This document provides an overview of key events in the 1960s related to the Vietnam War and anti-war movement in the United States. It describes the initial involvement of US troops in Vietnam in 1965, the escalation of bombing campaigns and troop levels throughout the later 1960s, and major battles like Tet Offensive and Ia Drang Valley. It also discusses the growth of anti-war protests in the US and events like the Kent State shooting. The document traces the war through the Nixon administration's Vietnamization policy and withdrawal of troops in the early 1970s.

1. DECADE OF THE 60’S
THE 60’S
FIFTH EDITION
TERRY H ANDERSON
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2. THE VIETNAM WAR BEGINS – THE WORLD’S FIRST TELEVISED WAR
• MAY 7, 1954: HO CHI MINH’S VIET MINH FORCES DEFEAT THE FRENCH AT THE BATTLE OF DIEN BIEN PHU, EFFECTIVELY
ENDING THE 7 ½-YEAR INDOCHINA WAR.
• JULY 1954: AT A CONFERENCE IN GENEVA, WORLD POWERS AGREE TO A DIVIDED VIETNAM.
• COMMUNISTS, LED BY HO CHI MINH, CONTROL THE NORTH. THE UNITED STATES EVENTUALLY SUPPORTS AN
ANTICOMMUNIST GOVERNMENT LED BY NGO DINH DIEM IN THE SOUTH.
• SEPT. 10, 1960: LE DUAN REPLACES HO CHI MINH AS FIRST SECRETARY OF THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST PARTY IN HANOI.
• NOV. 8, 1960: JOHN F. KENNEDY BEATS RICHARD NIXON IN THE U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION; LYNDON B. JOHNSON IS
VICE PRESIDENT.
• DEC. 20, 1960: SOUTHERN REVOLUTIONARIES, BACKED BY THE NORTH VIETNAMESE COMMUNIST PARTY, FORM THE
NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT, KNOWN IN SAIGON AND WASHINGTON AS THE VIET CONG.
• JUNE 11, 1963: SELF IMMOLATION OF BUDDHIST MONK THICH QUANG DUC IN SAIGON SPARKS OUTRAGE AROUND THE
WORLD AND BRINGS ATTENTION TO THE DEVELOPING CONFLICT.
• NOV. 1-2, 1963: PRESIDENT DIEM AND HIS BROTHER NGO DINH NHU ARE MURDERED DURING A COUP BY DISSIDENT
GENERALS OF THE SOUTH VIETNAMESE ARMY.

3. THE VIETNAM WAR
• NOV. 22, 1963: KENNEDY IS ASSASSINATED, AND JOHNSON IS SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT.
• AUG. 2-4, 1964: TWO SUPPOSED INCIDENTS IN THE GULF OF TONKIN LEAD JOHNSON TO
SEEK CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL FOR DIRECT U.S. INVOLVEMENT IN VIETNAM.
• MARCH 8, 1965: FIRST MARINES LAND IN DANANG.
• NOV. 14-18, 1965: IN THE IA DRANG VALLEY, AMERICAN TROOPS FIGHT THEIR FIRST
LARGE SCALE BATTLES AGAINST THE NORTH VIETNAMESE ARMY.
•

4. ASSASSINS
• LEE HARVEY OSWALD, (BORN OCTOBER 18, 1939, NEW
ORLEANS, LOUISIANA, U.S.—DIED NOVEMBER 24, 1963, DALLAS,
TEXAS), ACCUSED ASSASSIN OF U.S. PRES. JOHN F.
KENNEDY IN DALLAS ON NOVEMBER 22, 1963.
• HE HIMSELF WAS FATALLY SHOT TWO DAYS LATER BY JACK
RUBY (1911–67) IN THE DALLAS COUNTY JAIL. A SPECIAL
PRESIDENT’S COMMISSION ON THE ASSASSINATION OF
PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, BETTER KNOWN AS
THE WARREN COMMISSION BECAUSE IT WAS HEADED BY
CHIEF JUSTICE EARL WARREN, INVESTIGATED FROM NOVEMBER
29, 1963, TO SEPTEMBER 24, 1964, AND CONCLUDED THAT
OSWALD ALONE HAD FIRED THE SHOTS KILLING KENNEDY
AND THAT THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE THAT EITHER OSWALD
OR RUBY HAD BEEN PART OF ANY CONSPIRACY.
• IN JANUARY 1979 A SPECIAL U.S. HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES ASSASSINATIONS COMMITTEE, AFTER A
TWO-YEAR INVESTIGATION, REPORTED THAT A SECOND
ASSASSIN MAY ALSO HAVE FIRED A SHOT AND THAT THERE
MAY HAVE BEEN A CONSPIRACY.
• THE EVIDENCE HAS REMAINED HIGHLY DEBATABLE.

5. GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION - AUGUST 7,
1964
• THE GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION AUTHORIZED PRESIDENT LYNDON
JOHNSON TO “TAKE ALL NECESSARY MEASURES TO REPEL ANY
ARMED ATTACK AGAINST THE FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES AND
TO PREVENT FURTHER AGGRESSION” BY THE COMMUNIST
GOVERNMENT OF NORTH VIETNAM. IT WAS PASSED ON AUGUST 7,
1964, BY THE U.S. CONGRESS AFTER AN ALLEGED ATTACK ON TWO
U.S. NAVAL DESTROYERS STATIONED OFF THE COAST OF VIETNAM.
• THE GULF OF TONKIN RESOLUTION EFFECTIVELY LAUNCHED
AMERICA’S FULL-SCALE INVOLVEMENT IN THE VIETNAM WAR.
• ACCORDING TO THE U.S. NAVY, BOTH MADDOX AND TURNER JOY
REPORTED BEING FIRED UPON BY NORTH VIETNAMESE PATROL
BOATS, BUT LATER DOUBTS SURROUNDING THE VERACITY OF THE
SECOND ATTACK, ON TURNER JOY, EMERGED.
US Maddox
• June 1970: Congress
repeals the Gulf of Tonkin
Resolution to reassert
control over the
president’s ability to use
force in the war.

6. BATTLE OF IA DRANG VALLEY
• NOVEMBER 1965: NEARLY 300 AMERICANS ARE KILLED AND HUNDREDS MORE
INJURED IN THE FIRST LARGE-SCALE BATTLE OF THE WAR, THE BATTLE OF IA
DRANG VALLEY.
• AT THE BATTLE, IN SOUTH VIETNAM’S CENTRAL HIGHLANDS, U.S. GROUND
TROOPS ARE DROPPED ONTO AND WITHDRAWN FROM THE BATTLEFIELD BY
HELICOPTER, IN WHAT WOULD BECOME A COMMON STRATEGY. BOTH SIDES
DECLARE VICTORY.
In the 43-day Ia Drang campaign, 545 Americans were
killed. Enemy deaths have been estimated at 3,561.

7. FIRST HELICOPTER WAR
• 1 . BELL UH-1 IROQUOIS (HUEY) ARGUABLY THE MOST ICONIC HELICOPTER OF
THE VIETNAM WAR, THE BELL UH-1 IROQUOIS WAS FIRST USED BY THE UNITED
STATES MILITARY IN 1959.
• 2 . BELL AH-1 COBRA. ...
• 3 . BOEING CH-47 CHINOOK. ...
• 4 . KAMAN SH-2 SEASPRITE. ...
• 5 . SIKORSKY HH-3E JOLLY GREEN GIANT. HUEY
COBRA
CHINOOK
SEASPRITE
JOLLY GREEN
GIANT

8. OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER
• MARCH 1965: PRESIDENT JOHNSON LAUNCHES A THREE-YEAR CAMPAIGN OF
SUSTAINED BOMBING OF TARGETS IN NORTH VIETNAM AND THE HO CHI MINH TRAIL
IN OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER.
• THE SAME MONTH, U.S. MARINES LAND ON BEACHES NEAR DA NANG, SOUTH
VIETNAM AS THE FIRST AMERICAN COMBAT TROOPS TO ENTER VIETNAM.
• JUNE 1965: GENERAL NGUEN VAN THIEU OF THE ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC OF
VIETNAM GOVERNMENTAL MILITARY (ARVN), BECOMES PRESIDENT OF SOUTH
VIETNAM.
• JULY 1965: PRESIDENT JOHNSON CALLS FOR 50,000 MORE GROUND TROOPS TO BE
SENT TO VIETNAM, INCREASING THE DRAFT TO 35,000 EACH MONTH.

