Through a good portion of the 20th century, the US had many different forms of involvement in Southeast Asia. During this time, the United States was under the leadership of several different presidents. Therefore, the foreign policy, especially concerning Southeast Asia and Vietnam, was constantly changing.
             The first president to deal with communism in foreign countries was President Harry Truman. This started in 1945 when Truman adopted the policy of "containment." The objective was to prevent communism from spreading around the world. Truman wanted to target Southeast Asia in particular because with so many little neighboring countries, they were the most vulnerable to falling to communism.
             Then from 1952-1960 Eisenhower took over the leadership of the US as president. Eisenhower stayed with Truman's theme of containment but added his own theories into the policy. Eisenhower adopted something called the "Domino Theory." This meant that it was thought that if one country in Southeast Asia fell to communism, they all would just like dominos in a row.
             This theory led to the first actual US involvement in Southeast Asia. In 1930 Ho Chi Minh started the first communist party in Vietnam. At that point in time Vietnam was a French colony. However, Ho Chi Minh started the movement to get rid of France and have their own free country. Because of Eisenhower's Domino Theory, the US sent money to aid France in fighting the Vietnamese in order to prevent communism from spreading.
             Despite the attempts to stop Ho Chi Minh, France was defeated in 1954. The Geneva Conference was held in order to decide the future of Vietnam. The plan called the "Geneva Accords" was that Vietnam would be divided at the 38th parallel (the Line of Demarcation), foreign troops would leave in two years, and in two years Vietnam would be unified and a free election would be held for the entire free nation. However, ...