Anyone?  ???

From what I have read in books, it was after Johnson became US president.
Either in 1964 but more likely in 1965 when Marines were sent to Vietnam and 100,000 more troops also sent.

I guess that depends on if you're asking from the US perspective or the Vietnamese perspective.

I'd assume the answers vary by each country.

http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/vietnamwar.htm

From what I have read in books, it was after Johnson became US president.
Either in 1964 but more likely in 1965 when Marines were sent to Vietnam and 100,000 more troops also sent.


1965

It happened after the (alleged) Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964, after which President Lyndon B. Johnson convinced Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which basically gave President Johnson unlimited authorization and funds to conduct whatever military operations deemed necessary to counter the "aggression" of the Communist regimes in Southeast Asia, specifically North Vietnam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Resolution

I don't think this had anything to do with how the actual war developed, but a landmark event about the effects of the war on lifestyle at home was the Tinker v. Des Moines case.  They Supreme Court decided that students would be allowed to wear black armbands that symbolized opposition to the war (the school had tried to send home two students who were), because to hinder it would be a violation of freedom of expression. 

Somebody told me that the FERPA Act (in which students have to agree to let their high school send information to colleges and can elect not to waiver their right to see it) was also somehow prompted by the Vietnam War, but I can't find any info to support that.  Maybe teachers were writing bad recommendation letters if he or she knew that their views on it conflicted with the students. 

I don't think this had anything to do with how the actual war developed, but a landmark event about the effects of the war on lifestyle at home was the Tinker v. Des Moines case.  They Supreme Court decided that students would be allowed to wear black armbands that symbolized opposition to the war (the school had tried to send home two students who were), because to hinder it would be a violation of freedom of expression. 

Somebody told me that the FERPA Act (in which students have to agree to let their high school send information to colleges and can elect not to waiver their right to see it) was also somehow prompted by the Vietnam War, but I can't find any info to support that.  Maybe teachers were writing bad recommendation letters if he or she knew that their views on it conflicted with the students.


Interesting. 

Somebody told me that the FERPA Act (in which students have to agree to let their high school send information to colleges and can elect not to waiver their right to see it) was also somehow prompted by the Vietnam War, but I can't find any info to support that.  Maybe teachers were writing bad recommendation letters if he or she knew that their views on it conflicted with the students.



In high school I wrote an English paper explaining why I was against the war.  It came back with out any grammatical errors, but in red was the comment, "Do you really believe this?"  and a big red "D" .  I gave it to my father(WWII vet, against the war) who came to school to ask the teacher(female, not old enough to remember WWII) why.

I guess that depends on if you're asking from the US perspective or the Vietnamese perspective.

I'd assume the answers vary by each country.


US baby!  8)

I'm hearing most people say 1964/1965. And based on remembering history class from middle school, I'd have to agree. ;D  ;D

The full timeline of the war is circa 1954 to 1975 I think, but the era that people talk about a lot in the US, is probably 1964-1973.

It happened after the (alleged) Gulf of Tonkin incident of 1964, after which President Lyndon B. Johnson convinced Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which basically gave President Johnson unlimited authorization and funds to conduct whatever military operations deemed necessary to counter the "aggression" of the Communist regimes in Southeast Asia, specifically North Vietnam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_incident

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Tonkin_Resolution


Yeah, I remember this from middle school and high school.

I guess that depends on if you're asking from the US perspective or the Vietnamese perspective.

I'd assume the answers vary by each country.


French missionaries in the 1700s began the occupation. 

Hearts and Minds -Viet Nam Documentary  (trailer)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYLpZUMLbHc

The full timeline of the war is circa 1954 to 1975 I think, but the era that people talk about a lot in the US, is probably 1964-1973.


That would be accurate. That's why I asked whether you specifically meant for the Americans or VietNamese

I think primarily US looks at the middle (64-68) and the end of the war
But that's just my perception.

French missionaries in the 1700s began the occupation.



I didn't know about that until I saw it mentioned in an ep of China Beach

And it's not knowledge I retained so I forgot about it until you just mentioned it

Thanks for the refresher O0

Not based on what I learned in my history courses, but I tend to believe it started escalating for the Americans in '64 (when Johnson took over) and the war was at it's peak in '69 (the year of the big draft) but then tapered once the '70s hit.

