Homeland Leadership Leading Up to and During the Vietnam War
Our President Harry Truman spoke to Congress in 1947. He hoped to gain support and promote anti-Communist governments. He was speaking mostly of Middle East and Asia governments. This was just after World War II. He and other leaders believed we needed to stop the spread of communism. They used American money to aid France in trying to regain its Vietnamese colony. By the end of Truman’s term, United States was paying over 40% of the costs to help the French in this effort.
Later, starting in 1953, President Dwight D. Eisenhower engaged in an increased economic and military aid, but the French would be defeated. That encouraged Eisenhower to take on the responsibility of assisting South Vietnam. As our new president at the time, he spoke to the nation and said that destiny had put before our country “the responsibility of the free world's leadership.”
John F. Kennedy was the next president to continue our effort. He hoped that combat would not be necessary. Kennedy’s administration thought that Ngo Dinh Diem must not lead anymore. Even though he was from the South, he was corrupt. But the South Vietnamese military decided to execute him. Our government said they didn’t ask to have him executed only removed. It was only three weeks after, in 1963 that President Kennedy was killed in Texas.
This meant that President Lyndon Johnson would need to continue the effort of keeping Communism out of South Vietnam. But he wasn’t planning on fighting with our troops. He tried bombing only specific military locations in North Vietnam. He thought that would get North Vietnam to agree to our demands. But that didn’t work and by 1964, without declaring war, he sent our troops to fight.
Richard Nixon. He was President’s Eisenhower’s Vice President several years earlier. After Johnson, he was elected President and had a “secret plan” to stop the fighting. It took until 1973, that Nixon gained a settlement that allowed us to move out and leave any remaining fighting to the South Vietnamese. We promised air strikes, but when Watergate happened, the South Vietnamese Army was left to finish without our air power.