In 1954 the French defeat at Dien Bien Phu the United States interest in intervening grew tremendously, including some senators who called out for large scale bombing campaigns, potentially even nuclear weapons. President Dwight Eisenhower, even though he did not believe a military victory, believed in the domino theory, where if Vietnam were to fall to communism than there would be multiple other countries that would fall to the ideology in Southeast Asia, from Vietnam to India there would be a dramatic shift in global power. Eisenhower chose to not put boots on the ground, but his decision to start to get involved likely is more important to the countries eventual step into the country than Johnson's decision to take that last step.