<P> The North and the South began armed conflict against one another until a decisive battle in 1954 ended with Ho Viet Mihn's forces as the victor . Afterwards at the Geneva conference Vietnam was split along the 17th latitude . There was supposed to be a reunification election in 1956 but another leader took over the South . Ngo Dihn Diem took over leadership from Emperor Bao Dai who took a very hard stance against communism . </P> <P> In other parts of the world the Cold War was intensifying between Soviet Russia and The United States . The U.S. was becoming more rigid in its policies with the communists allies of Russia . President Dwight D. Eisenhower started supporting the southern Vietnamese who were also against the communist north . </P> <P> The U.S. begun training and equipping Diems forces with weapons . Conflicts between communists sympathizers began occurring in the South . At the time The U.S. had only committed around 800 personnel to train and outfit the Southern Vietnamese . In 1961 with John F. Kennedy as the president the white house administration started working under the "Domino Theory" which meant that if South Vietnam was to fall to the North then other places were sure to fall to the communists as well . This caused President Kennedy to begin sending additional American soldiers to Vietnam . By 1962 there was around 9000 personnel in Vietnam . </P> <P> In 1963 a coup was organized by southern Vietnamese generals which resulted in the death of Diem . The United States President Lyndon B. Johnson increased personnel sent over to Vietnam due to the political instability the country was having due to the coup . In 1964 two U.S. warships were attacked by North Vietnamese torpedoes . The President issued an attack order against North Vietnam and Congress passed a motion which gave President Johnson more authority over military decisions . In 1965 President Johnson had sent 82,000 troops to Vietnam and his officials wanted another 175,000 . Due to this heavy demand of military personnel needed in Vietnam the United States required more military personnel than what the regular volunteers and reserves could provide which caused the initiating of the Drafts . Between 1965 and 1972 the draft had provided 2,215,000 servicemembers to the U.S. military . </P>

When did the draft stop for the vietnam war