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The Threat of Communism During the Vietnam War

The Threat of Communism During the Vietnam War

During the years of 1954-1975, Vietnam believed that communist aggression in South Vietnam could lead to taking over South East Asia, which lead the United States to slowly become involved in the conflict of this war.

Communist guerrillas, known as the Vietcong, helped native Communist terrorists in the south. One main objective of these rebels who were directly controlled by the Vietminh, North Vietnam's government, was to disrupt all types of South Vietnamese order. In October 1961, President John F. Kennedy sent Gen. Maxwell D. Taylor to South Vietnam, to evaluate the country's economic and military condition. General Taylor said that "infiltration of the Vietcong from the north was increasing," that "South Vietnam's economy had suffered drastically," and that "better and more equipment was needed."

On Aug. 2, 1964, North Vietnamese patrol boats off the coast of North Vietnam attacked the USS Maddox, a destroyer cruising in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later the Maddox and another destroyer were attacked. The United States was drawn further into the conflict when President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered retaliatory air attacks and the congress authorized U.S. military operations with the Tonkin Gulf Resolution.

During 1965 the United States became even more committed to help South Vietnam. That year it was official known that the U.S. was at war with the North Vietnam and the Vietcong. The size of the United States force in South Vietnam exceeded 50,000 troops, doubling in about six months. Between July and November a fighting force of an additional 100,000 men was transferred from military bases in the United States to Vietnam.

Rather than a classic military strategy of gaining territory, the army tried to clear areas with search and destroy missions. The U.S. hoped to make the communists want to give up by causing creating heavy casualties and lack of supplies. This strategy did not take into the account that Hanoi was prepared to suffer enormous losses.

The first major American victory took place in August at Chu Lai, where more than 5,000 United States troops defeated an estimated 2,000 Viet

In January 1966 about 20,000 American, South Vietnamese, and South Korean troops encircled North Vietnamese south of Da Nang.

In June 1966 United States bombers made their first attack on North Vietnam's two largest cities Hanoi, the capital, and Haiphong, the chief port. In January 1968 the NLF launched...

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