John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the Vietnam War

Abstract

The Vietnam conflict demanded the attention of six US presidents. During Harry Truman’s tenure at the White House, France and the Viet Minh were the war’s main protagonists, with the United States serving primarily as the financier of Paris’s military and political pursuits. A year after Dwight Eisenhower assumed the presidency, Washington’s role changed. France’s tacit acknowledgment at the 1954 Geneva Convention that it no longer possessed the material capability and political will to regain control over its former colony convinced Eisenhower that the United States’ purpose in Southeast Asia had to be altered. As explained by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles on July 24, 1954, the United States would draw a line in the sand, and any transgression by the the Communists “would be treated as active aggression calling for reaction of the parties of the Southeast Asia Pact.”² Though US support remained firm until the end of Eisenhower’s presidency, it was limited to the deployment of the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) to train the army of the Republic of Vietnam and to provide financial assistance.

“The foundations of our decision making were gravely flawed.” ¹