Steve Farrell

Although President John F. Kennedy supported the unstable democratic government of South Vietnam by sending military machinery and advisers, he would not intervene with troops when Communist North Vietnam threatened to take over the country. His successor, Lyndon Johnson, advocated stronger action. When, on August 4, 1964, North Vietnam launched what many claim was a dubious attack on American ships in the Gulf of Tonkin, Congress granted Johnson broad war powers to intervene in the region. Johnson responded with air attacks against North Vietnam. U.S. involvement in Vietnam escalated under Johnson, who introduced combat troops to Vietnam in March 1965. By 1967, 15,997 U.S. servicemen had been killed, and American opposition to the war grew.

Richard Nixon, who succeeded Johnson as president, expanded the war into neighboring Laos and Cambodia. When American college students protesting the invasions...