The Vietnam War

What's up everyone, I just have an open-ended question, this is for a paper, I just need some ideas to get going.

The question; What is the most important cause for America's initial involvement in Vietnam?

If you guys can help me generate some ideas, it's more of an open-ended question, so opinions matter and I'd greatly appreciate your opinions.

It was the Cold War. The US didn't want communism to spread... But that might have been ONE of them. I know a pretty decent amount about wars, but Vietnam and Korea are more shady to me. GodofBigMacs

Bump please, and expand god, what do you mean, the cold war.H16B

You don't know what the Cold War is:?

I do, just wondering what the relation was bettween america's involvement in vietnam and the cold war? Explain that.H16B

The whole "domino theory" and the fears of a spread of Communism is a bit of a myth the Americans like to tell themselves. Kind of like with the US civil war. They like to claim it was fought over slavery and not states' rights. Anyway, the chief reason the US got involved in Vietnam was, as is the case in most wars, monetary.

Check out The Pentagon Papers.