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A Northern Vietnam patrol boat fired on the USS Maddox while it was patrolling the Gulf of Tonkin near the coast of North Vietnam. The torpedo missed, but the US returned fire and heavily damaged the North Vietnamese boat. Two days later, the Maddox was supposedly fired on again.
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After the USS Maddox was fired upon, Johnson asked congress if he could launch bombong strikes on Vietnam. Congress approved the request, with only two senators voting against it. It was not a declaration of war, but it gave Johnson military power in Vietnam.
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On Tet, the Vietnamese New Year, the Vietcong took advantage of a week long troop and did a sneak attack. They attacked large cities in South Vietnam, and even atacked the U.S. embassy, killing five Americans. This attack lasted for a month.
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In November 1969, the U.S. public learned about this event from Seymour Hersh, a New York Times correspondent. U.S. soldiers had killed more than 200 innocent Vietnamese, mostly women and children. The troops said they were innocent and that they were just following Leiutenant Cally's orders. Cally was the only soldier who was convicted and imprisoned,
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At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 10,000 protesters came trying to get the Democrats to develop an anti-war platform. Some people wanted to come and start violence to discredit the Democratic Party. During the riots, the police came, maces and beat the protestors.
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Rioting at Kent State University led to the burning of the ROTC building. The mayor then sent in the National Guard. The National Guard then fired into the crowd, wounding 9 and killing 4.
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After the war was going on for years, North Vietnam launched a full scale invasion of South Vietnam. The U.S. had already left, and supplied financial support, but refused to send troops. Tanks rolled into Saigon and took it over on April 30, 1975.
