The involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War began in the 1950s and greatly escalated in 1965 until its withdrawal in 1973. The U.S. military presence in Vietnam peaked in April 1969, with 543,000 military personnel stationed in the country. By the end of the U.S. involvement, more than 3.1 million Americans had been stationed in Vietnam,. and 58,279 had been killed.
After World War II ended in 1945, President Harry S. Truman declared his doctrine of "containment" of communism in 1947 at the start of the Cold War. U.S. involvement in Vietnam began in 1950, with Truman sending military advisors to assist the French Union against Viet Minh rebels in the First Indochina War. The French withdrew in 1954, leaving North Vietnam in control of the country's northern half. President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered covert CIA activities in South Vietnam. In late 1955, the Ngo Dinh Diem regime strengthened the campaign against clandestine communists who had remained behind in South Vietnam, an initiative that the US was largely uninterested in, but from 1957 insurgents known as the Viet Cong launched a campaign against the state. North Vietnam supported the Viet Cong, which began fighting the South Vietnamese army. President John F. Kennedy, who subscribed to the "domino theory" that communism would spread to other countries if Vietnam fell, expanded U.S. aid to South Vietnam, increasing the number of advisors from 900 to 16,300, but this failed to produce results. In 1963, Diem was deposed and killed in a military coup tacitly approved by the U.S. North Vietnam began sending detachments of its own army, armed with Soviet and Chinese weapons, to assist the Viet Cong.
After the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered air strikes against North Vietnam, and Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized military intervention in defense of South Vietnam. From early 1965, U.S. involvement in Vietnam escalated rapidly, launching Operation Rolling Thunder against targets in the North and ordering 3,500 Marines to the region. It became clear that aerial strikes alone would not win the war, so ground troops were regularly augmented. General William Westmoreland, who commanded the U.S. forces, opted for a war of attrition. Opposition to the war in the U.S. was massive, and was strengthened as news reported on the use of napalm, a mounting death toll among soldiers and civilians, the effects of the chemical defoliant Agent Orange, and U.S. war crimes such as the My Lai massacre. In 1968, North Vietnam and the Viet Cong launched the Tet Offensive, after which Westmoreland estimated that 200,000 more U.S. troops were needed for victory. Johnson rejected his request, announced he would not seek another term in office, and ordered an end to Rolling Thunder. Johnson's successor, Richard Nixon, adopted a policy of "Vietnamization", training the South Vietnamese army so it could defend the country and starting a phased withdrawal of American troops. By 1972, there were only 69,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam, and in 1973 the Paris Peace Accords were signed, removing the last of the troops. In 1975, the South's capital of Saigon fell after a successful invasion from the North, and Vietnam was reunited in 1976.
The costs of fighting the war for the U.S. were considerable. In addition to the 58,279 soldiers killed, the expenditure of about US$168 billion limited Johnson's Great Society program of domestic reforms and created a large federal budget deficit. Some historians blame the lack of military success on poor tactics, while others argue that the U.S. was not equipped to fight a determined guerilla enemy. The failure to win the war dispelled myths of U.S. military invincibility and divided the nation between those who supported and opposed the war. As of 2019, it was estimated that approximately 610,000 Vietnam veterans are still alive, making them the second-largest group of military veterans behind those of the war on terror. The war has been portrayed in the thousands of movies, books, and video games centered on the conflict.
Timeline
Early 20th century (1919–1949) 1919 — The Council of Four ignored the Revendications petition submitted by the Group of Annamese Patriots, written mostly by Phan Văn Trường and signed by Nguyễn Ái Quốc on their behalf. The petition did not demand independence, but instead called on France to honor its reformist promises. 1941 — Franklin D. Roosevelt declines repeated requests from the French to assist France's attempts to recolonize Vietnam. July 1945 — Members of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), commanded by Major Allison Thomas, parachute into Vietnam to help train Viet Minh forces for operations against occupying Japanese forces. August 15, 1945 — Japan surrenders to the Allies of World War II. In Indochina, the Japanese military administration decides not to intervene in Vietnamese domestic affairs, creating an opportunity for the Viet Minh to take the lead in the August Revolution. Late August 1945 — Nationalist Chinese forces enter Indochina and, as previously planned by the Allies, establish an administration in Vietnam as far south as the 16th parallel north. Vietnamese nationalist parties take control of several towns, competing with the Viet Minh. September 2, 1945 — Ho Chi Minh reads the Declaration of independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam in the presence of the OSS team in Hanoi. Late September 1945 — British troops land in southern Vietnam and establish a provisional administration. The British free French soldiers and officials imprisoned by the Japanese. The French begin taking control of cities within the British zone of occupation. September 26, 1945 — OSS officer Lieutenant Colonel A. Peter Dewey, who was working with the Viet Minh to repatriate Americans captured by the Japanese, was killed by a member of the Viet Minh who mistakenly believed him to be French. February 1946 — The French sign an agreement with China. France gives up its concessions in Shanghai and other Chinese ports. In exchange, China agrees to assist the French in returning to Vietnam north of the 16th parallel. March 1946 — The US opens a consulate in Saigon, led by Charles S. Reed II. It is later made a consulate general on May 20, 1946. March 6, 1946 — After negotiations with the Chinese and the Viet Minh, the French sign an agreement recognizing Vietnam within the French Union. Shortly after, the French land at Haiphong and occupy the rest of northern Vietnam. June to August 1946 — Following the withdrawal of the Chinese Nationalists, the Viet Minh use the negotiating process with France to buy time while using their armed forces to destroy all competing nationalist groups in the north, sometimes with the help of the French. The US vice consul in Hanoi, James L. O’Sullivan, reports to Washington: "the Viet Minh League seems steadily to be eliminating all organized opposition". 19 December 1946 — Negotiations between the Viet Minh and the French break down. The Viet Minh launches an attack on French forces in Hanoi, starting the First Indochina War. The French drive the Viet Minh out of the city by February 1947. June 14, 1947: Saigon consul Reed's report to Washington expresses favor for a Federated Republic of Vietnam, balancing native rights and French interests, while signaling skepticism toward Ho Chi Minh's communist government. 1947–1949 — The Viet Minh fight a limited insurgency in remote rural areas of northern Vietnam. 1949 — Chinese communists reach the northern border of Indochina. The Viet Minh drive the French from the border region and begin to receive large amounts of weapons from the Soviet Union and China. The weapons transform the Viet Minh from an irregular large-scale insurgent movement into a conventional army.