Timeline:

January 20th, 1961: Dwight D. Eisenhower leaves office. JFK is inaugurated as President. At this time, there are 700 American military advisors in Vietnam.
November 22nd 1963: At this time, there are over 15,000 military advisors in Vietnam. JFK is killed that afternoon. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President.
August 1964: Golf of Tonkin incident occurs, Gulf of Tonkin resolution passed. At this time, there are still roughly 15,000 military advisors in Vietnam.
November 1964: Lyndon B. Johnson is elected President in an overwhelming landslide.
March 1965:  on March 8, 1965, 3,500 United States Marines came ashore at Da Nang as the first wave of U.S. combat troops into South Vietnam. On May 5 the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade became the first U.S. Army ground unit committed to the conflict in South Vietnam.

So, Vietnam did not escalate until March and May of 1965. However, we had been involved militarily and financially in Vietnam since the Truman Administration. The Truman and Eisenhower administrations believed Vietnam was an important battle ground in the Cold War and Eisenhower considered committing ground troops to Vietnam around 1956.

The only WWII/post WWII era President not to support American involvement in Vietnam was FDR. FDR rejected repeated requests by the French to help them recolonize Vietnam.

The overwhelming majority of the fighting force in Vietnam left in late March 1973, after an agreement made with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973, but a handful of soldiers stayed until April 30th 1975. The last American battle in Vietnam, the Mayaguez Incident occurred between May 12th and May 15th, 1975.

LBJ didn't want to go to war in Vietnam. He felt that doing so would hamper his ability to handle the domestic politics of the US and would hamper his Great Society. He however like most Americans of the era believed in the Domino Theory, believed Vietnam was a strategically important state to our interests, that it's fall to Communism would trigger the fall of other Southeast Asian countries and would be embarassing for the United States. He was misled by those around him on many things with regard to Vietnam, including the nature of the second Gulf of Tonkin incident, and received a lot of deceptive reports from McNamara. Once committed to the war, he saw no way out that wouldn't be embarassing to the United States, or to himself. He didn't want to be the first US President to lose a war.

Nixon felt the same way, he didn't want the US to lose face or to be the first President to lose a war, and thought he could bomb Vietnam into submission, expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia and even considered nuclear bombing the country or bombing their levees, which would drown millions of innocent Vietnamese. Under Nixon we saw an expansion of the war from 1969-1971, increased bombing in 1972, and finally the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. Had Nixon not lost his political capital or left office early due to Watergate, it's likely we would've become involved in Vietnam again when the North Vietnamese invaded the South.

Gerald Ford asked Congress for money to aid the South, to reignite our commitment once the North had invaded in 1975, but was denied this. And thus it fell.

^Rhett,

Have you ever seen a documentary called The Fog Of War? It came out in the early 2000's and the film was basically and interview with Robert McNamara where he reflected on the decisions and mistakes he made and the lessons to be learned in hindsight.  I found it to be utterly fascinating and I recommend it.

^Rhett,

Have you ever seen a documentary called The Fog Of War? It came out in the early 2000's and the film was basically and interview with Robert McNamara where he reflected on the decisions and mistakes he made and the lessons to be learned in hindsight.  I found it to be utterly fascinating and I recommend it.


I watched it a few years ago, in a College history course. I kind of tuned it out due to the Professor often talking over the film with his own political point of view (IE, he'd tell us how Harry Truman should've been charged and jailed as a War Criminal for Hiroshima, how most political decisions of the 20th century in America were based on racism or homophobia, how his father lost his job as a Professor due to McCarthyism and being involved with SNCC etc). I heard more about my Professor's political views than the film.

Timeline:

January 20th, 1961: Dwight D. Eisenhower leaves office. JFK is inaugurated as President. At this time, there are 700 American military advisors in Vietnam.
November 22nd 1963: At this time, there are over 15,000 military advisors in Vietnam. JFK is killed that afternoon. Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President.
August 1964: Golf of Tonkin incident occurs, Gulf of Tonkin resolution passed. At this time, there are still roughly 15,000 military advisors in Vietnam.
November 1964: Lyndon B. Johnson is elected President in an overwhelming landslide.
March 1965:  on March 8, 1965, 3,500 United States Marines came ashore at Da Nang as the first wave of U.S. combat troops into South Vietnam. On May 5 the U.S. 173rd Airborne Brigade became the first U.S. Army ground unit committed to the conflict in South Vietnam.

