
Incident,” new
President Johnson sent
troops into Vietnam.

7. Vietnamese, Vietcong, an
d Gorillas?
• American troops fought North Vietnamese and
Vietcong (southern Vietnamese communists).
• The Vietnamese were excellent at guerilla warfare in
the jungles of Asia.

9. No Love….
• The South Vietnamese
government had no
support from the people.
• Many Americans
protested the war.
• American soldiers could
not defeat the
Vietnamese due to a
variety of circumstances.
• America finally agreed to
a withdrawal (we quit)

10. In Conclusion….
• The North Vietnamese took over South Vietnam in 1975.