In 1961 In President John F Kennedy was elected and with the situation becoming critical in Vietnam Kennedy made a statement to the New York Times “Now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place.” A statement that presents American views and attitudes towards their military power. Kennedy stated that he wanted to demonstrate American power and with the Vietnam conflict on the rise. American Leadership and Military Command saw it as a perfect opportunity to show the world that it was up to the challenge of fighting the spread of Communism.
Kennedy sent members from a branch of the American special forces ‘The Green Berets’ who specialised in jungle warfare, similar to the Vietnamese terrain trained South Vietnamese ARVN forces to deal the Communist guerrillas. In that first year of American involvement in 1961, American presence soared from 1000 to 12 000 the following year.
In early 1963, President Diem was becoming rapidly unpopular with his own people especially with the buddhist population, being a strong Catholic. Banning Buddhist flags in a Buddhist festival, many Buddhist’s took the streets in protest. South Vietnamese Troops fired on the protestors in retaliation.
In response a monk called Thich Quang Duc set fire to himself in protest to Diem. An image rife with infamy that spread around the world and a common image of the Vietnam war. With Diem losing support from America, his days as President were numbered. With leadership weak, on November 2nd 1963 a military coup was lead and resulted in the assassination of President Diem and his brother. 3 weeks later President JFK was also killed.
Kennedy sent members from a branch of the American special forces ‘The Green Berets’ who specialised in jungle warfare, similar to the Vietnamese terrain trained South Vietnamese ARVN forces to deal the Communist guerrillas. In that first year of American involvement in 1961, American presence soared from 1000 to 12 000 the following year.
In early 1963, President Diem was becoming rapidly unpopular with his own people especially with the buddhist population, being a strong Catholic. Banning Buddhist flags in a Buddhist festival, many Buddhist’s took the streets in protest. South Vietnamese Troops fired on the protestors in retaliation.
In response a monk called Thich Quang Duc set fire to himself in protest to Diem. An image rife with infamy that spread around the world and a common image of the Vietnam war. With Diem losing support from America, his days as President were numbered. With leadership weak, on November 2nd 1963 a military coup was lead and resulted in the assassination of President Diem and his brother. 3 weeks later President JFK was also killed.