Conclusion
The US involvement Indochina lasted nearly three decades and ended abruptly in 1975 with the fall of Saigon. The US fought a war on communism by trying to contain communist influence in North Vietnam. The war itself lasted nearly a decade but involvement started after the end to the Korean War under President Eisenhower. Under Eisenhower the US influenced the Geneva Conference of 1954 and supported the corrupt government of Diem. President Kennedy lasted only 3 years in office but initiated the start of military support with the Military and Economic Treaty of 1961 and stopped the support of Diem. President Johnson took over as president after the assassination of John F Kennedy and passed the Tonkin Resolution which helped himself and President Nixon control troop movements and military power in the region. Johnson also escalated the war taking it to over 500,000 troops and the height of military bombing in 1969. President Nixon is known for decreasing the amount of soldiers through Vietnamization and ending the war with the Peace Conference of 1973 which started in early 1971. The US chose diplomatic peace over the fight against communism and in 1973 signed the Anti-ballistic Missile Treaty and re-opened diplomatic connections with the People's Republic of China and defused tense connections between the Soviet Union. In the end political involvement in the region decreased and South Vietnam fell. The US lost over 50,000 troops in Vietnam and spent over 100 billion (600 billion + modern day). The end of the Vietnam War marked the slow decrease in tensions between communism and the west.