Ho Chi Minh was a Communist leader who lead the Viet Minh. Also, he lead the rebellion against the French and other occupying forces that the vietnamese people did not like. He lead the North Vietnamese government and wanted to destroy the South Vietnamese government and its supporters. The largest city in Vietnam is named after him.

Ngo Dinh Diem was the first president of South Vietnam. Worked with the US to create the Republic of Vietnam. The US supported him because he was not a communist. He was assassinated by the end of the war.

Truman gave aid to the French in the 1950s to fight the Vietminh. Then he sent military advisors to South Vietnam to train the army there.

Eisenhower sent the army there more equipment and weapons, and also he sent more advisors. Eisenhower refused to send combat troops.

 Kennedy strongly believed in fighting communism. Kennedy sent more money to fund the army in Vietnam and rose the number of advisors to about 16,000.

Lyndon B. Johnson escalated the Vietnam War heavily. Johnson sent the first ground troops in 1965. Johnson increased US numbers from 16,000 advisors to 550,000 combat troops. He also told the public that everything was going well and that it was no big deal, this ended after the Tet Offensive occurred. Many protested against him.

 When Nixon entered office, the war was extremely unpopular. He wanted to end the war quickly. He started bombing Indochina, particularly Cambodia heavily. Removed troops slowly. The last US soldiers left at the end of his term.