The Vietnam War

Tensions were high in a conference room in the French town of Gif-sur-Yvette in 1973. With reporters listening outside, U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger asked his Communist counterpart not to shout so loudly. But Le Duc Tho—a negotiator in the peace talks for the North Vietnamese—continued to berate him.

“For more than 10 years, America has used violence to beat down the Vietnamese people,” Tho yelled.

If the Vietnamese were worn out and furious about the Vietnam War, so were Americans, who had grown increasingly critical of the conflict and the deaths of so many U.S. soldiers in a faraway land.

After a series of protracted, intense negotiations, Tho and Kissinger signed the Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973—50 years ago—ending U.S. military involvement in Vietnam after almost two decades.

Tensions were high in the conference room in the French town of Gif-sur-Yvette. It was 1973. Reporters were listening outside the door. U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger asked his Communist counterpart, Le Duc Tho, not to speak so loudly. Tho was a negotiator in the peace talks for the North Vietnamese. He continued to loudly criticize Kissinger.

“For more than 10 years, America has used violence to beat down the Vietnamese people,” Tho yelled.

The Vietnamese were worn out and furious about the Vietnam War. So were Americans. They had grown increasingly critical of the conflict and the deaths of so many U.S. soldiers in a faraway land.

After a series of long, intense negotiations, Tho and Kissinger signed the Paris Peace Accords on January 27, 1973—50 years ago. The agreement ended U.S. military involvement in Vietnam after almost two decades.

U.S. intervention in Vietnam, a former French colony, had played out against the backdrop of the Cold War, which pitted the democracies of the West against Communist nations led by the Soviet Union in a competition to win people over—and spread ideologies—across the globe.

After Vietnamese Communists defeated the French on the battlefield in 1954, Vietnam was divided into two parts: North Vietnam, controlled by Communists, and South Vietnam, led by a pro-Western, democratic government. Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese nationalist leader whose forces defeated the French, envisioned a unified Vietnam under Communist rule. Pro-Communist guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam, known as the “Viet Cong,” supported his plan.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower feared a “domino effect” of Communist regimes taking control of the Asian continent, adding to the threat posed by the Soviet Union, which had supported Communist forces in Korea during the Korean War. In the Vietnamese conflict, Eisenhower sent U.S. advisory troops, beginning in 1955, to provide support services and train South Vietnamese soldiers to fight the Viet Cong.

Vietnam was a former French colony. U.S. intervention there had played out against the backdrop of the Cold War. The conflict had pitted the democracies of the West against Communist nations, which were led by the Soviet Union, in a competition to win people over—and spread ideologies—across the globe.

Vietnamese Communists defeated the French on the battlefield in 1954. After that, Vietnam was divided into two parts: North Vietnam, controlled by Communists, and South Vietnam, led by a pro-Western, democratic government. Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese nationalist leader, had defeated the French. He wanted to unify Vietnam under Communist rule. In South Vietnam, there were Pro-Communist guerrilla fighters, known as the “Viet Cong,” who supported his plan.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower feared a “domino effect” of Communist regimes taking control of the Asian continent. That would add to the threat posed by the Soviet Union, which had supported Communist forces in Korea during the Korean War. In the Vietnamese conflict, Eisenhower sent U.S. advisory troops, beginning in 1955, to provide support services and train South Vietnamese soldiers to fight the Viet Cong.

Ken Babbs, then 26, served in those advisory forces in Vietnam in 1962 and 1963.

Babbs, now 87, remembers facing extreme heat and heavy rains in a beautiful country—and he remembers coming under fire while flying helicopter missions in Vietnam. Babbs is one of many Vietnam veterans—and U.S. civilians—who became disillusioned with the U.S. involvement as the war dragged on.

“It was pretty obvious that we were wasting our time there,” says Babbs. “To me, it was apparent that we were not going to do any good.”

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the first American combat troops to Vietnam, more than 185,000 soldiers. By the end of the conflict, more than 2.7 million Americans had fought in Vietnam, many of them teenagers drafted into service. But what U.S. officials and the West saw as a firm stand against Communism, the North Vietnamese viewed as a small nation’s continuing struggle against colonialism.

“The whole country is the size of the state of California,” says Le Ly Hayslip, 73, author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, a memoir about her life during the war and her immigration to the U.S. “It has 5,000 years of culture and history.”

In 1963, at age 14, Hayslip endured imprisonment and torture at the hands of the South Vietnamese, who accused her of assisting the Viet Cong.

