Introduction Operation Rolling Thunder was an aerial bombing campaign, during the Vietnam War, conducted by the United States Air Force, United States Navy, and the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, from March 2, 1965 to November 2, 1968. Its purpose was to demonstrate America’s air supremacy in an effort to demoralize North Vietnam's Communist leaders (Ho Chi Minh) and to reduce their ability to carry out attacks against South Vietnam, supported by the United States. The four main objectives of this
The 1960’s was a happening decade. It was a time when many people came together for a common good and stood against injustice. The 60’s is often recalled as the era of the peace sign, one ridden with hippies, marijuana and pacifism. While true of much of the era, some of the movements calling for immense social change began as non-violent harbingers of change and later became radicals. The reason for this turn to radicalism, as seen in the case of the Students for a Democratic Society, and as
those who made the decision, to the operations, and what they wanted to do to help in ending
Before Operation Rolling Thunder could truly begin, it was already destined for failure. The bombing campaign, which lasted from March 1965 to October 1968, lacked any clear direction from the start. Differences in what civilian officials and political leaders called for resulted in a military operation with no stated objective. Several key leaders played a role in the failure of Rolling Thunder. On the civilian side of the house, President Lyndon Johnson, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Assistant
For example the goals of Operation Rolling Thunder were to demoralize the North Vietnamese people and to undermine the power of the North Vietnamese government both of which failed to happen. America was unable to achieve its goals with Operation Rolling Thunder because the North Vietnamese leaders with some help from China and the USSR were able to set up an effective defense which rendered
Ho Chi Minh’s powerful communist-nationalist appeal might set off a geographical chain reaction. As Ho Chi Minh’s government established itself in North Vietnam, Eisenhower supported a noncommunist government in South Vietnam and ordered covert operations and economic programs to prevent Ho Chi Minh from being elected the leader of a unified Vietnam. The Vietnam War was a military struggle fought in Vietnam from 1959 to 1975. It was started by the Communist guerrillas (the so-called Vietcong) in
Can you even imagine the pain, suffering, and hardships that the people of South Vietnam had to face. The South Vietnamese survivors still deal with emotional and physical issues today. Last but not least, we looked at a video of Operation Rolling Thunder. This operation was negative towards the war because when the United States dropped a ton of bombs on North Vietnam, it left many Vietnamese people homeless and many innocent people
The North Vietnamese troops used the jungle to hide from the American troops. The Americans came up with a plan called Operation Rolling Thunder. “ Operation Rolling Thunder begins over 100 American fighter-bombers attack targets in North Vietnam. Scheduled to last eight weeks, Rolling Thunder will instead go on for three years.” (“"The History Place - Vietnam War 1965-1968” ) In 1965 the Viet Cong terrorist bombed the US embassy in Saigon to weaken their
Comparison of the Practices and Strategies Utilized in the Korean and Vietnam Wars Two of the greatest battles which were fought by similar foes were those of the Korean and Vietnamese wars. Both conflicts involved a "communist" and "capitalist" participant(s) which had their own ideals and reasons for why to include themselves into such conflicts. There are also other similarities other than the opponents in these wars, such as the military tactics and strategies which were effectuated
McNamara, Robert S. and Brian VanDeMark. In Retrospect. New York: Vintage Books, 1995. “Operation Rolling Thunder.” Military Analysis Network. 1998. Federation of American Scientists. 20 Dec. 2003< http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/rolling_thunder.htm>. Patrick, Joe. “Testing the Rules of Engagement.” Vietnam Memoirs. 2003. 80th Fighter Squadron. 13 Nov. 2003. Rendall, Ivan. Rolling Thunder. New York: The Free Press, 1997. “Robert S. McNamara.” Secretaries of Defense. Defenselink
who was a communist leader ran the country and he ruled the North part of Vietnam. On the other side, leaders who were against communism ruled South Vietnam. The presidential policies created a divide between North and South Vietnam. 2. Open Rolling Thunder was a plan by America to place an attack on North Vietnam in which they were against their communist ways. The strategies was using a bombardment that was huge and they wanted cause North Vietnam to become weaker. They used this strategy as a
