Vietnam War

Question 1

Dwight D Eisenhower’s involvement (1953-61)

Answer 1

-created South East Asian Treaty Organisation (SEATO) with the purpose of containing communism-was actually just a cover-up so he could build a new nation to fight against the communists
-in 1955, the republic of Vietnam was born

Question 2

John F Kennedy’s involvement (1961-63)

Answer 2

-pledged extra aid towards the Vietnam President’s regime
-sent 16,000 military ‘advisors’ and machinery (but NOT troops)

Question 3

Lyndon B Johnson’s involvement (1963-69)

Answer 3

-ordered bombing campaign called Operation Rolling Thunder and sent the first combat troops to South Vietnam
-instituited a draft—> by 1968 there were 500,000 US troops in Vietnam

Question 4

Richard Nixon (1969-74)

Answer 4

-tried to destroy communist food, weapons and man power
-ordered the Christmas bombing in 1972
-Paris peace accords were signed, ending American involvement in the war

Question 5

Gerald R Ford (1974-77)

Answer 5

-cut aid funds for South Vietnam
-Congress forbade further US involvement in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia
-23rd April 1975, Ford declared the Vietnam war had ended ‘as far as American is concerned’