Explain the nature & development of US poilicy towards Indochina, particularly in Vietnam?

Question

(from about 1960).

Answer 1

When?  During the Vietnam war, World War II, Korean War? Now?

During World War II, the US helped the Vietnamese, including Ho Chi Minh and the Communists, fight against the Japanese.  This help was very small and limited to a few men.  Larger aid was routinely denied.  

As the years went on, and policy towards communism began to change, the US policy turned towards one of containment and the adoption of the "domino theory," the belief that if one country began communist, all others surrounding it would turn too.  The US advocated the division of Vietnam into North and South sections, during the 1954 Geneva Conference, in the hope of pushing the country towards a more capitalist friendly regime.