Ambassador Murdered

[Cyber Wolf]

Originally Posted by Big Sarge

Cyber Wolf - The truth is the first US troops were sent into French Indochina by President Truman in 1950 to train the Vietnamese and support the French. At the end of Eisenhower's term, there were 796 US troops in country. You should also note that Eisenhower vetoed a plan to use tactical nukes.

Kennedy increased the US presence to 16,000 troops. Johnson was the one that turned it into a full blown war. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on 7 August 1964 gave Johnson the power to conduct military operations in Southeast Asia without declaring war. This resolution allowed the President unilateral power to launch a full scale war if the President deemed necessary. It has since come to light that the Gulf of Tonkin incident was fabricated by the Johnson administration in order to gain power to wage war.

The Democrats were responsible for Vietnam

Well, the French and the Vietminh were already waging decisive battles for nearly a decade before that. As you said, Eisenhower sent aid to the French, initially involving the US on a military level in the conflict. He also helped set the stage for war to happen. So, are we talking about war, as in when we started/joined in the fighting there (initially done by Eisenhower) or war, as in an official piece of paper saying we're going to fight (passed by Democratic Congress years later)?

The Gulf of Tonkin resolution was a response to the attack in the Gulf of Tonkin days earlier, where a North Vietnamese boat fired on a US destroyer. Seeing how it was a direct attack, and considering the US was already over there fighting and conducting war missions, it's not surprising the resolution was passed, more like a formality than a peace-to-war escalation. An "Oh, you done it now, son!" moment, if you will.