ates. France, in her ignorance, wanted back the colonies they had before World War II, and the United States, at the Potsdam conference in Germany, gave it back to France. At the Potsdam conference, the allies divided Vietnam in the 18th parallel to disarm the Japanese. What they should have done was kick Japan out of Vietnam because they didn't belong there in the first place. Here is where the seeds of communism and the thirty-year struggle for the Vietnamese took place. Vietnam was not the only Asian country to receive this poor judgment in deciding the future of its country. Ho Chi Minh, at that time, took quote for a quote from the American Constitution words which he used to declare the independence of Vietnam[1]. President Truman ignored him and created a certain enmity between the United States and Vietnam. Until the year 1950, there was a power struggle between Ho Chi Minh, the French, and Bao Dai, the puppet ruler for the French. When China began supplying the Viet Minh with automatic weapons, howitzers, and other military equipment, the United States took up the policy of containment in that whole region [1]. It was at this time that the United States recognized Bao Dai as a separate identity in Vietnam. In 1954 at the Geneva convention, Vietnam was divided in half with the intent to have elections to unify the country in two years. As the United States was opposed to having the election, Bao Dai as he was backed by the United States, refused to participate. At this point, there was no turning back for the
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