TODAY ONLY
March 29
US Withdraws from Vietnam
On this day in 1973, the US
withdrew its armed forces from Vietnam.
When Did It All Begin? In the 1950s, the US began to send troops to Vietnam.
Twenty-Five
Year Toll. In
the 25 years that followed, the Vietnam War created immense tensions in US
history. Almost 3 million US men and women were sent thousands of miles to
fight for a cause that was not their own. In total, it is estimated that
over 2 million people on both sides were killed.
$110 Billion
Later. After
spending some $110 billion, the US finally completed the withdrawal of
most military forces on March 29, 1973.
And the War
Dragged On. Two years later, the war ended with
the fall of South Vietnam and reunification of Vietnam under Communist
authority.
The Whys. The Vietnam
War was America's longest war and first military failure on foreign soil.
Even today, the Vietnam War era remains a difficult and complicated
subject, both emotionally and historically.
One, Two, Three,
What Are We Fighting For? The Second Indochina War grew out of
a long conflict between France and Vietnam. After 100 years of colonial
rule, France was forced to leave Vietnam. The two sides came together in
Geneva, Switzerland.
What Happened in
Geneva? Vietnam's
delegates to the Geneva Conference agreed to temporarily divide the
country at the 17th parallel in order to allow France to save face. It was
planned that Vietnam would hold national elections in 1956 to reunify the
country. The division at the 17th parallel would then
vanish.
The US Had Other
Ideas. Secretary of
State John Foster Dulles did not support the Geneva Accords. He believed
they gave too much power to the Communist Party of Vietnam. Dulles and
President Dwight D. Eisenhower supported the creation of a
counter-revolutionary alternative south of the 17th
parallel.
South Vietnam is
Born. The Eisenhower
administration helped create a new nation from dust in southern Vietnam.
In 1955, with the help of massive amounts of American military, political,
and economic aid, the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN) was
born.
Election
Time. The following year, Ngo Dinh Diem, an anti-Communist figure from the South, won an election which made him President of the GVN. Diem claimed that his newly created government was under attack from Communists in the north, and that North Vietnam wanted to take South Vietnam by force.
The War Heats
Up. In late 1957,
with American military aid, Diem began to counterattack. The war began in
earnest.