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United States Involvement in Vietnam1954 - 1964
Ian McMurtrieJune 21, 2004
 
 1This essay will examine the crucial period from 1954 through 1964 of United Statesentanglement in the conflict in Vietnam. This decade in particular was selected because itis bounded in 1954 by the Geneva Conventions that saw the “temporary” partition of Vietnam at the 17
th
parallel, and the Gulf of Tonkin Incident in 1964 demarking the“Americanization” of the conflict. Chronicling this period and assessing its historicalimpact requires detailing the major events, and examining the global and regional policyformed by the United States. Of particular interest will be the doctrines and analysis thatinformed United States policy and the consequences of those policies within Vietnam. Amajor factor that shaped the success or failure of these policy decisions was thefactionalism that emerged within the United States executive apparatus.The period form 1954 to 1964 saw the institutions such as of the Department of Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) come of age and begin to conflictwith established agencies, such as the Department of State. One important aspect toconsider when examining the growing commitment to the war in Vietnam requires anunderstanding of how the various factions interacted to shape or hinder decisions by theadministrations.In February 1954, at a foreign ministers conference, a decision was taken toconvene in April in Geneva to consider the reunification of Korea following the armisticeconcluded the previous August; they also added the settlement of the Indochina war tothe agenda.
1
To this point the Indochina war had been prosecuted by French forces,which were almost entirely bankrolled after 1945 by the United States.
2
Combating the
1
George Donelson Moss, Vietnam: An American Ordeal (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Inc, 1990), 53 –54.
2
Stanley Karnow, Vietnam: A History (New York: Viking Press, 1983), 170. According to Karnow, by1954 “American aid accounted for nearly 80 percent of French expenditures on the conflict.”
 
 2French were the anti-colonial forces of the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh. Initially self reliant, the Viet Minh received arms and financial support from newly CommunistChina.
3
Both sides, aware of the impending negotiations, had strong incentive to increasetheir military standing prior to a political settlement.Washington, in particular John Foster Dulles, Eisenhower’s Secretary of State,saw the US policy of containing Communism at risk by the looming conference – fearingthat China had conceded to a truce in Korea only to shift their belligerence to Indochina.He placed great pressure, and a $500 million incentive, on France to improve its militarystanding before April. However, the crushing defeat at Diem Bien Phu, on the very eve of the Indochina talks in Geneva, greatly weakened the Franco-American position. The VietMinh, a minor player amongst the likes of China, Russia and the United States, hopedtheir military victory would afford them some clout at the talks.
4
 Walter Bedell Smith, attending the meetings as the head of the Americandiplomatic team, arrived in Geneva with limited options. President Eisenhower had ruledout direct military involvement if the talks proved unsuccessful, but Bedell Smith wasdirected by Dulles not to make concessions to the Communists – for ideological reasonsand also to save face should a less than favourable agreement emerge. The meetings ingeneral were acrimonious. Supposedly allied delegations subverted each other – theFrench were desperate to find an “honourable settlement,” the US was not pleased withthe concessions the French were prepared to make for peace. The Chinese were eager tokeep the formidable US presence from their south-eastern border by favouring Frenchcontrol of a divided Vietnam, in so doing they betrayed the Viet Minh who sought a
3
Moss, Vietnam: An American Ordeal, 20 – 22.
4
Karnow, Vietnam: A History, 192 – 193. Moss, Vietnam: An American Ordeal, 55.
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