Vietnam was the longest war the United States has ever been a part of.
Our country went through many dramatic changes,.
mentally and emotionally, during these years. Before the war many Americans knew.
nothing about Vietnam, let alone where it was located. It was a small country in.
Southeast Asia and was divided into two parts. The northern part was the Communist.
Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the southern part was the Non-Communist Republic.
The North Vietnam government wanted to overthrow South Vietnam, headed by.
Ngo Dinh Diem, and unite the two into one country again. Diem was growing more and.
more unpopular so he canceled the elections in 1956 in fear of losing his position and.
giving a way for the North to overthrow the South. North Vietnamese started to rebel.
against Diem and from 1957 to 1959 he tried to stop the rebels from North Vietnam.
whom he named the Viet Cong, meaning Vietnamese Communist. Soon the United States.
stepped in to help the South Vietnam government and to bring them aid by weapons and.
military supplies by sea. By 1960, Diem's unpopularity spread and the Viet Cong.
threatened to overthrow the government. The President of the United States, John F.
Kennedy, in response to this sent more military troops the aid of the South Vietnamese.
In 1963, the Buddhist crises was at hand and Buddhists felt as if Diem was.
favoring his religion, Roman Catholicism, over Buddhism. This crises caused many.
protests and on November 1, 1963 Diem was murdered. South Vietnam was in a major.
uproar and new governments were coming and going. By 1964 the Viet Cong was in.
control of much of South Vietnam.
In 1964, The Gulf of Tonkin Incident took place, which started when President.
Johnson approved secret raids against North Vietnam by South Vietnamese troops. After.
only one attack by the South Vietnamese the North sent a fleet to attack and torpedo the .
.
US destroyer " Maddox". President Johnson warned the North that one more attack.