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On March 12, 1947, President Harry Truman addressed [Truman speaks]

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Congress, declaring that it was absolutely necessary to fight the spread

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of communism. We were the shining white knight, and the USSR was a big scary [knight fights troll]

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trol. Case closed. We're pretty sure his address was better than that, but well,

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you get the gist. With the end of World War II, the United States and its

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one-time ally, the Soviet Union, clashed over the reorganization of the post-war [Post-War map]

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world. Each saw the other is the number one threat to its national security, its [army marches on TV]

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institutions, and its influence over the globe. If the U.S. didn't do something,

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everybody in the world would soon be communist and probably be forced to wear [flag turns red]

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those furry Russian hats... even in summer. The Truman Doctrine, as it was called, was

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determined to stop this by giving millions of dollars in military aid, [Truman Doctrine introduced]

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grants to train foreign armies, and a bunch of American flag baseball caps... well, not [baseball cap drops on Truman]

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that last one... But Greece, Turkey, and yes, Vietnam all got goodie baskets from

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Truman. While Truman's goodies did the trick in Greece and Turkey, they didn't [mailman delivers goodies]

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cut it in Vietnam. Should have included the hats there, Truman. Told ya. Anyway, we'll

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have to zoom back a little further in history to see why. By the late 1940s, a [Ho Chi Minh introduced]

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Vietnamese revolutionary movement led by communist leader Ho Chi Minh had

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successfully expelled Japanese occupying forces and kept France from reclaiming

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Vietnam as its colony. Minh, who had been seeking independence for his homeland [France and Japan defeated]

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since World War I, declared his nation free at last. He made a speech saying that he [Minh speaks]

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was convinced Allied nations would recognize this newly liberated Vietnam.

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After all, these days France, Britain, and America were supposed to be all about

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the equality of nations and the right for self-determination. Unfortunately for [flags associated with values]

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Ho Chi Minh, we were like, "Yeah, not so much." Why? For one, France wasn't so keen

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on losing its colonial influence, and the U.S. and Britain were both buddies with

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France. Well, even more important for us was our suspicion that Minh's success was [U.S. supports France]

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because of secret support from the Soviet Union. Maybe he was wearing a

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furry hat or something... yeah, dead giveaway. Well, Truman was convinced that [Minh in furry hat shown in folder]

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if we recognized Ho Chi Minh's government, it wouldn't be long until the

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Vietnamese we're wearing those big furry hats. [support equated to communism spread]

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Just think how hot they be wearing them in Southeast Asia. Too cruel to imagine... So [man suffering in hat]

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Truman said "no way" to Minh's petition for support and began funneling money, [French receive supplies]

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ammunition, ships, aircraft, military vehicles, and other supplies to the

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French. Did that mean the U.S. was supporting European colonialism? Yeah, it did. Is that a [U.S. supports colonialism]

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little awkward considering we were a nation born of a war against our

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European oppressive masters? Yeah, a bit. Were we more worried about communism [Revolutionary War paintings]

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then we were about pesky historical ironies? Absolutely. So by the end of [Cold War footage]

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President Truman's final term in office, we were paying for nearly forty percent [military expenses illustrated]

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of all military expenses in France's colonial conflict. The quagmire of quagmires [Truman dives into quagmire]

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had been opened, and we dove right in. Well, in hindsight, we should worn

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hip-waders. Come on, it's pretty hard to look cool in those things. We'll just stick to the Gap. [Truman in boots]

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