 Secretary of Defense, Robert S. McNamara  1965: 61% of Americans supported the policy in Vietnam  William Westmoreland: US commander in South Vietnam  Escalation

 US entered war thinking its superior weapons would lead to victory over Vietcong  Jungle terrain & enemy tactics led to frustrations  Hit & run ambush tactics  Knowledge of the terrain  Difficult for US to discern friend from foe (majority fought w/o uniforms)  Elaborate network of tunnels

 Terrain laced w/ booby traps & land mines  Exact location of Vietcong often unknown  Sweltering heat & leeches

 Westmoreland’s strategy was to defeat the Vietcong by destroying their morale through a war of attrition, or gradual wearing down of the enemy by continuous harassment  Vietcong had no intention of quitting their fight  America misunderstood its foe

 The guerilla wins if he does not lose, the conventional army loses if it does not win. -- Mao Zedong

 Napalm: gasoline-based bomb that set fire to the jungle  Agent Orange: a leaf-killing toxic chemical  Search and Destroy Missions: uprooting civilians with suspected ties to the Vietcong, killing their livestock & burning villages

 Psychological stress U.S. soldiers turned to alcohol and drugs to escape the hellish conditions of Vietnam  Psychological breakdown U.S. soldiers “snapped” and performed horrific acts against Vietnamese soldiers, civilians, and prisoners

 LBJ’s Great Society suffered  Living room war: combat footage appeared nightly on the news showed pictures that contradicted the administration’s optimistic war scenario  Body-count statistics  Reports that Vietcong surrender was imminent  Credibility gap