Ken Babbs, then 26, served in those advisory forces in Vietnam in 1962 and 1963. Babbs, now 87, remembers facing extreme heat and heavy rains in a beautiful country. He also remembers coming under fire while flying helicopter missions in Vietnam. Babbs is one of many Vietnam veterans—and U.S. civilians—who became disillusioned with the U.S. involvement as the war dragged on.

“It was pretty obvious that we were wasting our time there,” says Babbs. “To me, it was apparent that we were not going to do any good.”

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson sent the first American combat troops to Vietnam. There were more than 185,000 soldiers. By the end of the conflict, more than 2.7 million Americans had fought in Vietnam. Many of them were teenagers drafted into service. U.S. officials and the West saw the conflict as a firm stand against Communism. But the North Vietnamese viewed it as a small nation’s continuing struggle against colonialism.

“The whole country is the size of the state of California,” says Le Ly Hayslip, 73. She’s the author of When Heaven and Earth Changed Places, a memoir about her life during the war and her immigration to the U.S. “It has 5,000 years of culture and history.”

In 1963, at age 14, Hayslip endured imprisonment and torture at the hands of the South Vietnamese. They accused her of assisting the Viet Cong.

Back in the U.S., the stakes were high for the youth of America. Having a draft meant that teenage boys fresh out of high school could be conscripted to fight in Vietnam if they weren’t going to college or couldn't prove that they were medically unfit for duty.

“The draft was a deadly fear for people universally, whether they were rich or poor,” says Geoffrey C. Ward, co-author of The Vietnam War: An Intimate History.

As the war intensified in the late 60's and the U.S. death toll climbed, public sentiment began to turn. Americans saw images of body bags filled with young U.S. soldiers as the fighting spread into neighboring Cambodia and Laos.

In early 1968, CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite told his viewers in a televised editorial that the war was “mired in stalemate.” And the turning point, says Hayslip, came when soldiers returned from Vietnam and began speaking out against the war.

Back in the U.S., the stakes were high for the youth of America. Having a draft meant that teenage boys fresh out of high school could be conscripted to fight in Vietnam. They could be exempt if they were going to college or if they could prove they were medically unfit for duty.

“The draft was a deadly fear for people universally, whether they were rich or poor,” says Geoffrey C. Ward, co-author of The Vietnam War: An Intimate History.

The war intensified in the late 60’s. The U.S. death toll climbed. And public sentiment began to turn. The fighting spread into neighboring Cambodia and Laos. Americans saw images of body bags filled with young U.S. soldiers.

In early 1968, CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite told his viewers in a televised editorial that the war was “mired in stalemate.” And the turning point, says Hayslip, came when soldiers returned from Vietnam. They began speaking out against the war.

Anti-war protests became widespread: more than 800 nationwide, including the burning of draft cards and a bloody confrontation with Chicago police at the Democratic National Convention in 1968.

Student demonstrations also fueled anti-war public sentiment, especially after a peaceful protest turned deadly. On May 4, 1970, a National Guard unit fired on an unarmed crowd at Kent State University, leaving four students dead and nine injured, one of them paralyzed.

The war and its unpopular draft spawned a youth movement—one that would eventually lower the voting age from 21 to 18 with passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971.

Anti-war protests became widespread. In 1968 there were more than 800 nationwide, including the burning of draft cards and a bloody confrontation with Chicago police at the Democratic National Convention.

Student demonstrations also fueled anti-war public sentiment. That was especially so after a peaceful protest turned deadly. On May 4, 1970, a National Guard unit fired on an unarmed crowd at Kent State University. That left four students dead and nine injured. One of them was paralyzed.

The war and its unpopular draft spawned a youth movement. It would eventually lower the voting age from 21 to 18 with passage of the 26th Amendment in 1971.

President Richard Nixon was already facing domestic pressure to end the war when the Pentagon Papers were released in 1971. That leaked top-secret study revealed the government’s long history in Vietnam and catalogued a legacy of lies that had kept America in the war.

“I remember being furious at the fact that our government was officially lying,” Vietnam War veteran and former Senator John Kerry told The Boston Globe in 2021. “It was a double lie—a lie about the realities of the war and a lie about whether there was a strategy. It wasn’t just about dying for a mistake. It was about dying for a lie.”

The human toll of the war was devastating. More than 58,000 U.S. soldiers and more than 254,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed in action. Enemy losses were also steep, with an estimated 1.1 million Communist soldiers dead. As many as 2 million Vietnamese civilians were also killed in the war.

Feeling domestic pressure, Nixon and his advisers sought to draw down the number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam and equip, train, and support South Vietnamese soldiers to take on the bulk of combat missions—a process called the “Vietnamization” of the war. But the leaking of the Pentagon Papers, the focus on Nixon’s Watergate scandal, and reports of atrocities committed by American soldiers had only strengthened domestic distrust of the government’s handling of the war.

