American involvement in the Vietnam war 1950-73

• The policy of containment


  Led the US to support the South Vietnamese government
• The US believed in the domino theory and feared if Vietnam fell to communism, other countries in South East Asia would follow
• South Vietnam


  A useful satellite state because it was rich in tungsten, tin and rubber
• North Vietnamese gunboats fired upon the Maddox, a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin
• The USA Congress then gave the President the right to use "all necessary measures" in the war, without having to consult Congress
• Like Kennedy, President Johnson


  Was convinced that America's vast wealth and power would ensure victory in any war
• The US believed that China and the USSR were behind North Vietnam's attacks upon the south