University of Illinois: 1960s-1970s
Background
The Vietnam War lasted from 1955 to 1975, making it the longest war in United States history. From 1045-1954, the Vietnamese were at war with France. The United States gave France $2.6 billion in financial support during this war. After the French defeat, Vietnam was temporarily divided into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. South Vietnam was anti-communist while North Vietnam was communist. In 1958, the Viet-Cong, communists, began to battle the South Vietnamese government. To support South Vietnam in these attacks, the United States sent over 2,000 military advisers. However, by 1963, the amount of advisers in South Vietnam grew to 16,300. The South Vietnamese military deteriorated, and they lost the Mekong Delta to the Viet Cong. Lyndon B. Johnson then escalated the war, ordering air strikes and ground battles on North Vietnam. In 1968, there were 536,000 United States military troops in Vietnam. Soon, many troops were drying in large numbers, yet there was no progress. This turned many people against the war. Richard Nixon then started to bring American troops back home and leave most of the responsibility to South Vietnam to fight. He then attempted to slow the progression of North Vietnamese troops and supplies into South Vietnam by sending American military to destroy communist bases in Cambodia. This event is the main trigger that started nationwide protests on college campuses. The fighting and the protests continued on until January 1973 when an agreement was reached and United States military withdrew from Vietnam and US prisoners of war were released. In April 1975, South Vietnam surrendered and the North and the South were reunited.