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The Vietnam War


            The United States' Effort to Prevent the Spread of Communism in Asia.
             In the aftermath of World War ±, the world was divided into two hostile camps-democracy, led by the United States and communism led by the Soviet Union. That established the Cold War between two super powers, and world order was unstable. The United States succeeded to contain communism under the Truman Doctrine in Europe, but it failed in Eastern Europe. Now the United States had to look at the issues of containment in Asia. The peoples of Vietnam, led by the revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, wanted national independence with the vigor of communism from the Soviet Union and China. However, Vietnam was divided into two hostile regimes, the Vietminh in the north and the French in the south. The primary reason that French controlled Vietnam was commercial profit. The export of rubber, rice and other cash crops put money in the pockets of French merchants (Lessons 11). The United States supported the French in Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 in order to contain communism and preserve the concepts of capitalism.
             Primarily, the United States supported the French in an indirect way; they refused to aid Ho Chi Minh, who wanted liberation from the French's control by supporting the force of communism. In Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh proclaimed the formation of a new provisional Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) with himself as president (Lessons 16). Ho Chi Minh wanted to make independence for Vietnam with his political party, DRV. In 1945, Ho Chi Minh sent a telegram to US President, Harry S. Truman, which explained that Vietnam desired help from the United States to achieve liberation from the French. However, Truman didn't respond to aid Ho Chi Minh, because the United States didn't want to make France outraged. After Truman refused to assist Ho Chi Minh, Ho found support from China and the Soviet Union. Effect of Truman's lack of support was that Ho Chi Minh turn to the communists.


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