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The 1960's

Vietnam

Vietnam
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 7 to 9
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   8.1

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    non-Communists, anti-Communist, Vietnamization, ultimate, coup, takeover, viet, tactics, advisors, slang, ruthless, politics, military, violent, reunify, political
     content words:    Vietnam War, Young American, Many Americans, Southeast Asian, North Vietnam, South Vietnam, President Eisenhower, United States, Southeast Asia Treaty Organization, Ngo Dinh Diem

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Vietnam
By Jane Runyon 		  
1     If you were to ask anyone over fifty years of age what they remember most about the 1960's, you would probably hear Vietnam more than once. The Vietnam War interested a great many American people during that time. Young American men were drafted to serve their country in Vietnam. Thousands of those young men didn't live to return home. Many Americans took sides as to whether our troops should even be in this Southeast Asian country. Protests and riots in the states brought death to young people on home soil.
 
2     America's problems in Vietnam really started in 1954. It was at this time that France gave up its claim to rule countries in Indochina. Communist forces laid claim to the country of Vietnam. In a peace agreement signed by France, Vietnam was divided by the seventeenth parallel into two separate countries, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The country was to be reunified in 1956 after a national election. The Communists felt that they would be able to take full control of the country after the election. President Eisenhower did not want to see that happen. He convinced the United States to support an agreement which created the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
 
3     In the 1956 election, South Vietnam elected Ngo Dinh Diem, a strong anti-Communist, as their leader. He asked the United States to support him against attack by the North Vietnamese. Diem arrested and imprisoned thousands of people he suspected of having Communist ties.

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