>>17819999 (OP)>what the fuck was everyone involved thinking?It was a matter of prestige for the French, they were desperate to reclaim Indochina after losing control during WWII
How we got involved is hard to explain, the policy of the Truman/Roosevelt admins were specifically anti-colonial, yet somehow the French browbeat us into helping them in French Indochina
Our involvement started with transporting French soldiers to Hanoi via troopships and escorts, this was in 1945 and escalated from there
>>17820102>Muh communism!This was retarded propaganda/cope from the Eisenhower and Kennedy admins, very few people up high in the US government actually believed that Vietnam going full Commie was going to have any real effect on the politics of the region, let alone the world