United States in the Vietnam War
United States in the Vietnam War
United States in the Vietnam War
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. Opposition to the regime of Ngo Dinh Diem in South Vietnam was quashed with U.S. help, 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.
United States in the Vietnam War
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.
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