The Rise of Insurgency
On December 19 of 1960, a secret meeting of representatives of various opposition groups led by the communist guerrillas (known as the "Vietcong" by the South Vietnamese and the Americans), formed the National Liberation Front (N.L.F.). The Vietcong gained effective control of large sectors of the countryside, but not without a high measure of terrorist activity; by 1961, rural officials loyal to the South Vietnam government were being assassinated at a rate of ten a day. Vietcong bases and supply lines were established in Laos and Cambodia. In October of 1961, the U.S. administration took the decision to hold South Vietnam at all costs. American pilots, sent by newly elected American President, John F. Kennedy, began flying combat missions in Vietnam.
