This is a Vietnam history class Part 1 When nationalist identity has been repressed, do cultures try to recover the past or do they try to generate a new and preferred future that honors the past? Part 2 The Vietnam people were really at a disadvantage with several different countries coming at them from all angles. It tore their country apart and caused a war from within. Who could they trust and believe? The US Presidents were supporting the French. They feared that if the French lost control communism would take over this area and spread throughout Asia. French had lowered the self esteem of the Vietnamese The French were afraid to lose the control of this colony they felt it would result in continued losses. "The French dismissed the Vietnamese claim of independence and planned to reestablish their Indochina colony"(Moss, 2010). my response Many people forget our long history in Vietnam, remembering it only from the mid-1960s forward. You bring up an essential part of the connection and one that explains many of our subsequent actions. Recall that WWII had the effect of eliminating almost all of the European colonies around the world that had existed pre-war. Why do you think the French felt that they could pick up where they had left off in Vietnam?