Declassified per Executive Order 13526, Section 3.3
NND Project Number: NND 63316. By: NWD Date: 2011
TOP SECRET – Sensitive
I.A.3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
| Page | |||
| 3. | Origins of the U.S. Involvement in Vietnam | A-51 | |
| a. | The Policy Context | A-51 | |
| b. | The U.S. Enters the War | A-58 | |
- 3. Origins of the U.S. Involvement in Vietnam
- a. The Policy Context
Events in China of 1948 and 1949 brought the United States to a new awareness of the vigor of communism in Asia, and to a sense of urgency over its containment. U.S. policy instruments developed to meet unequivocal communist challenges in Europe were applied to the problem of the Far East. Concurrent with the development of NATO, a U.S. search began for collective security in Asia; economic and military assistance programs were inaugurated; and the Truman Doctrine acquired wholly new dimensions by extension into regions where the European empires were being dismantled. In March, 1947, President Truman had set forth the following policy guidelines:
- "I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.