1950s
May 1, 1950 — After the capture of Hainan Island from Chinese Nationalist forces by the Chinese People's Liberation Army, President Truman approves $10 million in military assistance for anti-communist efforts in Indochina. The Defense Attaché Office was established in Saigon in May 1950, a formal recognition of Vietnam (vice French Indochina). This was the beginning of formal U.S. military personnel assignments in Vietnam. U.S. Naval, Army, and Air Force personnel established their respective attachés at this time. September 1950 — Truman sends the Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) Indochina to Vietnam to assist the French. Truman claimed they were not sent as combat troops, but to supervise the use of $10 million worth of U.S. military equipment to support the French in their effort to fight the Viet Minh forces. Following the outbreak of the Korean War, Truman announces "acceleration in the furnishing of military assistance to the forces of France and the Associated States in Indochina...", and sends 123 non-combat troops to help with supplies to fight against the communist Viet Minh. 1951 — Truman authorizes $150 million in French support. 1953 — By November, French commander in Indochina, General Navarre, asked U.S. General MacArthur to loan 12 Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar aircraft, to be flown by French crews, to facilitate Operation Castor at Dien Bien Phu. 1954 — In January, Navarre's deputy asked for additional transport aircraft. Negotiations ended on March 3, with 24 CIA pilots (CAT) to operate 12 U.S. Air Force C-119s, flying undercover using French insignia, but maintained by the USAF."Presentation of the Insignia of Knights of the Legion of Honor to seven CAT pilots at Dien Bien Phu" (Embassy of France in the United States, February 25, 2005) 1954 — General Paul Ely, the French Chief of Staff, proposed an American operation to rescue French forces at Dien Bien Phu. Operation Vulture was hastily planned but not approved due to lack of consensus.. May 6, 1954 — James B. McGovern Jr. and Wallace Buford, U.S. civilian contract pilots employed by Civil Air Transport and flying a C-119 inscribed with French Air Force insignia, were killed when their aircraft was hit by ground fire and crashed after making a parachute drop to resupply French troops at Dien Bien Phu. 1954 — The Viet Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu. The defeat, along with the end of the Korean War the previous year, causes the French to seek a negotiated settlement to the war. 1954 — The Geneva Conference, called to determine the post-French future of Indochina, proposes a temporary division of Vietnam, to be followed by nationwide elections to unify the country in 1956. However the final declaration was left unsigned by all delegates after the United States and the State of Vietnam stated they wouldn't accept the proposal. 1954 — Two months after the Geneva conference, North Vietnam forms Group 100 with headquarters at Ban Namèo. Its purpose is to direct, organize, train, and supply the Pathet Lao to gain control of Laos, which along with Cambodia and Vietnam formed French Indochina. 1955 — North Vietnam launches an "anti-landlord" campaign, during which counter-revolutionaries are imprisoned or killed. The numbers killed or imprisoned are disputed, with historian Stanley Karnow estimating about 6,000 while others (see the book Fire in the Lake) estimate only 800. Rudolph Rummel puts the figure as high as 200,000.Hawaii University. November 1, 1955 — President Eisenhower deploys MAAG to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. This marks the official beginning of American involvement in the war as recognized by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.CUNY. April 1956 — The last French troops finally withdraw from Vietnam. 1954–1956 — 450,000 Vietnamese civilians flee the Viet Minh administration in North Vietnam and relocate in South Vietnam as part of the US government's Operation Passage to Freedom. Approximately 52,000 move in the opposite direction. Dr. Thomas Dooley writes his memoir about the refugees Deliver Us from Evil.