Most US leaders supported the war, midway the same leaders opposed the war.
There were three names by which South Vietnamese supporters of the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War were known. One was Viet Cong. The phrase was a shortened form of the Vietnamese "Viet Nam Cong San," for Vietnamese Communist. It was first used by Ngo Dinh Diem [January 3, 1901-November 2, 1963], First President of the Republic of [South] Vietnam, to describe the opponents to his government and the supporters of the Democratic Republic of [North] Vietnam. President Diem held office from October 26, 1955, until the overthrow of his government and his assassination. But the South Vietnamese supporters didn't identify themselves as Viet Cong. Instead, they preferred recognition of their membership in, or support for, the pro-North guerrilla army and political group. For pro-Northerners joined, or supported, the People's Liberation Armed Forces aka PLAF. Or they joined, or supported, the National Front for the Liberation of Southern Vietnam aka National Liberation Front and NLF.
There are many reasons why the Americans became increasingly involved in Vietnam war. A main one being the French. They had influenced Indo-China since before world war II. Japan, in WWII, tried to get hold of Indo-China so they fought the French for it. At the beginning of the battle, it was the Frech and Vietminh vs Japan. Japan were on their way to victory so France decided they had no chance of winning and decided to think about surrendering. Japan, being communist, were trying to make Indo-China communist and due to the American theory of the Domino theory, they decided to back up France. Another main reason linking into the answer above was the American attitudes to communism, they would do anything to stop communism spreading. Examples of this are, the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Aid and also the Domino theory was an insentive to stop communism spreading.
The leader of the Vietnamese communists who were militarily victorious over the French and the American imperialists. Ho Chi Minh was the leader of the league "Viet Minh" (which is the league of independence.) He was the one that declared INDEPENDENCE for Vietnam.
After the war was over, it became the first real loss for the United States despite excellent military performance and almost 100% tactical victory. It also helped take the wind out of the Hippy/Peace Movement, which makes sense as it was largely started to counter the war in Vietnam and helped to bring Americans closer together by removing one of the great obstacle which had divided them. It also ushered in a new era of American caution with regards to the deployment of US military forces, which America did not overcome until after several successful campaigns, in particular the First Persian Gulf War. For Vietnam, it finally meant unity for an independent Vietnam, even if it was under a brutal communist dictatorship. Many people who had resisted the North were sent to "reeducation" camps and were brutally tortured, brainwashed, and sometimes killed; however, Vietnam has been moving forward ever since the war's end in its development, albeit slowly. Now Vietnam is actually trying to engage the US again, but this time as an economic partner instead of a military enemy. In terms of the war against communism, Vietnam was an indecisive battle. Communism had not been prevented from overtaking Vietnam, but the Vietnamese were so exhausted by almost 30 years of neverending conflict that any Vietnamese Communist ambitions in the rest of Southeastern Asia--if there were any--had to be shelved. While Vietnam did serve as a blight on the US's record for some time, the Soviets eventually had their own Vietnam-like catastrophe in Afghanistan. Like the US, the Soviets dominated tactically, but strategically were unable to accomplish their goals of supporting the actually fairly weak Communist Party in Afghanistan. Both wars combined demonstrated to the world that direct military involvement is not always a feasible solution. Because the US used the military strategy of fighting a "limited" war, it lost. Heavy casualties over many years caused President Nixon to agree to peace talks.
was approved by President Kennedy.
Hesitantly, and very timidly, Kennedy did approve of the coup; however, he did it without warning Diem.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy
American Generals met with who organized the plot to overthrow and there may have been some participation in the overthrow of the Diem regime, but it doesn't seem JFK was involved directly. Within three weeks of the death of Diem Kennedy was dead.
The United States reluctantly provided support for Diem in spite of his corrupt government.
President Diem was strongly ANTI-COMMUNIST.
Diem was assassinated in 1963, the same year as President Kennedy's assassination.
because he was on crack
To oppose the spread of global communism.
Early in the Vietnam War, the United States support the leadership of Ngo Dinh Diem. He was assassinated in 1963. Following his death, the next president of South Vietnam was Nguyen Van Thieu.
Communists would take over South Vietnam
US: Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford. S. Viet: Diem, Thieu.