Vietnam War Turning Point

The Vietnam War was a war that nobody won. It was also a long, costly war. The start of the Vietnam War, the United States was, at first, providing support for the new Army of the Republic of Vietnam by training, equipping, and advising them in their war against the Viet Cong, or National Liberation Front, and later the North Vietnamese Army (Daugherty). The pivotal event in the war for the United States was the conflict in the Gulf of Tonkin. This led to the direct involvement of the United States in the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War started in 1954, and grew out of the Indochina War with Ho Chi Minh forming the Viet Minh, or the League for the Independence of Vietnam. The Viet Minh fought both the Japanese and French colonial administrations

In 1964, the Johnson Administration believed that an increase in the presence of the United States presence in Vietnam was the only solution to end the war. The United States implemented a bombing program of the Lao border to disrupt supply lines of Viet Minh and Viet Cong, and the military began to back the South Vietnamese raids of the North Vietnamese coast (O.). This led to the conflict in the Gulf of Tonkin in August of 1964. On August 2, 1964, the Maddox, a destroyer stationed in the Gulf of Tonkin, reported North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacking. President Johnson responded by sending in another destroyer, Turner Joy. During the night of August 4, 1964, there were more reports saying they were under attack again (“Congress passes…”). Later, there were doubts about whether or not there was an actual attack on the Turner Joy (O.). “Immediately after reports of the second attack, President Johnson asked Congress for permission to defend the United States forces in Southeast Asia” (O.). On August 7, 1964, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. This authorized President Johnson to “take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and to promote the maintenance of international peace and security in Southeast Asia” (O.). This resolution completely changed the way the United States was engaged in

The raids began on February 13, 1965 (O.). In March 1965, President Johnson ordered U.S. combat forces into battle in Vietnam (“Vietnam War History”). This was the first of many regular deployments of ground combat troops to Vietnam (O.). “By 1966, the war in Vietnam had become America’s war” (Daugherty). As the war continued, some of President Johnson’s advisors had concerns about the escalation of the United States war efforts, the lack of progress in the war, and the growing anti-war movements in the United States (“Vietnam War History”). As the war dragged on, the Americans and South Vietnamese started measuring their successes by the body count of the enemy’s dead (Daugherty). The later years of the war saw an increase in physical and psychological deterioration among the American soldiers, including drug use, mutinies, and attacks by the soldiers on officers (“Vietnam War