9. INCREASE IN US TROOPS
• • 1966: U.S. TROOP NUMBERS IN VIETNAM RISE TO 400,000.
• • JUNE 1966: AMERICAN AIRCRAFT ATTACK TARGETS IN HANOI AND HAIPHONG IN RAIDS
THAT ARE AMONG THE FIRST SUCH ATTACKS ON CITIES IN NORTH VIETNAM.
• • 1967: U.S. TROOP NUMBERS STATIONED IN VIETNAM INCREASE TO
500,000.
• • FEBRUARY 1967: U.S. AIRCRAFT BOMB HAIPHONG HARBOR AND NORTH VIETNAMESE
AIRFIELDS.
• • APRIL 1967: HUGE VIETNAM WAR PROTESTS OCCUR IN WASHINGTON, D.C., NEW
YORK CITY AND SAN FRANCISCO.

10. RESISTANCE TO THE WAR
• APRIL 15 AND OCT. 21, 1967: HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF ANTIWAR PROTESTERS GATHER FOR
DEMONSTRATIONS IN NEW YORK’S CENTRAL PARK AND IN WASHINGTON.
• SUMMER 1967 TO SPRING 1968: DURING A SERIES OF “BORDER BATTLES” IN THE REMOTE
LOCATIONS OF DAK TO, CON THIEN AND KHE SANH, U.S. ARMY AND MARINES FACE RELENTLESS
ONSLAUGHTS FROM NORTH VIETNAMESE.
• IN WASHINGTON, D.C. NEARLY 100,000 PEOPLE GATHER TO PROTEST THE AMERICAN WAR EFFORT IN
VIETNAM. MORE THAN 50,000 OF THE PROTESTERS MARCHED TO THE PENTAGON TO ASK FOR AN
END TO THE CONFLICT. THE PROTEST WAS THE MOST DRAMATIC SIGN OF WANING U.S. SUPPORT
FOR PRESIDENT LYNDON JOHNSON’S WAR IN VIETNAM. POLLS TAKEN IN THE SUMMER OF 1967
REVEALED THAT, FOR THE FIRST TIME, AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR THE WAR HAD FALLEN BELOW 50
PERCENT.

11. THE TET OFFENSIVE
• JAN. 31, 1968: DURING THE TET OFFENSIVE, NORTH VIETNAMESE AND
VIET CONG TROOPS LAUNCH SURPRISE ATTACKS AGAINST TARGETS
THROUGHOUT SOUTH VIETNAM.
• FEBRUARY 1968: IN THE ANCIENT IMPERIAL CAPITAL OF HUE, COMMUNIST
FORCES EXECUTE AT LEAST 2,800 PEOPLE, MOSTLY SOUTH VIETNAMESE
CIVILIANS.
As the celebration of the lunar new year, the Tet holiday is the most
important holiday on the Vietnamese calendar. In previous years, the holiday
had been the occasion for an informal truce in the Vietnam War between
South Vietnam and North Vietnam (and their communist allies in South
Vietnam, the Viet Cong).
The U.S. and South Vietnamese militaries sustained heavy
losses before finally repelling the communist assault.
The Tet Offensive played an important role in weakening
U.S. public support for the war in Vietnam.

12. KENT STATE SHOOTING
• KENT STATE SHOOTING, THE SHOOTING OF FOUR UNARMED COLLEGE
STUDENTS AT KENT STATE UNIVERSITY, IN NORTHEASTERN OHIO, BY THE
OHIO NATIONAL GUARD ON MAY 4, 1970, ONE OF THE SEMINAL EVENTS OF
THE ANTI-VIETNAM WAR MOVEMENT IN THE UNITED STATES.
The Kent State killings spark
protests on college campuses all
over the country.

13. THE MY LAI MASSACRE
• MARCH 16, 1968: AT THE U.S. MASSACRE AT MAI LAI, MORE THAN 500 CIVILIANS
ARE MURDERED BY U.S. FORCES. THE MASSACRE HAPPENS AMID A CAMPAIGN
OF U.S. SEARCH-AND-DESTROY OPERATIONS THAT ARE INTENDED TO FIND
ENEMY TERRITORIES, DESTROY THEM AND THEN RETREAT. DURING THE WAR,
WITH 543 AMERICAN DEATHS.
The My Lai massacre was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed during the
Vietnam War. A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children
and old men—in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968.
- More than 500 people were slaughtered in the My Lai massacre, including young girls
and women who were raped and mutilated before being killed.
- U.S. Army officers covered up the carnage for a year before it was reported in the American
press, sparking a firestorm of international outrage.
- The brutality of the My Lai massacre and the official cover-up fueled anti-war sentiment
and further divided the United States over the Vietnam War.

