ement in Vietnam. Senator John F. Kennedy recommended, in order to prevent the further spread of communism in Southeast Asia, that the French grant independence to South Vietnam, support the government’s army, and “whenever necessary make some Pipkens-Smith 7commitment of our manpower” (Scheer 15). The settlement at Geneva did three things: 1st it ended the war; 2nd divided Vietnam in half temporarily; and 3rd called for peace and reunification of the country (Scheer 16). Diem’s government believed in tight central control to divert the nationalist revolution from Communist objectives (Scheer 21). During the first year of the new government, Diem crushed all sources of opposition left over from the Viet Minh (Scheer 21). By 1959, in the North, the Viet Minh had written off the possibility of the elections that they were supposed to get and turned to military means. This ended the illusory stability of the Diem regime (Scheer 46). Diem was aware that his government could not survive without the massive aid from the United States so he based his whole appeal on anti-communism (Scheer 56). But then, with the “Communist danger” the basis for assuring continued American aid, the secure countryside suddenly was overrun with communist terrorists (Scheer 56).This book was very detailed as well as fascinating to glance through. It gave political spectrum from the South Vietnamese side, and offered a great perception of somewhat a total picture on the root causes and reasons for United States involvement. Using this book was a major step in this paper it has defined the other half of the political spectrum.Summers, Harry. On Strategy: The Vietnam War in Context.US Army War College, Pennsylvania 1982.An ongoing argument about the Vietnam War was this. If Congress declared the Vietnam conflict a war would the public perspective of this drastic turn of events be viewed in a difference context (Summers 13)....
