America's involvement in the Vietnamese conflict was to stop the spreading of communism in Southeast Asia. The United States played a major role in the Vietnam War. Its influence was greatest in the South, led by the Capitalist party of Ngo Dinh Diem. The French had been defeated by the Vietminh, trying to defend South Vietnam and failed to end the Vietnamese conflict. The United States was forced into the war by its anti-communist policies, which were to prevent the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. The Vietnam War took place in a time when Americans did not know what they wanted, but what they did know was that they did not want war (Doyle 95-110). The Vietnam War was not a war at all, at least not from the United States standpoint. It is known as the Vietnamese Conflict. The conflict was between two different political parties in Vietnam, one of them being North Vietnam and the other being South Vietnam. Each party wanted to control all of Viet!
             nam under their political beliefs. The North wanted the South to unite with them, but the South wanted to break away and start it's own country. But with little compromise the only thing that occurred was negotiation by force. The Geneva Conference in 1954, officially split Vietnam into two parts, North or Vietminh and South or French supported. It Page 2 also ended the fighting of the North and South under several circumstances. First it officially declared France defeated by the Vietminh. After this was officially declared the United States stepped in to influence the South. The most important circumstance was the agreement that in 1956 general elections would be held. With the election two years away both parties had time to rebuild whatever armed forces or governments they could. The Geneva Conference stated, that the party that won the majority in the election would win control and either reunite the two parts of Vietnam or become politically independent. With support fro!
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