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

Escalation

When President Lyndon Johnson sent thousands of air and ground forces to Vietnam in 1965, most Americans supported him. As casualties mounted and the draft expanded, antiwar sentiment grew. In 1968, the Tet Offensive—a widespread Communist assault—deepened disagreements over the war’s conduct and meaning. Even veterans and some in active service questioned America’s involvement.

Lyndon Johnson is sworn in after Kennedy’s assassination.
Defense secretary Robert S. McNamara conducting a briefing
General William Westmoreland in Vietnam
U.S. Marine conducting a “search and clear” operation
U.S. Army nurse at South Vietnamese orphanage
Antiwar demonstrator burning his draft card
Wounded U.S. Army paratroopers being evacuated
U.S. Marine looking for snipers
U.S. Navy landing marines at Da Nang
U.S. Marine training a special-operations soldier
U.S. Navy nurse on a hospital ship
U.S. Marine awaiting evacuation from the Ashau Valley
U.S. Army Green Berets
U.S. Marine rifleman near Khe Sanh
American and Vietnamese river patrol forces
Naval bombardment supporting ground troops
Medical corpsman awaiting an evacuation helicopter
Antiwar demonstration in Madison, Wisconsin
U.S. casualties in Saigon on first day of the Tet Offensive
Antidraft protest in San Francisco
U.S. Army soldier in the muddy waters of the Mekong Delta
Army infantryman in Kien Hoa Province calling in air support
President Lyndon Johnson listening to news about the war
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. denouncing the war
CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite on location in Vietnam
South Vietnamese chief of police executing a Vietcong agent
Vietnamese civilians killed by U.S. troops at My Lai
U.S. Marine clearing vegetation near Da Nang
Assassination of presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy
U.S. Marines south of Khe Sanh evacuating their dead
U.S. Navy Skyhawk taking off on a bombing run

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