Key Figures

John F. Kennedy- President that escalated the war, sending more troops, and equipment to South Vietnam.

Lyndon B. Johnson - President when Kennedy died. He escalated the War even farther when he shipped 500,000 troops to Vietnam.

Ho Chi Minh-(1960-1968)- was a communist president of North Vietnam, the Ho Chi Minh Trail was named after him, it was a military supply route running from North Vietnam through Laos and Cambodia to South Vietnam. The route sent weapons, manpower, ammunition and other supplies from communist-led North Vietnam to their supporters in South Vietnam during the Vietnam war.

General William Westmoreland (1964-1968) - Chosen by president Lyndon Johnson, he was a distinguished veteran who command the U.S. Military Assistance Command in Vietnam (MACV) in June 1964. His strategy of attrition aimed to inflict heavy losses on the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces using superior U.S. firepower, but resulted in a costly stalemate by late 1967. In early 1968 the enemy's ambitious Tet offensive cast serious doubt on him even as he called 200,000 more troops. Antiwar sentiment led president Johnson to halt back bombing attacks on North Vietnam in March 1968, and in June he replaced Westmoreland in command of the MACV.