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The French were the colonial masters in Viet Nam. There was a rebellion against them led by the Vietnamese communists. The Vietnamese against all odds and with true grit surrounded a French major strong point Dien Bien Phu and forced them to surrender. This was a major humiliation for a western power.
The Americans were pissed, especially the American Secretary of State Foster
Dulles. He believed in the domino theory: that if Viet Nam went communist the rest of neighboring countries would fall.
That is how the Americans got sucked in. They believe that they could do much better than the French and misread the historical anti foreigner nature of the Vietnamese people.
Do research on
Dien Bien Phu
and John Foster Dulles: He was a very powerful Secretary of State, a staunch anti communists and so was determine to replace the French.
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