American involvement in Vietnam was largely a response to the policies and strategies of the Cold War. Kennedy took a much more relaxed approach to Vietnam than Eisenhower. He only wanted to support the South and not provide direct military aid by getting involved. Kennedy believed that the nations themselves should bear the burden of war and that America would simply provide them with supplies and political support. However, the administration's attempt to aid the South largely failed because neither the South Vietnamese nor the Americans knew how to handle guerrilla warfare. Another problem was that Diem's ​​support was rapidly diminishing to the point where it was only his own family. He never trusted any popular government officials in office and would quickly replace them. Kennedy continually urged Diem to change his ways before all support for the South waned (Kaiser). Between 1960 and 1968, Vietnam turned into an American war and the tactics greatly affected American soldiers. In 1960, the South Vietnamese communist organization, the National Liberation Front, more commonly known as the Vietcong, joined forces with the North Vietnamese. American forces supported the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, which only curbed communist influence in the South and proved very ineffective. In 1961, Maxwell Taylor sent a telegram to President Kennedy recommending sending American forces to South Vietnam so that American forces could be called into combat to protect themselves, their task forces. and the area in which they live (Taylor, 121-123). In 1963, the situation continued to worsen. Kennedy attempts to gain support from the American public by being interviewed by Walter Cronkite of CBS, saying that as... middle of paper......1575-579. Print. Public Papers of the President: John F. Kennedy, 1963 (September 2, 1963), pp. 651-52 Public Papers of the President: John F. Kennedy, 1963 (September 9, 1963), pp. 651-52. 658-59 Robert Dallek, Flaw aint: Lyndon B. Johnson and His Times, 1961-1973, 1998, pp.238-40, 243-45, 249, 267-271, 272-75, 276-80 Taking charge; The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964, Telegram from Taylor to Kennedy, November 1, 1961, United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1947 (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1971), Book 11, 337-42. Telephone conversation between Diem and Lodge, November 1, 1963, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1961-1963, vol. 4, p. 513. Bulletin of the United States Department of State, 51 (August 24, 1964), 268 We Were Soldiers (2002) Working Class War: American Combat Soliders and Vietnam by Christain G. Appy. 1993 by the University of North Carolina Press.