Nixon authorized a cease-fire and the signing of the Paris Peace Accords in 1973, which ended the U.S. military role in Vietnam. But the agreement didn’t bring a lasting peace, as Communist forces overwhelmed and conquered the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) on April 30, 1975.

Although most American personnel and diplomats successfully evacuated, dramatic news footage of South Vietnamese people clinging onto helicopters was seared into the American psyche when it aired on television. Once in power, Communists executed former U.S. allies left behind or sent them to brutal “re-education” camps.

President Richard Nixon was already facing domestic pressure to end the war when the Pentagon Papers were released in 1971. That leaked top-secret study revealed the government’s long history in Vietnam and catalogued a legacy of lies that had kept America in the war.

“I remember being furious at the fact that our government was officially lying,” Vietnam War veteran and former Senator John Kerry told The Boston Globe in 2021. “It was a double lie—a lie about the realities of the war and a lie about whether there was a strategy. It wasn’t just about dying for a mistake. It was about dying for a lie.”

The human toll of the war was devastating. More than 58,000 U.S. soldiers and more than 254,000 South Vietnamese soldiers were killed in action. Enemy losses were also steep. An estimated 1.1 million Communist soldiers were killed. As many as 2 million Vietnamese civilians were also killed in the war.

Nixon felt domestic pressure. He and his advisers sought to draw down the number of U.S. soldiers in Vietnam. They wanted to equip, train, and support South Vietnamese soldiers to take on the bulk of combat missions. It was called the “Vietnamization” of the war. But the leaking of the Pentagon Papers, the focus on Nixon’s Watergate scandal, and reports of atrocities committed by American soldiers had only intensified domestic distrust of the government’s handling of the war.

Nixon authorized a cease-fire. In 1973, the Paris Peace Accords were signed. That ended the U.S. military role in Vietnam. But the agreement didn’t bring a lasting peace. Communist forces overwhelmed and conquered the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) on April 30, 1975.

Most American personnel and diplomats successfully evacuated. But dramatic news footage of South Vietnamese people clinging onto helicopters was burned into the American psyche when it aired on television. Once in power, Communists executed former U.S. allies left behind or sent them to brutal “re-education” camps.

Domestically, the Vietnam War changed many Americans’ views of government. It made the public—and the press—much less trusting of what officials said and did.

“One thing that came out of it was just a huge distrust of government. That’s a terrible legacy of the war,” says Ward, the historian. “Lying became an essential part of government.”

But in the 1990s, the U.S. and Vietnam re-established political and diplomatic relations after a long reconciliation process. In 1994, President Bill Clinton lifted a trade embargo with Vietnam, which is still a Communist state but has embraced aspects of capitalism to fuel its economy. A year later, Robert McNamara, who had served as Secretary of Defense under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, visited Vietnam and reflected on the war.

“We of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations who participated in the decisions on Vietnam acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions of this nation,” he wrote in his memoir. “We made our decisions in light of those values. Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong.”

Domestically, the Vietnam War changed many Americans’ views of government. The public and the press became much less trusting of what officials said and did.

“One thing that came out of it was just a huge distrust of government. That’s a terrible legacy of the war,” says Ward, the historian. “Lying became an essential part of government.”

But in the 1990s, the U.S. and Vietnam re-established political and diplomatic relations. That was after a long reconciliation process. In 1994, President Bill Clinton lifted a trade embargo with Vietnam. The country is still a Communist state. But it has embraced aspects of capitalism to fuel its economy. In 1995, Robert McNamara, who had served as Secretary of Defense under John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, visited Vietnam and reflected on the war.

“We of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations who participated in the decisions on Vietnam acted according to what we thought were the principles and traditions of this nation,” he wrote in his memoir. “We made our decisions in light of those values. Yet we were wrong, terribly wrong.”

Today in Vietnam, the conflict is still referred to as the "American War.” Hayslip, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1970, works to foster cross-cultural understanding and peace. She sees the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., etched with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died in the war, as an important symbol for remembering the conflict.

“As long as that wall stands, the younger generation needs to know about Vietnam,” says Hayslip. “It should not be forgotten.”

Today in Vietnam, the conflict is still referred to as the «American War.” Hayslip immigrated to the U.S. in 1970. She works to foster cross-cultural understanding and peace. She sees the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as an important symbol for remembering the conflict. The memorial is engraved with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died in the war.

“As long as that wall stands, the younger generation needs to know about Vietnam,” says Hayslip. “It should not be forgotten.”