<P> Beginning in 1950 , American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina . Most of the funding for the French war effort was provided by the U.S. The Việt Cộng , also known as Front national de libération du Sud - Viêt Nam or FNL ( the National Liberation Front ) , a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North , fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region , while the People 's Army of Vietnam , also known as the North Vietnamese Army ( NVA ) , engaged in more conventional warfare , and had launched armed struggles from 1959 onward . U.S. involvement escalated in 1960 under President John F. Kennedy , with troop levels gradually surging under the MAAG program from just under a thousand in 1959 to 16,000 in 1963 . </P>
<P> Beginning in 1950 , American military advisors arrived in what was then French Indochina . Most of the funding for the French war effort was provided by the U.S. The Việt Cộng , also known as Front national de libération du Sud - Viêt Nam or FNL ( the National Liberation Front ) , a South Vietnamese communist common front aided by the North , fought a guerrilla war against anti-communist forces in the region , while the People 's Army of Vietnam , also known as the North Vietnamese Army ( NVA ) , engaged in more conventional warfare , and had launched armed struggles from 1959 onward . U.S. involvement escalated in 1960 under President John F. Kennedy , with troop levels gradually surging under the MAAG program from just under a thousand in 1959 to 16,000 in 1963 . </P>
when did the vietnam war start for the us
when did the vietnam war start for the us
1950
1950