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Vietnam War (detail from a photograph of U.S. troops)

Vietnam

Americans fought a protracted and divisive war against Communist expansion in Southeast Asia. In 1956, President Dwight Eisenhower sent the first military advisors to bolster South Vietnam. By 1964, President Lyndon Johnson was deploying thousands of air and ground forces. Mounting casualties and an expanding draft fueled antiwar sentiment and deepened disagreements over the war’s conduct and meaning.

Facts / Statistics

Dates: 1956-1975
Troops: 9,200,000; in theater: 3,403,000
Deaths: 58,200