The War Of The Vietnam War - 1507 Words

The Vietnam War was notoriously one of the most violent wars in history; it led to a myriad of bloodshed among those fighting and brought a great amount of distress to the nations involved and the rest of the world. The war was a compilation of many sequential conflicts. The dispute â€Å"began as a war of resistance, pitting mostly communist insurgents against the Japanese occupiers.† After the defeat against the Japanese, it developed into an issue between Vietnam and France. From 1946-1954, Vietnam fought with France in order to avoid colonization. This led to the division of Vietnam into the Communist North and the South, who was supported by France and later, the United States. A number of Americans detested the involvement of the U.S.†¦show more content†¦This put the U.S. in a difficult position; they either needed to finish the war or withdraw their troops. Amongst all of this, President Kennedy was assassinated a mere three weeks after Diem’s death, bringing chaos to the U.S. as well. With no president in office, there was no authority to bring back the troops, and the North Vietnamese were able to wage war and continue to secure control in Vietnam with ease. They maintained to increase attacks against the South Vietnamese and American troops, furthering the devastation in the U.S. President Lyndon Johnson entered office following the assassination of President Kennedy, and he had the power to â€Å"respond to the growing crisis in Vietnam.† Johnson, at first, wanted to further Kennedy’s plan to withdraw troops; however one incident caused Johnson to forward U.S. action in the war instead. On August 2, 1964, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked an American destroyer, the USS Maddox. The attack failed, but left many Americans furious toward the North Vietnamese. They argued that the U.S. ships posed no danger to the North Vietnamese, and the attack was unnecessary and malicious. In response, the U.S. se nt another ship, the USS C. Turner Joy, to accompany the USS Maddox. On August 4, the North Vietnamese allegedly attacked the sailors who were aboard the Maddox and the Turner Joy. In reaction,