14. WILLIAM CALLEY
• ARMY COMMANDERS HAD ADVISED THE SOLDIERS OF
CHARLIE COMPANY THAT ALL WHO WERE FOUND IN THE SON
MY AREA COULD BE CONSIDERED VC OR ACTIVE VC
SYMPATHIZERS AND ORDERED THEM TO DESTROY THE
VILLAGE.
• WHEN THEY ARRIVED SHORTLY AFTER DAWN, THE
SOLDIERS—LED BY LIEUTENANT WILLIAM CALLEY—FOUND
NO VIET CONG. INSTEAD, THEY CAME ACROSS A QUIET
VILLAGE OF PRIMARILY WOMEN, CHILDREN AND OLDER MEN
PREPARING THEIR BREAKFAST RICE.
• THE VILLAGERS WERE ROUNDED UP INTO GROUPS AS THE
SOLDIERS INSPECTED THEIR HUTS. DESPITE FINDING ONLY A
FEW WEAPONS, CALLEY ORDERED HIS MEN TO BEGIN
SHOOTING THE VILLAGERS.
What happened to Lieutenant Calley from the Vietnam War?
A court-martial in 1971 found Lt. Calley guilty of the murder of 22 South
Vietnamese civilians. He was sentenced to life in prison, but the sentence
was reduced. Calley was freed in 1974.
Though several of the men
involved faced courts-martial, only
one—1st Lieut. William Laws
Calley Jr.—was ever convicted.
He was found guilty in 1971 of
murder and sentenced to
life. (President
Nixon changed Calley’s sentence to
house arrest, and he served about
three years. He apologized in
2009.)

15. HAMBURGER HILL – 3RD WORST BATTLE IN
VIETNAM
• • NOVEMBER 1968: REPUBLICAN RICHARD M. NIXON WINS THE U.S.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ON THE CAMPAIGN PROMISES TO RESTORE “LAW
AND ORDER” AND TO END THE DRAFT.
• • MAY 1969: AT AP BIA MOUNTAIN, ABOUT A MILE FROM THE BORDER WITH
LAOS, U.S. PARATROOPERS ATTACK ENTRENCHED NORTH VIETNAMESE
FIGHTERS IN AN ATTEMPT TO CUT OFF NORTH VIETNAMESE INFILTRATION
FROM LAOS.
• U.S. TROOPS EVENTUALLY CAPTURE THE SITE (TEMPORARILY), WHICH WOULD
BE NICKNAMED HAMBURGER HILL BY JOURNALISTS DUE TO THE BRUTAL
CARNAGE OF THE 10-DAY BATTLE (HILL 937).
Ten more infantry assaults came during the next 10 days, but
Hill 937's North Vietnamese defenders did not give up their
fortified position until May 20. Almost 100 Americans were
killed and more than 400 wounded in taking the hill, amounting
to a shocking 70 percent casualty rate.

16. GRADUAL WITHDRAWAL
FROM VIETNAM
• 1969-1972: THE NIXON ADMINISTRATION GRADUALLY REDUCES THE
NUMBER OF U.S. FORCES IN SOUTH VIETNAM, PLACING MORE BURDEN
ON THE GROUND FORCES OF SOUTH VIETNAM’S ARVN AS PART OF A
STRATEGY KNOWN AS VIETNAMIZATION. U.S. TROOPS IN VIETNAM ARE
REDUCED FROM A PEAK OF 549,000 IN 1969 TO 69,000 IN 1972.
• FEBRUARY 1970: U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR HENRY
KISSINGER BEGINS SECRET PEACE NEGOTIATIONS WITH HANOI
POLITBURO MEMBER LE DUC THO IN PARIS.
• MARCH 1969-MAY 1970: IN A SERIES OF SECRET BOMBINGS KNOWN
AS “OPERATION MENU,” U.S. B-52 BOMBERS TARGET SUSPECTED
COMMUNIST BASE CAMPS AND SUPPLY ZONES IN CAMBODIA. THE
BOMBINGS ARE KEPT UNDER WRAPS BY NIXON AND HIS
ADMINISTRATION SINCE CAMBODIA IS OFFICIALLY NEUTRAL IN THE
WAR, ALTHOUGH THE NEW YORK TIMES WOULD REVEAL THE
OPERATION ON MAY 9, 1969.
• APRIL-JUNE 1970: U.S. AND SOUTH VIETNAMESE FORCES ATTACK
COMMUNIST BASES ACROSS THE CAMBODIAN BORDER IN THE
CAMBODIAN INCURSION.

