Even today Americans are divided on that subject, it will probably require the passage of several more generations to reach a consensus.
ALL US personnel were gone by '75.
i think it did...
Eisenhower had US personnel present in South Vietnam to help the transition of French withdrawal in 1954; when they were gone, he promptly dispatched US troops to bolster South Vietnamese defenses in 1955.
They feared that Vietnam would become Communist if it should gain indepedence.
1. Will the USSR enter the war? 2. Will Red China enter the war? 3. Should the US deploy nuclear weapons? 4. Should the US invade North Vietnam? 5. Should the US blockade North Vietnam? (An official act of war by the way). 6. Should the US use SAC bombers (Strategic Air Command)? 7. Should the US attack Red China if they enter the war? 8. Should the US attack the Soviet Union if they enter the war? 9. Should the US activate (mobilize) the military reserves? (an official indication of total war). 10. Should the US intercept (on the high seas) Soviet/Red Chinese vessels re-supplying North Vietnam?
You should have gone.
The US never invaded Vietnam.
President John F. Kennedy supported the United States' involvement in the Vietnam Conflict and stated that we should do whatever was necessary to achieve victory. He wanted to stop the spread of Communism and ensure freedom for Vietnam.
The setting is a war in Vietnam
South Vietnam was considered an ally of the US.
There was ONLY ONE weapon the communist's feared. The B-52 Stratofortress Bomber. When the US departed the Republic of South Vietnam in March of 1973, we took those bombers with us when we left. Knowing the B-52's where now gone. The North sent a CONVENTIONAL army south, and conquered the Republic of South Vietnam in April 1975.
Without the helicopter, the war might have gone on, for the US, for 20 or 30 years AFTER the Tonkin Gulf incident...or never have been fought at all; it was that important. The helicopter made the Vietnam War. Vietnam was a helicopter war.