Vietnam Propaganda; Planting a Seed in the Mind of American Soldiers

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Vietnam in 1954 was a country that had nationalism flowing in their veins after the decades of being under French and for a short time the Japanese rule. All the Vietnamese wanted was to be its own country. The North started fighting back the French and did whatever they could to take back their homeland. The French were beginning to feel this under the numerous attacks the Vietnamese started against them. A number of nations met to determine how the French could peacefully withdraw. The Geneva Accords came from the meetings and a cease fire was initiated. The French left and their was a temporary division along the 17th parallel. A democratic election was to be held in 1956 that would reunite the country under one government. Inevitably though since Ho Chi Minh wanted to be a democratic communist country it didn’t seem to be in the best interest of the United States.
South Vietnam carried out the election only in South Vietnam rather than countrywide. After distinguishing most of his rivals, Ngo Dinh Diem was elected the South’s leader. Diem’s leadership, proved so horrible that he was killed in 1963 during a coup supported by the United States. He alienated many South Vietnamese during his term. Communist sympathizers in South Vietnam established the National Liberation Front (NLF), also known as the Viet Cong, in 1960 to use guerrilla warfare against the South Vietnamese.
The North Vietnam would also do whatever it took to be one united Vietnam again. North Vietnam fired directly upon two U.S. ships in international waters on in the Gulf of Tonkin and the United States Congress responded with the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This resolution gave the President the authority to escalate U.S. involvement in Vietnam....

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"NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT (NLF) ANTI-AMERICAN LEAFLETS OF THE VIETNAM WAR." National Liberation Front Anti-American Leaflets Used During the Vietnam War. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .

"Propaganda Leaflets: North Vietnam to U.S." Propaganda Leaflets: North Vietnam to U.S. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .

"World History Connected | Vol. 5 No. 1 | Marc Jason Gilbert: From Tonkin to Tikrit: Placing Communist Propaganda During the American War in Vietnam in Modern World History." World History Connected | Vol. 5 No. 1 | Marc Jason Gilbert: From Tonkin to Tikrit: Placing Communist Propaganda During the American War in Vietnam in Modern World History. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2014. .

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