Title: 1968: The Height of the Vietnam War | Serve
Headings: 1968: The Height of the Vietnam War
1968: The Height of the Vietnam War
Content: 1968: The Height of the Vietnam War | Serve
1968: The Height of the Vietnam War
by Shandi Pace 3 years ago in history
The endless war that reached its peak with Lyndon B. Johnson in power and ended with Richard Nixon would lead to countless protests and dissatisfaction with the government. It’s pretty much impossible to talk about 1968 without mentioning the Vietnam War. An issue that plagued Lyndon Johnson’s presidency, the Vietnam War, reached its peak at the start of the year. It’s difficult to explain how we got here without knowing the history behind this disastrous war most Americans would rather forget. Dwight D. Eisenhower was the first president to dip his toe into Vietnamese water by assisting the fixing of elections. The United States had shown its support towards the new South Vietnamese president Ngô Đình Diệm and his “Denounce the Communists” campaign, in which any communists and anti-government supporters were arrested, imprisoned, tortured or executed. He also instituted the death penalty against any active communists in August of 1956. President John F. Kennedy was the one who heightened the United States’ presence in Vietnam, from just under a thousand soldiers to 16,000 in 1963.