17. WHY WERE WE THERE?
 New York Times Poll – ½ of respondents don’t know why we were
there.
 By end of 1967 - What happened to the liberalism and optimism of 2
years earlier?
⚫ Escalation in Vietnam, civil rights marches, shouts for black power, endless
urban riots, angry white backlash, mounting campus protests, weird kids
flaunting mainstream values, television – fire in the streets, napalm in Vietnam

18. PENTAGON PAPERS – MILITARY & PRESIDENT
EXPOSED
• JUNE 1971: THE NEW YORK TIMES PUBLISHES A SERIES OF ARTICLES
DETAILING LEAKED DEFENSE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENTS ABOUT THE WAR,
KNOWN AS THE PENTAGON PAPERS. THE REPORT REVEALS THE U.S.
GOVERNMENT HAD REPEATEDLY AND SECRETLY INCREASED U.S.
INVOLVEMENT IN THE WAR.
- THE PENTAGON PAPERS REVEALED THAT THE HARRY S. TRUMAN ADMINISTRATION GAVE
MILITARY AID TO FRANCE IN ITS COLONIAL WAR AGAINST THE COMMUNIST-LED VIET MINH,
THUS DIRECTLY INVOLVING THE UNITED STATES IN VIETNAM;
- THAT IN 1954 PRES. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER DECIDED TO PREVENT A COMMUNIST TAKEOVER
OF SOUTH VIETNAM AND TO UNDERMINE THE NEW COMMUNIST REGIME OF NORTH VIETNAM;
- THAT PRES. JOHN F. KENNEDY TRANSFORMED THE POLICY OF “LIMITED-RISK GAMBLE” THAT
HE HAD INHERITED INTO A POLICY OF “BROAD COMMITMENT”;
- THAT PRES. LYNDON B. JOHNSON INTENSIFIED COVERT WARFARE AGAINST NORTH VIETNAM
AND BEGAN PLANNING TO WAGE OVERT WAR IN 1964, A FULL YEAR BEFORE THE DEPTH OF U.S.
INVOLVEMENT WAS PUBLICLY REVEALED;
- AND THAT JOHNSON ORDERED THE BOMBING OF NORTH VIETNAM IN 1965 DESPITE THE
JUDGMENT OF THE U.S. INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY THAT IT WOULD NOT CAUSE THE NORTH
VIETNAMESE TO CEASE THEIR SUPPORT OF THE VIET CONG INSURGENCY IN SOUTH VIETNAM.
Defense worker Daniel
Ellsberg seeks to publish
a series of classified
government documents
detailing the true nature
of America's involvement
in the Vietnam War.

19. • AUGUST 1974: PRESIDENT NIXON RESIGNS IN THE FACE OF LIKELY
IMPEACHMENT AFTER THE WATERGATE SCANDAL IS REVEALED. GERALD R.
FORD BECOMES PRESIDENT.
WATERGATE IMPACTS VIETNAM

20. THE FALL OF SAIGON
• APRIL 1975: IN THE FALL OF SAIGON, THE CAPITAL OF SOUTH VIETNAM IS
SEIZED BY COMMUNIST FORCES AND THE GOVERNMENT OF SOUTH VIETNAM
SURRENDERS. U.S. MARINE AND AIR FORCE HELICOPTERS TRANSPORT MORE
THAN 1,000 AMERICAN CIVILIANS AND NEARLY 7,000 SOUTH VIETNAMESE
REFUGEES OUT OF SAIGON IN AN 18-HOUR MASS EVACUATION EFFORT.

