colony, but in December 1946, found itself battling the Vietminh. France requested aid from the United States, so that it could win the battle against the Vietminh. The United States was not too sure at first, until Intelligence proved that the Communist Ho Chi Minh was becoming very popular. The United States immediately increased its aid to France to try to prevent the communist from spreading. The French were to set up a regime with Bao Dei, from the Vietnamese royal family. The United States sided with Bao Dei's claim as the regime, especially after the fall of China. Around 1954, the United States was paying 80% of the French military cost in Vietnam. The French decided to use a fortress to try and get the communist to use a large number of it's troops to attack the fortress, but it was easily over come by the communist and the French surrendered. May 1954 was the end of the French role in Indochina. May-June 1954 was the Geneva Accords where the major powers were to come to an agreement on Indochina. The agreement was a temporary one that divided Vietnam at the seventeenth parallel with a demilitarized zone between the two areas. The North would be the Vietminh or the communist and the South would be the Bao Dei regime. No side could come to agreements involving foreign policy nor accept foreign troops on their soil, until after two years when elections were to be held, scheduled for July 1956. At this time, the permanent government of Vietnam would be determined. Ngo Dinh Diem became a political leader in the South and was pro-Western. Diem announced that the division of Vietnam into two nations would remain and there would be no elections. In rigged elections, Diem emerged victorious over Bao Dei. The United States backed Diem because he promised to make reforms. Diem in the end had no plans of ever having free elections again. Although Diem never made any of his promised reforms, President Eisenhower backed D...
