Vietnam

To bring back old memories..... 

Vietnam War (1960–1975)  

Excerpts ..... 

There was no fixed beginning for the U.S. war in Vietnam. The United States entered that war incrementally, in a series of steps between 1950 and 1965. 

In May 1950, President Harry S Truman authorized a modest program of economic and military aid to the French, who were fighting to retain control of their Indochina colony, including Laos and Cambodia as well as Vietnam. When the Vietnamese Nationalist (and Communist‐led) Vietminh army defeated French forces at Dienbienphu in 1954, the French were compelled to accede to the creation of a Communist Vietnam north of the 17th parallel while leaving a non‐Communist entity south of that line. The United States refused to accept the arrangement. The administration of President Dwight D Eisenhower undertook instead to build a nation from the spurious political entity that was South Vietnam by fabricating a government there, taking over control from the French, dispatching military advisers to train a South Vietnamese army, and unleashing (CIA) to conduct psychological warfare against the North.

JFK rounded another turning point in early 1961, when he secretly sent 400 trained (Green Beret) soldiers to teach the South Vietnamese how to fight what was called counterinsurgency war against Communist guerrillas in South Vietnam.

When JFK was assassinated in November 1963, there were more than 16,000 U.S. military advisers in South Vietnam, and more than 100 Americans had been killed. 

JFK's successor, Lyndon B Johnson, committed the United States most fully to the war. In August 1964, he secured from Congress a functional (not actual) declaration of war: the Tonkin Gulf Resolution. 

In February and March 1965, LBJ authorized the sustained bombing, by U.S. aircraft, of targets north of the 17th parallel.

8 March, 1965 LBJ dispatched 3,500 Marines to South Vietnam. Legal declaration or no, the United States was now at war.

Rolling Thunder was the code name for the American bombing of North Vietnam from early 1965 to late 1968.

Communists launched their seemingly successful nationwide Tet Offensive on 30 January 1968.

Feb, 1968, all men in the South Vietnamese armed forces have had their tours of duty extended for the duration of the war, and reserves are now being called up for immediate active duty. (Taken from http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/lbj-decision.htm)

During the invasion of Cambodia in the spring of 1970, the Senate voted to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and to cut off funds for the operation after 30 June.

From 1973 through 1975, Congress passed several resolutions that restricted the use of troops and airpower in Southeast Asia and rejected presidential requests for further aid to South Vietnam. Most important, in 1973 it passed, over Nixon's veto, the War Powers Resolution, which sought to restrict the president's ability to send American troops into combat without informing Congress or obtaining its approval for an extended commitment.

One week before the 1972 election, Nixon's national security adviser, Henry Kissinger, offered a Republican "October Surprise" when he announced that "peace is at hand." The North Vietnamese forced Kissinger to make this statement when they announced on 25 October that they and the Americans had finally agreed on terms for ending the war.

Sources:

http://www.encyclopedia.com/utility/printdocument.aspx?id=1O126:VietnamWar19601975

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/domestic.htm

Vietnam Web Resources

Lists of Allied Military Operations - Vietnam War

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Vietnam War Destroyers of the United States

Vietnam War Naval Ships of the United States

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Blue Water Navy - Agent Orange

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription_in_the_United_States

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_Act_of_1917

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Training_and_Service_Act_of_1940

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_Act_of_1948

        change of name to Universal Military Training and Service Act, enacted June 19, 1951

        change of name to Military Selective Service Act of 1967, enacted June 30, 1967

        change of name to Military Selective Service Act, enacted September 28, 1971

Following the 1953 Korean War Armistice, Congress passed the Reserve Forces Act of 1955 with the aim of improving National Guard and federal Reserve Component readiness while also constraining its use by the president.

On numerous occasions Selective Service Director Gen. Hershey told Congress for every man drafted, three or four more were scared into volunteering. Assuming his assessment was accurate, this would mean over 11 million men volunteered for service because of the draft between January 1954 and April 1975.

With the end of active U.S. ground participation in Vietnam, December 1972 saw the last men conscripted, who were born in 1952.

In early 1973 it was announced that no further draft orders would be issued.  However, the SSS is still functional.

On 2 July 1980, President Jimmy Carter issued Presidential Proclamation 4771 and re-instated the requirement that young men register with the Selective Service System.

The Selective Service registration form states that failure to register is a felony, punishable by up to five years imprisonment or a $250,000 fine.  In practice, no one has been prosecuted for failure to comply with draft registration since 1986, in part because prosecutions of draft resisters proved counter-productive for the government, and in part because of the difficulty of proving that noncompliance with the law was "knowing and willful." Many people do not register at all, register late, or change addresses without notifying the Selective Service System. Not registering can also lead to loss of federal employment, sometimes after the registration window has already passed. However, only a few of such cases had been reported as of June 2009. Refusing to register can also cause a loss of eligibility for federal financial aid for college.