The roots of the Vietnam War go back to the end of World War II as Vietnamese nationalists under Ho Chi Minh waged a successful anti-colonial war against the French. After the French were kicked out of the country following the siege at Dien Ben Phu, the United Nations created North and South Vietnam, with the North sponsored by the Soviet Union and the South looking to the United States for support. The plan was to have the two sides unified after a special election. Ho Chi Minh, leader of the communist North was very popular, while the leader of South Vietnam, Diem, maintained too many traits of French colonialism for some people. The United States backed him because he was anticommunist. When Diem blocked the election because he said that the North would cheat, there were protests all over Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh stepped up his campaign to link the country by force. Diem was later assassinated, and a string of corrupt and inefficient leaders followed. The United States sent advisers and money to South Vietnam as early as the Eisenhower administration. This only increased under the leadership of John F. Kennedy, as he relied on sending more advisers. The Vietnam War truly escalated for the United States after the USS Maddox was attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin by North Vietnamese forces. Congress soon signed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving Lyndon Johnson a blank check to commit thousands more ground troops to fight in Vietnam.
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