Lesson Summary 9 The Vietnam War Era

9.1 The Cold War and Vietnam President Kennedy worked to build up the country’s armed forces. He wanted a “flexible response” defense policy to prepare the United States to fight any size or any type of conflict. He also wanted to prevent the spread of communism in poor nations around the globe.

Kennedy’s first major challenge came in Cuba. The revolutionary Fidel Castro took over Cuba in 1959 and aligned Cuba with the Soviet Union. Eisenhower had planned an invasion of Cuba to overthrow Castro, and Kennedy executed this plan in 1961. A CIA-led force of Cuban exiles attacked Cuba in the Bay of Pigs invasion. The invasion failed and probably ended up strengthening Castro’s position in Cuba.

When the Soviets began building nuclear missile sites in Cuba in range of East Coast cities, Kennedy faced his third challenge. During the Cuban missile crisis, Kennedy demanded that the Soviets remove the missiles. Nuclear war seemed possible. After several tense days, Khrushchev agreed to remove the missiles. The leaders agreed to install a “hot line” telephone system between Moscow and Washington, D.C., to improve communication. A year later, in 1963, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union signed the first nuclear-weapons agreement.

Kennedy’s next challenge involved the Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev, who demanded that America remove its troops from West Berlin and recognize the divided city. Kennedy refused. Khrushchev then ordered the construction of a wall between East and West Berlin. The Berlin Wallbecame a symbol of the divide between communism and democracy.

France had controlled Vietnam as a colony since the 1800s. After World War II, however, a strong independence movement took hold. The movement was led by Ho Chi Minh, who had been fighting for Vietnamese independence for 30 years. Ho Chi Minh had fled Vietnam in 1912. During his travels around the world, he embraced communism and had formed ties with the Soviet Union.

The United States became involved in Vietnam for several reasons. First, it wanted to keep France as an ally. To ensure French support in the Cold War, President Truman agreed to help France regain control over Vietnam. Second, both Truman and Eisenhower wanted to contain the spread of communism. They believed in the domino theory. This idea held that if Vietnam fell to communism, its closest neighbors would follow. Communism would then spread throughout the entire region. The United States channeled aid to South Vietnam through the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).

In 1961, President Kennedy began sending U.S. troops to South Vietnam. President Johnson increased U.S. involvement after North Vietnam attacked a U.S. destroyer patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Johnson authority to use force to defend American troops. This resolution gave the President the power to commit U.S. troops to fight without asking Congress for a formal declaration of war.