when did usa get involved in vietnam war
November 1, 1955
title: Role of the United States in the Vietnam War text: Role of the United States in the Vietnam War The role of the United States in the Vietnam War began after World War II and escalated into full commitment during the Vietnam War from 1955 to 1975. The U.S. involvement in South Vietnam stemmed from 20 long years of political and economic action. These had the common incentive of ending the growing communist domination in Vietnam. At the time, French forces, allies of the U.S., were backed by America — President Harry S. Truman provided progressively increasing amounts of financial and military assistance to French forces fighting in Vietnam. From title: Role of the United States in the Vietnam War text: of Defense & Joint Staff, FOIA Requester Service Center "Under Eisenhower" "Under Kennedy" "Under Johnson" "Under Nixon" "Under Ford" Role of the United States in the Vietnam War The role of the United States in the Vietnam War began after World War II and escalated into full commitment during the Vietnam War from 1955 to 1975. The U.S. involvement in South Vietnam stemmed from 20 long years of political and economic action. These had the common incentive of ending the growing communist domination in Vietnam. At the time, French forces, allies of the U.S., were backed by America — President title: United States news media and the Vietnam War text: to the American public as the political appointees it served. This change would have far-reaching detrimental effects. By 1968, America had officially been at war with Vietnam for four years, but U.S. involvement in Vietnamese affairs went back as far as the early 1950s, when France required aid from the U.S., as well as South Vietnam, essentially a puppet state of the U.S., in maintaining control over French Indochina, and public support of the war had begun to wane. In January 1968, Vietcong troops launched a surprise attack in South Vietnam, known as the Tet Offensive; one of the points title: Role of the United States in the Vietnam War text: Minh Trail. President Johnson had already appointed General William C. Westmoreland to succeed General Harkins as Commander of MACV in June 1964. Under Westmoreland, the expansion of American troop strength in South Vietnam took place. American forces rose from 16,000 during 1964 to more than 553,000 by 1969. With the U.S. decision to escalate its involvement it had created the Many Flags program to legitimise intervention and ANZUS Pact allies Australia and New Zealand agreed to contribute troops and matériel to the conflict. They were joined by the Republic of Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines. The U.S. paid for (through title: War in Vietnam (1959–1963) text: War in Vietnam (1959–1963) The 1959 to 1963 phase of the Vietnam War started after the North Vietnamese had made a firm decision to commit to a military intervention in the guerrilla war in the South Vietnam, a buildup phase began, between the 1959 North Vietnamese decision and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, which led to a major US escalation of its involvement. Vietnamese communists saw this as a second phase of their revolution, the US now substituting for the French. Between the Geneva accords in 1954 and 1956, the two states created by the talks were still forming; the