In the wake of the temporary partitioning of Vietnam at the Geneva Conference of 1954, the Dwight D. Eisenhower administration was determined to do what it could to ensure that South Vietnam remained out of the hands of Communists. Eisenhower suggested in a 1954 speech that if the Communists were victorious in Vietnam, the rest of Southeast Asia would "topple like a row of dominoes" to Communist ideology. The Eisenhower administration believed that if Southeast Asia turned …showed first 75 words of 2547 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2547 total…people of Vietnam wanted then they should have been able to decide that for themselves. It was not up to the United States or any other country to choose Vietnam's future for them. This is what the United States did not understand. They also did not understand that an independent Vietnam meant freedom for millions of people, which is what the US should want for all people, not the spread of Communism throughout the world.