Which president started the Vietnam war?

[Neoma]

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

1. The French were the first in to the mess.

[TheDebbieDee]

17. Yes, I read the French incited a revolution amongst.....

the VietNamese, couldn't contain the violence and called for help from the rest of the world.

[sir_captain]

2. kennedy

sent in the first US troops

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. Eisenhower had clandestines in B4 n/t

[benburch]

3. Difficult question.

Most would say Johnson, as it grew to unmanageable proportions under him, but the roots of our involvement in the conflict go back to Eisenhower.

[rug]

4. JFK, after Diem's assassination.

[JimmyJazz]

5. Here is a really good summary of the war.

http://www.san.beck.org/GPJ26-VietnamWar.html

[solinvictus]

7. American?

Eisenhower sent the French limited aid, but was reluctant to get us involved. Truman fumbled the ball before that by not applying the Atlantic Charter to former European colonies, thus driving Ho Chi Mihn into the arms of the Soviets. At one point, Ho Chi Mihn was operating under OSS direction. Kennedy sure as hell didn't seem to want us armpit deep in the ongoing civil war, so I guess it would ultimately be Johnson who escalated our involvement by using the Tonkin Gulf Resolution to send large numbers of US ground forces into South Viet Nam.

[evlbstrd]

13. I agree.

And might add that Ho Chi Minh wanted to model his country's new contstitution on that of the U.S., but was rebuffed by same. Doesn't matter who was president.

[frogbison]

21. I love you, Evil Bastard

!!!

[evlbstrd]

22. You do?

I'm blushing!

[Seabiscuit]

14. Eisenhower also sent in clandestine advisers, which Kennedy inherited.

Under much pressure, Kennedy increased their number and made that fact public, but also planned to totally withdraw them before he was assassinated. In fact, many conspiracy theories cite this latter decision of Kennedy's as a factor in the decision to assassinate him.

[femmecahors]

8. Truman . . .

he was the first to finance it!

[MrScorpio]

9. Truman is correct

When the French complained that they wanted their old colony in Indochina back, Truman okayed it because he wanted their cooperation for US plans in Western Europe.

The French went back (Over objections of the American OSS operatives who fought side-by-side with Ho Chi Minh against the Japanese) and the rest, as they say, is history.

It all went downhill after that.

[Seabiscuit]

16. Truman assisted the French, but Eisenhower was the one who kept

American advisers there after the French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu, and Eisenhower also unilaterally transformed the DMZ into a "border" creating a fictional "South Vietnam" with a Japanese tyrant in power in Saigon, Diem.

[punpirate]

19. Sort of...

... it is true that Truman secretly helped France with financing after WWII in their return to the region.

Eisenhower continued to supply money and logistical support through the days of Dien Bien Phu.

However, to my mind, what actually started the post-French war with the North and the South and rooted US involvement in it was Eisenhower's use of the CIA to destabilize both North and South, ignoring the 1955 UN-sponsored Geneva cease-fire protocols, disrupting and preventing the 1956 countrywide elections which were to be supervised by the UN.

Had we respected open, fair elections, the results would have been approximately the same--except that perhaps two million people would not have died needlessly.

The CIA had just come off of string of successes in subverting governments the US did not appreciate. I think they (and Eisenhower) believed that they could easily upset Ho's applecart, just as they had done in Iran and Guatemala previously. Eisenhower took great public pride in not using the military to effect foreign policy--but he never spoke of his use of the CIA as a paramilitary force, acting in much the same way as earlier presidents had used the Marines in Central America.

[MrScorpio]

23. So many mistakes over the years

So many lives lost.

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. Fuckin' Klintoon

And then he didn't even fuckin' go, he sent Al Gore.

[JimmyJazz]

12. Klintoon is ALWAYS the correct answer!

:rofl:

[earthside]

11. Chester A. Arthur

Really ... check it out!

:crazy:

[EstimatedProphet]

15. Dubya

He did it.
Might as well use the same trick that Freepers use, and blame Dubya for everything instead of Clinton.

[Seabiscuit]

18. Yup. Dubya is the mutha of all wars.

[Historic NY]

20. I would agree it began with Truman but in a limited way...

The Truman Doctrine advanced the stopping of the Communist threat. His doctrine promoted aiding those who were fighting against the threat also. Truman did supply the French with weapons and advisors. Eisenhower escalated our involvement in Vietnam and American Airman were actually flying supply missions to the embattled French at Dien Bien Phu, from March 13th to May 8th 1954.