21. THE END OF
THE WAR
• THE WAR DEAD: BY THE END
OF THE WAR,
SOME 58,220 AMERICANS
LOSE THEIR LIVES.
VIETNAM WOULD LATER
RELEASE ESTIMATES THAT
- 1.1 MILLION NORTH
VIETNAMESE AND VIET
CONG FIGHTERS WERE
KILLED
- UP TO 250,000 SOUTH
VIETNAMESE SOLDIERS DIED
- AND MORE THAN 2 MILLION
CIVILIANS WERE KILLED ON
BOTH SIDES OF THE WAR.

22. RACE ISSUES IN THE VIETNAM WAR
• IN TOTAL, 7,243 AFRICAN AMERICANS DIED DURING THE VIETNAM WAR,
REPRESENTING 12.4% OF TOTAL CASUALTIES. THE REFUSAL, BY SOME
SOUTHERN COMMUNITIES, TO BURY DEAD AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN
UNSEGREGATED CEMETERIES WAS MET WITH OUTRAGE BY AFRICAN
AMERICAN COMMUNITIES.
• MLK - KING CAME TO VIEW U.S. INTERVENTION IN SOUTHEAST ASIAAS LITTLE MORE THAN
IMPERIALISM. ADDITIONALLY, HE BELIEVED THAT THE VIETNAM WAR DIVERTED MONEY AND
ATTENTION FROM DOMESTIC PROGRAMS CREATED TO AID THE BLACK POOR.
John Steinbeck IV was 21 years old when this article ran in the January
1968 issue of The Washingtonian. The son of the author of The Grapes
of Wrath had returned from Vietnam the previous June, a blurb on the
magazine’s contributors page said, “with a strong desire to go back.”
He’d gathered string over twelve months as a reporter for the Armed
Forces Radio and TV network and was working as a writer in the
Army’s Chief of Information office when it was published. In March of
that year, he testified about soldiers’ pot use before Congress,
estimating that “about 60 percent of American soldiers between the
ages of 19 and 27 smoke marijuana when they think it reasonable to
do just that.

23. DRUG USE IN THE VIETNAM WAR
• ARMED SERVICEMEN OF THE VIETNAM WAR USED DRUGS MORE HEAVILY THAN ANY PREVIOUS
GENERATION OF ENLISTED U.S. TROOPS. FROM HEROIN TO AMPHETAMINES TO MARIJUANA, DRUGS
WERE SO COMMONPLACE AMONG THE TROOPS THAT, IN 1970, LIAISON TO THE BUREAU OF NARCOTICS
AND DANGEROUS DRUGS EGIL KROGH TOLD PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON “YOU DON’T HAVE A DRUG
PROBLEM IN VIETNAM; YOU HAVE A CONDITION.
• PROBLEMS ARACCORDING TO A 1971 REPORT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE,
• 51 PERCENT OF THE ARMED FORCES HAD SMOKED MARIJUANA,
• 31 PERCENT HAD USED PSYCHEDELICS, SUCH AS LSD, MESCALINE AND PSILOCYBIN MUSHROOMS, AND
• AN ADDITIONAL 28 PERCENT HAD TAKEN HARD DRUGS, SUCH AS COCAINE AND HEROIN. BUT DRUG USAGE
WASN’T JUST LIMITED BY WHAT ENLISTEES COULD ILLICITLY BUY ON THE BLACK MARKET. THEIR MILITARY
COMMAND ALSO HEAVILY PRESCRIBED PILLS TO THE TROOPS UNDER THE AUSPICES OF IMPROVING
PERFORMANCE.
• ACCORDING TO A REPORT BY THE HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE ON CRIME, THE ARMED FORCES USED
225 MILLION TABLETS OF STIMULANTS BETWEEN 1966 AND 1969. IN ADDITION TO THOSE
AMPHETAMINES, WHICH WERE USED TO BOOST ENDURANCE ON LONG MISSIONS, SEDATIVES WERE
PRESCRIBED TO HELP RELIEVE ANXIETY AND PREVENT MENTAL BREAKDOWNS.
• IT SEEMINGLY WORKED. IN VIETNAM, THE RATE OF MENTAL BREAKDOWNS IN SOLDIERS WAS 1
PERCENT, A MASSIVE REDUCTION FROM THE SECOND WORLD WAR (10 PERCENT).