So, Vietnam did not escalate until March and May of 1965. However, we had been involved militarily and financially in Vietnam since the Truman Administration. The Truman and Eisenhower administrations believed Vietnam was an important battle ground in the Cold War and Eisenhower considered committing ground troops to Vietnam around 1956.

The only WWII/post WWII era President not to support American involvement in Vietnam was FDR. FDR rejected repeated requests by the French to help them recolonize Vietnam.

The overwhelming majority of the fighting force in Vietnam left in late March 1973, after an agreement made with the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in January 1973, but a handful of soldiers stayed until April 30th 1975. The last American battle in Vietnam, the Mayaguez Incident occurred between May 12th and May 15th, 1975.

LBJ didn't want to go to war in Vietnam. He felt that doing so would hamper his ability to handle the domestic politics of the US and would hamper his Great Society. He however like most Americans of the era believed in the Domino Theory, believed Vietnam was a strategically important state to our interests, that it's fall to Communism would trigger the fall of other Southeast Asian countries and would be embarassing for the United States. He was misled by those around him on many things with regard to Vietnam, including the nature of the second Gulf of Tonkin incident, and received a lot of deceptive reports from McNamara. Once committed to the war, he saw no way out that wouldn't be embarassing to the United States, or to himself. He didn't want to be the first US President to lose a war.

Nixon felt the same way, he didn't want the US to lose face or to be the first President to lose a war, and thought he could bomb Vietnam into submission, expanded the war into Laos and Cambodia and even considered nuclear bombing the country or bombing their levees, which would drown millions of innocent Vietnamese. Under Nixon we saw an expansion of the war from 1969-1971, increased bombing in 1972, and finally the Paris Peace Accords in 1973. Had Nixon not lost his political capital or left office early due to Watergate, it's likely we would've become involved in Vietnam again when the North Vietnamese invaded the South.

Gerald Ford asked Congress for money to aid the South, to reignite our commitment once the North had invaded in 1975, but was denied this. And thus it fell.


Bing bing bing!! We have a winner. 1965!!  :)

Not sure it's totally relevant but a friend of mine visited Vietnam fairly recently and told me that it's a very modern country now. It's still technically communist but it's very capitalistic and awash in cell phones, American pop culture and Internet access. Even the minority hill tribes have cell phones!

^Rhett,

Have you ever seen a documentary called The Fog Of War? It came out in the early 2000's and the film was basically and interview with Robert McNamara where he reflected on the decisions and mistakes he made and the lessons to be learned in hindsight.  I found it to be utterly fascinating and I recommend it.


Agreed, it is a must see for anyone interested in the war.

Have you ever seen a documentary called The Fog Of War? It came out in the early 2000's and the film was basically and interview with Robert McNamara where he reflected on the decisions and mistakes he made and the lessons to be learned in hindsight.  I found it to be utterly fascinating and I recommend it.



Agreed, it is a must see for anyone interested in the war.


I need to watch that.

I need to watch that.


Please, You can Netflix it.

http://ia.media-imdb.com/images/M/MV5BMTc3MTA4NDgzNl5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwOTAxNTQyMQ@@._V1._SY317_CR2,0,214,317_.jpg

Please, You can Netflix it.




Our public library has a copy of it, I've just reserved to borrow the DVD. O0

I'm Vietnamese and my dad was drafted in 1963. He helped them count money instead of going on the battlefield. I think it was because he's only 5 feet 3 inches tall, AND he was great at math. He'll be 70 in January. I think he returned from the draft a year or two later.

For me, I lived everyday of my teenage years until i turned 19 years old that the Viet Nam War was escalating. Us guys had to sign up with the draft board on our 18th birthday and on your 19th birthday a draft notice came in the mail for you.

For me, I lived everyday of my teenage years until i turned 19 years old that the Viet Nam War was escalating. Us guys had to sign up with the draft board on our 18th birthday and on your 19th birthday a draft notice came in the mail for you.


I can't imagine being 18-19 years old in 1969 and sitting in my living room watching this with my parents.  It's almost like the Powerball in reverse.  :(

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p5X1FjyD_g

hot_wax, did you end up going?