Vietnam was a country that had been at war for many years. In 1954, the occupying French finally left Vietnam and a Geneva code was drawn up outlining the peace treaty. The United States had troops in Vietnam at the time of the cease-fire and they remained there after the Geneva code. Since the end of World War II, the United States and the rest of the free world believed that the Communist had a philosophy of aggression and would take over other countries by force. Based on this belief, the United Nations fought a war in Korea to prevent Communist take over in South Korea. A Senator from Wisconsin named Joseph McCarthy had heightened the fear of Communism in America. His rabid anti-communism had been labeled "McCarthyism". This fear in part led to the Senate passing the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964, with only two senators voting against it. The Resolution gave President Johnson the power to do whatever he wanted in Vietnam without having to gain Congressional appr!
             oval or officially declare war. By 1965 many Americans began questioning whether there was truly communist aggression in Vietnam or whether it was just a civil war in South Vietnam.
             This concept started a bitter battle within the United States, with varying viewpoints emerging on both sides. The U.S. Department of State and Senator Dodd's selections spoke out on why we should have been involved in this war against Communism in Vietnam. I.F. Stone wrote a reply to the U.S. Department of State condemning the war and suggesting it was civil war in South Vietnam and not Communist aggression. Paul Potter and Martin Luther King also spoke out against the war in their selections. This discrepancy in viewpoints led to a very confused America. How was America supposed to recognize the truth about the Vietnam War or why we were there when there were distinct differences in what the Government was telling us and what other informed leaders we...