How did U. S. involvement in Vietnam escalate through the 1960s?
What were the political and social consequences of that escalation, in both Vietnam and the United States?

U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War grew constantly in the 1960s. From providing weapons, supplies, economic aid and military advisors to the allied Republic of South Vietnam in the first half of the decade, American engagement increased significantly after 1964, when the Gulf of Tonkin incident occured. In 1965, large units were deployed  and by 1968, there were over half a million American soldiers fighting communist forces in Vietnam together with local allies.

This supposed huge expenditures, a major investment of political capital for the Lyndon B. Johnson administration, a large number of casualties and the division of the country, as a powerful anti-war movement developed.

America went to war to stop communist expansion in Southeast Asia and after the 1968 Tet Offensive, it was clear that victory was not anywhere in sight, despite the assurances of top officials. The public started to question the sense and the purpose of the war. Richard Nixon negotiated the withdrawal of American troops and accomplished it. But the Vietnamese civil war between the North and the South continued. In April 1975, the Vietnamese communists won the war. The American nation embarked on a soul searching after the war , its reasons and result.

For North Vietnam, American involvement elevated the costs its people had to pay for self-determination. A huge number of military and civilian casualties, the destruction of the country´s economy and of the environment were some of the costs paid by the communist Vietnamese, who were supported by the Soviet Union and China.

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