Major Events That Occured In The 1950's: 1950-1980

By 1969, U.S. involvements in the war, more than 500,000 U.S. military recruits were involved in the Vietnam conflict. American techniques of warfare and the U.S. stopped in Vietnam in 1973, failing to achieve its goal because Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, fell to Communist rule in 1975 ("Vietnam War").

The Vietnam war, also called the Indochina War , may be said to have started in 1957 when Communist-led rebels began mounting terrorists attacks against the government of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). The rebel forces, commonly called the Vietcong, were later aided by troops of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam). American combat personnel were formally committed to the defense of the South in 1965. An agreement calling for a ceasefire was signed in January 1973, and by March the few remaining U.S. millitary personnel in Vietnam were withdrawn. However, the war between the two Vietnamese sides persisted inconclusively for two additional years before South Vietnamese resistance

The 1950’s in the United States of America were characterized by a strong fear of communism, growing consumerism due to a healthy and fast growing postwar industry and the belief that the nuclear family is the heart of the American society. If we examine these three ideologies closer and oppose them to Stephanie Coontz opinion expressed in her essay “Leave It to Beaver and Ozzie and Harriet: American Families in the 1950s,”, we see that many myths existed about the 1950’s.

Ending the war in Viet Nam, Richard Nixon believed himself the consul to succeed in presidency. In less than a year, Nixon effortlessly worked hard to bear troops on Northern Viet Nam and settle negations. Moreover, Nixon rallied troops, secretly settling B-52 bombings in North Vietnamese base camps in Cambodia. He began bringing diplomatic pressure onto the Soviet Union in order to persuade Northern Viet Nam to settle for negotiations. Nixon then used Vietnamization to strengthen forces for U.S troops in South Viet Nam. Furthermore, Nixon set up conferences in Paris, France for negations between North Viet Nam, South Viet Nam, and the United States. However, these public peace talks became “Propaganda Theater” to both sides. This lead to secret meetings in order for successful agreements to occur. In the end, it took until 1975 for the war between the United States and Viet Nam to be considered “over.”

The Vietnam war was a costly matter for America that infected U.S. politics and destroyed the economy. When President Nixon took office, he tried to improve the United States relation with Russia through detente in 1969. This couldn’t solve the problem in Vietnam. This lead to the US leaving the fight in Vietnam in 1973 with the help of a peace agreement. President Nixon also continued his negations with Soviet Russia and visited China.

President Johnson who inherited the commitment to counter communist forces further escalated the war, commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and committing ground forces. However, the war took a long toll on the America on the financial resources as well as losing a large

The Vietnam War, unofficially beginning on November 1st, 1955 and ending April 30th, 1975, was a key part of US history due to the countless United States soldiers that served in the war over the 8 years and 37 days that the US was involved. For the United States, the Vietnam War had over 58,000 casualties and over 300,000 wounded soldiers. Starting on March 8, 1965, the United States was tied into the losing fight overseas. These numbers are only estimates. Far more people were affected by the war, even after it ended. Hundreds of thousands of veterans committed suicide after the war due to PTSD and other impacts that the war had on them.

President Johnson, Johnson ordered Operation Rolling Thunder from March 1964 to October 1968. Vietnamese didn’t attack the U.S

With the free hand recently provided by Congress, Johnson presumed that escalation would help to protect his soldiers. He ordered the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy to begin an intense series of air strikes called “Operation Rolling Thunder”. He hoped that the bombing campaign would demonstrate to the South Vietnamese the U.S. commitment to their cause, and its resolve to halt the spread of Communism. Ironically, the air raids seemed only to increase the number of Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army attacks.

People from both sides were dying while there was not a huge turning point in the war. President Lyndon Johnson started to withdraw soldiers on January 1973 and on March 23, all of the American soldiers were out of Vietnam. The war ended on April 30, 1975. This is an example of some of the fighting that occurred in the Cold War. During both of the wars, the United States’ goal was to try to contain the spread of Communism.

Operation Rolling Thunder that started on the 2nd of March in 1965 had the affect on Vietnamese people of the operation ruining the North of Vietnam from the 643,000 tons of bombs that the Americans dropped on the North via one of their US aircrafts.

In 1958, Communist-led guerrillas, eventually known as the Viet Cong, began to battle the government of the South Vietnamese. The United States then sent 2,000 military advisors t support South Vietnam’s government. This number grew to 16,3000 by 1963. The military force slowly deteriorated. By 1963 the fertile Mekong Delta was lost to the overpowering Viet Cong. The war rose in 1965, when President Johnson issued commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and ground forces, which had risen to 536,000 by 1968. The Tet Offensive by North Vietnam turned many Americans against the waging war. President Nixon, following Johnson, promoted Vietnamization, the withdrawing of American troops and handing over the great responsibility of the war to South Vietnam. Protesting of the war dramatically increased, especially after Nixon’s attempt to slow North Vietnam forces and supplies into the South by sending American forces to destroy supply bases in Cambodia in 1970, which violated Cambodian neutrality. This provoked antiwar protests on many of the United Stats’ college campuses. In 1968 through 1973 attempts were made to end the ongoing conflict through diplomacy. Then in January 1973, an agreement was reached. U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam and the U.S. POWs were released. In April 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was once again united. The Vietnam War ended, but it took the lives of 58,000

In 1965, the United States of America officially enter the war against North Vietnam. After the Gulf of Tonkin incident where North Vietnamese attacked two U.S. ships on August 2nd and 4th, 1964, this event was a chance for U.S. President Lyndon Johnson to give authority for U.S. to enter war in Vietnam. United State involvement in Vietnam War was an approach to seize the communist aggression. A campaign authorized by President Johnson called “Operation Rolling Thunder” which started on February 24th, 1965 is a series of extensive bombing directed towards the North Vietnamese predicted to be eight weeks long until the North Vietnamese surrender to U.S. power. However, this campaign lasted two years longer than expected.

The film Forrest Gump is about a phenomenal story of a not so intelligent man who goes through his life of fearlessness, prosperity, and loss. While sitting on a bench, he recalls his whole life story from when he was just a little boy to the man who he is today. The director of this film, Robert Zemeckis portrays history through Forest eyes by putting him in the center of it all. Forrest took part in the Vietnam war, he was recognized in the Anti-Vietnam movement, and he meet numerous famous people who he influenced such as Elvis Presley with the hip sway. Being apart of these specific events and watching how Forrest reacts during those times intensifies the film. An example of that would be the day that Forrest’s university desegregated

March 2nd, 1965 – November 1st, 1968, was the time that an aerial bombardment was unleashed upon North Vietnam. The American bombing campaign was code named, "Operation Rolling Thunder." During this time over 7 million tons of bombs were dropped in Vietnam. These air strikes that lasted for little over 3 years has caused over 90,000 casualties with at least 72,000 being civilians of Vietnam. And due to operational circumstances, over 900 U.S aircrafts were lost and 745 crewmen were shot down.