The Vietnam war involving the United States stemmed from French involvement in Indochina. The French had taken control of many of the regions in Indochina, including that of Vietnam. Vietnam had suffered under the rule of the French for years upon years, until finally finding a temporary freedom during the second world war. French forces were focused upon fighting off the Axis powers and therefore could not properly exert control over Vietnam as Japan began to claim land in the area. Communist leader Ho Chi Minh then set up camp in northern Vietnam and established the Viet-Minh, a military group whose goal was to free Vietnam from foreign rule. The Viet-Minh fought fiercely against the French, who were constantly facing immense defeats. Due to paranoia stirred by the Cold War, the United States was desperate to control and cease the spread of Communism. The US saw the rise of the Viet-Minh as a communist threat and decided to promptly step in the combat the Viet-Minh. After a devastating defeat in Dien Bien Phu, the French decided to remove themselves from the conflict. This caused a split between the country upon the 17th parallel, which divided the communist North Vietnam and the non-communist South Vietnam. In 1956, the country decided to hold a democratic election to bring the two regions back together. However, the United States feared that the communists would win the election and therefore only allowed southern Vietnam to commence the election. This allowed Ngo Dinh Diem to rise to power and become elected. Ngo used his power corruptly and his mistreatment of his citizens made him one of the most hated men in Vietnam. Realizing their terrible mistake, the U.S. aided in a successful assassination of the evil ruler. Ngo's legacy, unfortunately for the United States, did not end with his demise. Due to the cruel treatment under Ngo's rule, groups of Vietnamese came together to form the National Liberation Front, which also came to be known as the Vietcong. Fighting for communism, the Vietcong waged war upon South Vietnam. As fighting continued between the two forces, the U.S. did nothing more then send supplies. This all changed when the Vietcong attacked two U. S. ships that were sitting of the Tonkin Gulf, which became known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. This attack allowed the U.S. to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which provided the president with the ability to use any military means necessary in Vietnam without necessarily declaring war. By March of 1965, U.S. boots had landed upon Vietnamese soil. President Johnson desired to avoid as much U.S. involvement as possible and only wanted to support South Vietnam until they could defeat the Vietcong by themselves. However, Johnson's reluctance to enter a full-on war only resulted in American troops' inability to make any real progress. Another great obstacle for the American troops was that of the Vietcong tactics. The Vietcong would use the environment to cloak themselves and hide from danger. The Vietcong would build complex underground tunnels to stay hidden and sometimes would merely just hide in the houses of villagers. To root out the hidden enemies, the U.S. began dropping napalm and Agent Orange upon the jungles that would horrifically burn the soldiers to death. This similar fighting continued on until January 30th of 1968 when Northern Vietnam launched a large scale surprise attack upon Southern Vietnam. The attack, which became known as the Tet Offensive, resulted in a great decrease of U.S. morale and support of the war, causing many more Americans to desire a retreat from the conflict. Once Nixon became president in 1969 he introduced a plan called Vietnamization, which outlined the withdrawal of American troops in Vietnam. When Nixon contradicted this plan by launching attacks in Laos in Cambodia, numerous amounts of protests erupted at college campuses back in America. This created even a greater desire for peace to spread through America. This thirst for peace was eventually quenched on January 27th of 1973, when the Paris Peace Accords finally declared a cease-fire. On March 29th, fully aware that they were leaving Southern Vietnam nearly defenseless, the very last U.S. troops left the broken and distraught country and the Vietnam war involving America was over.