United States–Vietnam relations

Early contacts between the United States and Vietnam began around 1787, when US minister to France Thomas Jefferson met the exiled Vietnamese Prince Cảnh, son of future Gia Long in Paris, as Jefferson showed interest in dry rice varieties from Cochinchina (South Vietnam). During the Second World War, the U.S. covertly assisted the Viet Minh in fighting Japanese forces in French Indochina, though a formal alliance was not established.

Source: Wikipedia — United States–Vietnam relations (CC BY-SA 4.0)