South Vietnam” (Anderson). This made The goal of the air bombings were to weaken the Northern Vietnamese infrastructure. Bombs were dropped on military bases, supply depots, and infiltration routes (Anderson). Each year after the start of ROLLING THUNDER, the number of bombs dropped each year until 1967 when the number of bombs dropped was close to a quarter of a million (Anderson). Since, the bombings were bad enough that it forced the NVA to rethink there strategy for fighting the war (Bringham)
gave his government public support for the firm stance they would take. The Government eventually lost support from the populace, due to the atrocities within Vietnam, which were shown to the world through the media showing the aftermath of operation rolling thunder. At the height of the war America were losing 300 troops a week which also caused outrage within America since almost everyone had lost a relative or a friend. During Lyndon B. Johnsons presidency Anti-War movements became popular among
President of the United States of America, and his death was a turning point in American History. The assassination that happened on November 22, 1962, impacted the Vietnam War by leading the United States to plan for Lyndon Johnson which caused Operation Rolling Thunder. It also led to conspiracy theories and this was a turning point in American citizens' trust in the government. The Civil Rights Movement's focus shifted after the death. The assassination of John F. Kennedy was very significant to America
elected at that time, but he might still have been elected later on in the future. There’s no way of telling what might have happened, because you can’t tell what might have. You can say maybe troops wouldn’t have been sent over, maybe “Operation Rolling Thunder” and the “Tet Offensive” wouldn’t have happened, but it still might have. Kennedy may have, if he hadn’t been killed, reconsidered his views on what to do. He might have sent over troops and everything would happen like it did anyway
The Effect of Mass Media on Americans during the Vietnam War When the war initially began, Dean Rusk, US Secretary of State, pointed out that: "This was the first struggle fought on television in everybody's living room every day... whether ordinary people can sustain a war effort under that kind of daily hammering is a very large question." The us administration, unlike most governments at war, made no official attempt to censure the reporting in the Vietnam war. Every night on the
following events of operation chopper(January 12th 1962)- operation chopper was the first combat mission for America against the Vietcong. American helicopters transported over 1,000 South Vietnamese paratroopers for an assault on a Vietcong stronghold, around 10 miles west of Saigon. The Vietcong were not ready for the attack, and were easily defeated. A year after this attack the battle of Ap Bac commenced on 2nd of January 1963. This battle was fought
this attack the congress passed the “ Golf of Tonkin Resolution” allowed president Johnson to be able to attack back to north Vietnam for what they did. In 1965, the Viet Cong attacks the pleiku in south Vietnam, which is known as the “ operation rolling thunder”. There was a lot of bombing ,643,000 tons of bombs dropped on north Vietnam. Then in 1968 the tet offensive was in place. The tet offensive was an attack on January 30 ,1968 it was planned to be a surprise attack on the military and civilians
"From 1962 to 1971, American C-123 transport planes sprayed roughly 20 million gallons of herbicides on an area of South Vietnam about the size of Massachusetts" (Budanovic). In just a short sentence, a massive war can be summarized, and the horrific actions that soldiers in the Vietnam war participated in can be exposed. C-123 aircrafts did not only deploy herbicides, but also deployed massive bombs on Vietnamese opponents in which many contained napalm. Created by the US Chemical Warfare Service
Aerial Combat over Vietnam Introduction The Vietnam War provided challenging and exciting times for United States (US) military aviation. Jets were still considered new technology at the beginning of the 1960’s and had not been tested thoroughly during the Korean War. As the situation in Vietnam started to escalate, US leadership recognized the importance of air superiority and the need to use and adapt newer technology. Air superiority can be achieved through multiple means, but none as romanticized