▲ Ho Chi Minh depicted in a Vietnamese propaganda poster
After World War II, a spirit of nationalism and revolution spread among European colonies around the world. As colonial peoples strived for independence, their struggles sometimes became mixed up with the Cold War conflict between communist states and western democracies. Such was the case in French Indochina, which consisted of the lands of Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Unaware of the long and bloody war that lie ahead, a Vietnamese communist named Ho Chi Minh dreamed of a Vietnam free from French rule:
“The oppressed the world over are wresting back their independence. We should not lag behind…. Under the Vietminh banner, let us valiantly march forward!”
—Ho Chi Minh, 1945
Reading Skill: Summarize As you read, describe the Vietnam policies of Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, and Johnson.
Why It Matters Presidents Kennedy and Johnson shared a vision for a better America in the 1960s. They also shared a vision for a better world in which America would emerge victorious from its Cold War struggle against global communism. As part of this strategic and ideological battle, the United States established a new line of defense against communism in Vietnam. The conflict in Southeast Asia would grow to be one of the costliest wars in American history. Section Focus Question: Why did the United States become involved in Vietnam?
Situated far away in Southeast Asia, Vietnam did not attract significant American attention until the 1960s. Television news shows rarely mentioned it, and most Americans could not locate it on a map. But over a span of more than ten years, the United States sent several million soldiers to fight in Vietnam. America’s involvement in Vietnam had roots in European colonialism, Cold War politics, and Vietnamese calls for national independence.
In the 1800s, French military forces established control over Indochina, a peninsula in Southeast Asia that includes the modern countries of Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Slightly larger than the state of Texas, Indochina included almost 27 million people by the end of World War II. French colonial officials ruled Vietnam with an iron fist. They transplanted French laws into Vietnam and imposed high taxes. French business people acquired large rice and rubber