A Republican President, General Eisenhower, began sending funds and military personnel to Vietnam in 1955. The purpose was to aid France which had been driven out of Vietnam during WWII, but which now wanted to again occupy and colonize Vietnam and exploit the Vietnamese people and their resources.
Although Vietnam had been America’s Allie during WWII, America betrayed the Vietnamese people and sided with the French.
In 1956, the Eisenhower administration also blocked free elections in Vietnam because they were convinced 80% of the south Vietnamese would vote for Ho Chi Minh, the leader of N. Vietnam. Thus, the US blocked democracy to prevent the Vietnamese from electing the leaders of their choice and to prevent the country from becoming unified. The US had come down on the side of colonial slavery.
The possibility of dropping atomic bombs on Vietnam was also discussed with the French during this Republican administration, but the French rejected this offer.
President Kennedy increased the number of military advisors and may have sactioned the murder and assassintion of South Vietnam’s president. President Johnson greatly escalated the war and Nixon took the war to neighboring countries, destablizing Cambodia sufficiently that Pol Pot was able to take power and murder millions of Cambodians.
The music: All Along the Watch Tower– by Jimi Hendrix (written by Dylan). Hendrix also served in the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army.
This video was made in response to a TV commercial created by Republican John McCain in which 1960s peace protesters were depicted as fat, disgusting, ugly weirdos, and the Vietnam war as heroic and McCain as a hero. We were so disgusted we created this video in response. This video is not meant to be fair and balanced, it is a reaction to Republican lies and war mongering.
