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With the Cold War intensifying, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and by 1955 President Eisenhower had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam. With training and equipment from American military and police, Diem's security forces arrested some 100,000 people, many of whom were tortured and executed. By 1957, the Viet Cong (Вьетконг – национальный фронт освобождения Южного Вьетнама) began fighting back with attacks on government officials and other targets.
In December 1960, Diem's opponents within South Vietnam--both communist and non-communist--formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to organize resistance to the regime.
Working under the "domino theory," which held that if one Southeast Asian country fell to communism, many would follow, Kennedy increased U.S. aid. By 1962, the U.S. military presence in South Vietnam had reached some 9,000 troops.
Vietnam War Escalates
A coup by some of his own generals succeeded in killing Diem in November 1963, three weeks before Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. The political instability in South Vietnam persuaded Kennedy's successor, Johnson to further increase U.S. military and economic support. The following August, after DRV torpedo boats attacked two U.S. destroyers (миноносец, истребитель) in the Gulf of Tonkin, Johnson ordered the retaliatory (ответный) bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Congress soon passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which gave Johnson broad war-making powers, and U.S. planes began regular bombing raids the following February.
In March 1965, Johnson made the decision to send U.S. combat forces into battle in Vietnam. Despite the concerns of some of his advisers & a growing anti-war movement in the U.S., Johnson authorized the immediate dispatch of 100,000 troops at the end of July 1965 and another 100,000 in 1966. In addition to the United States, South Korea, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand also committed troops to fight in South Vietnam.
