Ho Chi Minh was a communist and revolutionary leader in Vietnam who is considered the most influential political figure in modern Vietnam. Minh and his forces fought against Japanese, French, and American forces as well as other rivals of Vietnam. Minh’s forces were successful in defeating France in the first Indochina war. The second Indochina war, also known as the Vietnam war, was between North Vietnam and the United States and aimed to destroy the government and reunify the country as a communist nation. Ho Chi Minh admired the United States at first by modeling the Vietnamese Declaration of Independence off of the American declaration of Independece. His admiration, however, turned to disappointment after the United States chose to support France over Vietnam. His overall goal was to make Vietnam a completely communist nation but unfortunately did not live to see his goal fulfilled and died in 1969 before the North Vietnamese army conquered South Vietnam in 1975 reunited the nation.
Ngo Dinh Diem was a prime minister and president do the Republic of Vietnam from 1954 to 1963 and a strong anti-communist. When Diem became president, he aimed to combine all power in Saigon and wanted to minimize the amount of people who opposed his regime. The United States supported him due to his anti-communist policies. Country wide elections were held again in 1956 and he refused to take place in fear that he would lose to Ho Chi Minh due to unpopularity. Many people of South Vietnam began to dislike his authoritarian policies which contributed to the rise of the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Viet Cong.
President Eisenhower was one of the many American presidents involved in the Vietnam War. Eisenhower was known for his wise policies and practical intelligences he brought to the office. In February of 1954, Eisenhower refused to pledge American troops to the Franco-Vietnamese War because he did not want to get Americans involved in yet another war. Eventually, however, he revisited this question. He stayed firm on sending no troops to the region, but aided France in the war. After France surrendered Eisenhower send aid to all anti-communist countries to try and prevent communist spreading.
President John F. Kennedy was another one of the American presidents involved in the Vietnam War who favored freedom although some of his policies failed to live up to expectations. As President during the Vietnam War, he increased economic and military aid to South Vietnam and increased United States military advisers in Indochina. He also issued the investigation of conditions in South Vietnam through the December 1961 papers. Kennedy refused to withdrawal from the escalating conflict in Vietnam claiming that it would lead to the collapse of Southeast Asia as a whole. Unfortunately, Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.
Lyndon B. Johnson was another one of the American presidents involved in the Vietnam War who assumed office after Kennedy was assassinated. When he became president, he then became responsible for the growing crisis where he planned on continuing Kennedy’s intentions. Although the American public was promised a quick end to the war, Johnson continued deploying troops to Vietnam in hopes of the United States winning the war. By the end of his second term as president, his hopes of quickly ending the war were gone. At the height of the Vietnam War, Johnson announced that he would not be seeking another term as president.
Richard Nixon was another one of the American presidents involved in the Vietnam War and pursued the “Vietnamization” in which the American troops would gradually leave South Vietnam to do more of the fighting. Despite this policy, American troop numbers still remained high and the war even expanded to Laos and Cambodia. Nixon also established the War powers act which stated that a president must inform Congress within 48 hours that they will be sending forces into a hostile area with no declaration of war and that troops must stay there no more than 90 days without congress’s approval. He also took place in the Paris Peace Accords that ended the Vietnam American troops.
Bao Dai was a Vietnamese Emperor who worked with Japanese during World War II but renounced his actions in 1945 when Ho Chi Minh created the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. These Japanese forces were defeated by French colonial rule. The French reinstated Bao Dai as emperor in Vietnam although he remained powerless which created an illusion of Vietnam as independent. Later Ho Chi Minh and the Viet Minh army revolted against Bao Dai forcing him to surrender. They offered him another role in the government but he did not accept the offer and instead fled to Hong Kong.