"...to prevent communist domination of South Vietnam; to create a viable and increasingly democratic society, and to initiate, on an accelerated basis, a series of mutually supporting actions of a military, political, economic, psychological, and covert character to achieve this objective."
- National Security Action Memorandum 52, 1961
Warring CountriesFrom 1954 to 1975, the U.S. engaged in the Vietnam War, a conflict that resulted in the deaths of two million people. Fought between the communist Northern Vietnamese and their Southern Viet-Cong allies against the Democratic U.S. and the Southern Vietnamese, this war was fought to contain the spread of communism.
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"In South Vietnam, the government that basically we established... that government, after 1956, gets more and more repressive. It was cracking down on opposition leaders and closing down opposition press and prosecuting those who were Buddhist....As a result, in South Vietnam...you start to get people...that hated that government...and that wanted to be reunited with the North, so that is what the |
[Translation from Vietnamese to English] |
“I don’t think that unless a greater effort is made by the government to win popular support that the war can be won out there. In the final analysis, it is their war. They are the ones who have to win it or lose it. We can help them, we can give them equipment, we can send our men out there as advisors, but they have to win it, the people of Vietnam, against the communists." |