Vietnam War

From the late 1800s until WWII, the French ruled most of Indochina, including Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia. the tension increased when the french took away freedom of speech, public assembly and jailed many Vietnamese nationalists. During the French retreat, America intervened and assisted the french. The Eisenhower and Kennedy administration provided economic and military aid to South Vietnam. The South's president, Ngo Dinh Diem, was given financial aid and thousands of American troops to train the Vietnamese. By the end of 1963, there were more than 16000 American advisers in Vietnam.
Shortly before his death, Kennedy announced his plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Vietnam. "in the final analysis, it's their war. However, President Johnson escalated the nation's role in Vietnam and eventually began America's longest war. Johnson believed that communist takeover of South Vietnam would be disastrous. In the years following 1965, Johnson began sending large numbers of troops to fight the North Vietnamese.
Working with the Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara and Secretary of State, Dean Rusk, Johnson sent thousands more U.S. soldiers to Vietnam. The conflict was simply getting out of hand.
Protests against the draft continued until President Nixon phased out the draft in the early 1970's. The two opposing views of the war became even more split. The people who opposed the draft were called Doves, and the pro-war advocates were called Hawks. Despite the anti-war protesters, many American citizens in 1967, still remain committed to the war.