However, inaccurately reported, the News Media made the Tet Offensive famous. Remember me Log in. Lost your password? Vietnam War Facts, Stats and Myths. Congressman Press Release. Totals 9,, military personnel served on active duty during the official Vietnam era from August 5, to May 7, Five men killed in Vietnam were only 16 years old. The oldest man killed was 62 years old. Of those killed, 17, were married. The average age of the men killed: Veteran Successes Vietnam Veterans represented 9.
They have a lower unemployment rate than the same non-vet age groups. Their personal income exceeds that of our non-veteran age group by more than 18 percent. Deaths Average Age Enlisted : 50,, Myths and Facts Myth: Common belief is that most Vietnam veterans were drafted.
Myth: The media have reported that suicides among Vietnam veterans range from 50, to , — 6 to 11 times the non-Vietnam veteran population. Myth: Common belief is that a disproportionate number of blacks were killed in the Vietnam War. Myth: The common belief is the average age of an infantryman fighting in Vietnam was Myth: The United States lost the war in Vietnam. Myth: The common belief is that the domino theory was proved false.
Myth: Kim Phuc, the little nine year old Vietnamese girl running naked from the napalm strike near Trang Bang on 8 June shown a million times on American television was burned by Americans bombing Trang Bang. Tom Pilsch Research Page. The later years of the war saw increased physical and psychological deterioration among American soldiers—both volunteers and draftees—including drug use , post-traumatic stress disorder PTSD , mutinies and attacks by soldiers against officers and noncommissioned officers.
Between July and December , more than , U. Bombarded by horrific images of the war on their televisions, Americans on the home front turned against the war as well: In October , some 35, demonstrators staged a massive Vietnam War protest outside the Pentagon.
Opponents of the war argued that civilians, not enemy combatants, were the primary victims and that the United States was supporting a corrupt dictatorship in Saigon. On January 31, , some 70, DRV forces under General Vo Nguyen Giap launched the Tet Offensive named for the lunar new year , a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than cities and towns in South Vietnam. Taken by surprise, U. Reports of the Tet Offensive stunned the U.
With his approval ratings dropping in an election year, Johnson called a halt to bombing in much of North Vietnam though bombings continued in the south and promised to dedicate the rest of his term to seeking peace rather than reelection. Despite the later inclusion of the South Vietnamese and the NLF, the dialogue soon reached an impasse, and after a bitter election season marred by violence, Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency.
In an attempt to limit the volume of American casualties, he announced a program called Vietnamization : withdrawing U. In addition to this Vietnamization policy, Nixon continued public peace talks in Paris, adding higher-level secret talks conducted by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger beginning in the spring of The North Vietnamese continued to insist on complete and unconditional U. The next few years would bring even more carnage, including the horrifying revelation that U.
After the My Lai Massacre , anti-war protests continued to build as the conflict wore on. In and , there were hundreds of protest marches and gatherings throughout the country. On November 15, , the largest anti-war demonstration in American history took place in Washington, D. The anti-war movement, which was particularly strong on college campuses, divided Americans bitterly. For some young people, the war symbolized a form of unchecked authority they had come to resent.
For other Americans, opposing the government was considered unpatriotic and treasonous. As the first U.
Nixon ended draft calls in , and instituted an all-volunteer army the following year. In , a joint U. The invasion of these countries, in violation of international law, sparked a new wave of protests on college campuses across America. At another protest 10 days later, two students at Jackson State University in Mississippi were killed by police. We didn't get involved in Vietnam for any practical reasons.
It was hubris and pride. We stumbled in based on misinformation. We thought that the Vietnamese communists were part of an international communist conspiracy. One looks back, and it is a terrible tragedy. It is dangerous to take one situation and overlay it on another. They are very different situations. Iraq is much more complicated than Vietnam. Vietnam was a civil war between anti-communist and communist factions. The Vietnamese agreed, though, that there should be one Vietnam.
It's just they had different approaches. Vietnam was simple and forthright compared to Iraq; Iraq has different ethnic and religious factions. We got involved in Vietnam very gradually. It started as a low-wage guerilla war and then escalated into a conventional war.
Iraq started as a conventional war and became a guerilla war. The guerilla war in Vietnam was mostly in the countryside, while the guerilla war in Iraq is urban warfare. This is much more difficult. The insurgents in Iraq have much more sophisticated weaponry than the Vietnamese communists had.
The Iraqi insurgents can shoot down helicopters — they make Vietnam look like child's play. I personally think that we are involved today in an international war, and Iraq is not the most important part of it. The most important threat we are facing today is international terrorism, extending from Asia to Africa and capable of carrying out attacks on the United States. Vietnam was nowhere close to that. Vietnamese communists had no intention of going outside of their borders; they wanted to throw out foreigners.
Vietnam was very much a local situation, and Iraq is a sideshow to the really big problem of fighting against international terrorism. I am not very optimistic today.
Our intelligence is very poor. Years have gone by, and we haven't captured Osama bin Laden and there are probably dozens of Osama bin Ladens. Iraq may evoke Vietnam, but it is very dangerous to compare. Nguyen Xuan Phuc was appointed to the largely ceremonial post of president by parliament in April , taking over from Nguyen Phu Trong. He had served as prime minister since April , where his technocratic style was reflected in Vietnam's efficient handling of the Covid pandemic.
Media outlets and journalists risk sanctions for broaching sensitive topics and for criticising the government. Online content deemed to threaten Communist rule is blocked. Anti-French resistance war - or the First Indochina War - spreads across country. Conflict between the two rival states rages for the next two decades, in what is known as the Vietnam War or the Second Indochina War.
The US is heavily involved in support of the South. Hundreds of thousands flee abroad, including many "boat people". In pictures: Iconic images.
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