Given America’s traditional commitment to national self-determination,

Given America’s traditional commitment to national self-determination, explain why the United States decided to support France’s effort to reestablish its control of Vietnam between 1945 and 1954.

What American strategic objectives were served by the recolonization of Vietnam?

ANSWER
The United States faced a dilemma–its policy was anticolonialism and anticommunism. But, in Vietnam, the leader of Vietnamese nationalism was a communist–Ho Chi Minh. U.S. policy was determined by the need to court the friendship of France as an ally against Soviet expansionism in Europe. Thus, as a matter of priority, the United States acceded to France’s effort to recolonize Vietnam.