Following the break out of World War II, the U.S. began to support the Vietminh because they fought the Japanese who had occupied portions of Vietnam during the war.  However, U.S. officials still distrusted Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh since they were communist.  But the United States put aside its mistrusts and concentrated on defeating Japan.  Just as the United States had allied with communist-led Soviet Union, the U.S. allied with the Vietminh, supplying them with weapons and training for their soldiers.

After Japan's surrender, American leaders became concerned at the possibility of having a communist government in Vietnam.  Within weeks following the war, Ho Chi Minh and his followers took control the government and declared the independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.  Neither France nor the United States officially recognized the country.  France wanted to regain its colony, while the United States didn't want to see a Communist power govern Vietnam.  

American leaders have been opposed to communist ideals even since 1848 when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels published some of the doctrines of communism.  This is because the communist system of government limits private ownership of property, allowing more people to share in a nation's wealth.  This system directly opposes the United State's capitalist system, which advocates free enterprise and private ownership.  The two systems cannot exist in the same country at the same time because individuals and businesses who own private property will lose it to the government.  

At first, communism didn't pose a great threat to the United States and other capitalist nations.  However, following World War II, things had changed.  The Soviet Union had taken control of eastern Europe and set up communist "satellite" nations.  In 1949, fears of communism increased when communist forces took control of China.  This event stunned the United States, when communist forces had now seized control of the most populous nation in the world.  It also meant that communist forces now controlled an unbroken mass of territory that stretch from central Europe, across Asia, to the Pacific Ocean.  

American officials began to use the term domino theory to describe the communist threat in Asia.  They believed if the communists were able to gain control of a  country, then the surrounding countries would also fall prey to communism.  They applied this theory to Vietnam, where Vietnamese communists would eventually topple governments in surrounding nations, such as Laos and Cambodia, eventually giving rise to a totally communist Indochina.   

In 1950, the U.S. formally announced its policy of containment, following the invasion of South Korea by communist North Korea.  This policy frankly said the United States would provide both economic and military aid to those countries that required assistance in repelling communist forces.

Meanwhile, both the governments of the Soviet Union and China had officially recognized Ho Chi Minh's government as the legal government of Vietnam.  As the U.S. increased aid to the French, who controlled South Vietnam, the Soviet Union and China increased their support of the Vietminh, which ruled North Vietnam.  As 1950 drew to a close, an all-out battle between the Vietminh and the French was set. 

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