ì
= 6 á2 ìèparticipation in the Geneva Conference of 1954 was an American ì
presence in Vietnam that evolved into the Second Vietnam War. 4.ls1
3B. B. Fall, The Two Viet-Nams (New York: Frederick A. ì
Praeger, Publishers, 1963), 317-320.
The major focus of this study is on American involvement in ì
Vietnam. Of interest in this context are (1) the factors that ì
motivated the United States to participate in the Generva ì
Conference of 1954, and (2) the accords reached at the conference ì
and their effects on the United States.ì
MOTIVATIONS FOR AMERICAN PARTICIPATION IN ì
Rabid anti-communism was the strongest motivation for ì
American participation in the Geneva Conference of 1954. ù 4.ls1
4P. A. Poole, Eight Presidents and Indochina (Malabar, ì
Florida: Robert E. Krieger Publishing Company, 1978), 26-31.
United States had been enmeshed in an anti-communist crusade with ì
varying intensity since 1919. The partition of Korea between ì
communist and capitalist segments in 1950 at the instigation of ì
the Soviet Union, and the fall of China to the communists in 1949 ì
leading to the creation of the People's Republic of China and a ì
rump Nationalist Chinese state on the island of Formosa had ì
persuaded most American political leaders that communist forces ì
must be stopped wherever they attempted to make gains. The ì
defeat of the French in Vietnam, thus, was regarded as a ì
potential disaster by the Eisenhower Administration.ì
To fully appreciate American motivations for participation ì
by the United States in the Geneva Conference of 1954, however, ì
one must review preceding events and theories of international ì
relations. These issues are reviewed in the remainder of this ì
Relevant Theories of International Relationsì
Two central hypotheses in intern...