John F. Kennedy
By Jeremy Chappell
Involvement in the war
When Kennedy was accepting his presidency when he was making his speech he stated that he would follow the same policy that the former president Dwight Eisenhower supported. Which was that the us would keep fight to avoid communism and the domino theory. He was convinced that South Vietnam had fell into communist rule. The "Hawks" that was in contact with Kennedy every day thought that the United States should be more heavily armored and they should be more involved in the war. During Kennedy's presidency the "Strategic Helmet" was introduced. Which after all had failed badly and drove some of the south Vietnamese had changed over to the north side and because under the communist rule.
Connections
- Robert McNamara was the U.S. Secretary of defense during Kennedy's presidency.
- Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the communist during the war and he was one of the reason why the united states went to Vietnam.
- The domino Theory came about during his time as the fear grew of communism in Vietnam that the surrounding countries around it would become communist.
- Clark Clifford was the lawyer of Kennedy and many other Presidents of the united states of america.
FACTS:
- Since the US never really declared war on the Vietnamese it should be called a conflict not a war even though there was fighting.
- Kennedy was the first president assassinated after the Civil War.
- Two-Thirds of the men serving in the Vietnam war were volunteers.
- After the war Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines stayed free of communism.
- 58,000 lives were lost during the war because of battle and other tragedies.
- Kennedy was the president that really got the us involved in the war which some people didn't really want but some people believe we should be involved.
- Kennedy announced during the early stages of the war that the US need more medical aid to give to our troops during the war.
- Kennedy eventually wanted to pull the Americans out of the war.
- The Americans were lightly armed because they didn't want to harm anyone they were there to fight the communism off in the country.
- To get a first hand look at the deteriorating military situation that the united States was in he sent Taylor and Walt Rostow to visit Vietnam