1969 Is a Turning Point — In an Increasingly Unpopular War! . . .

• SIZE OF THE MILITARY EFFORT. The number of US military in Vietnam in late 1968 hit an all-time high of 549,000. In 2023, the entire US Army’s active-duty end strength is almost 100,000 smaller. US casualties in 1968 were the highest yet in the war at 16,899 killed and 87,388 wounded. Casualty rates in early 1969 were beginning to surpass the 1968 numbers. Total war dead was then over 31,000 with more than 200,000 wounded. The American public was tiring of the seemingly endless war and its heavy casualties. [Unfortunately, the war will continue until 1973 reaching a total of 58,220 US casualties with over 150,000 wounded and some 1,600 missing.]

• AN ELECTION TO END THE WAR. President Richard Nixon was elected in November 1968 to bring the war to an end. His predecessor, Lyndon Johnson had inherited the war from President John Kennedy, who was assassinated on November 22, 1963. Johnson mismanaged the war in the eyes of many and decided in April 1968 not to run for re-election. His Secretary of Defense, Robert McNamara, recognized as the principal architect of the war from 1961 until 1968, resigned on November 28, 1968, just after Nixon’s overwhelming election. This was the situation as young, junior enlisted soldiers and the lieutenants and captains who led them fought on the battlefields of Vietnam in late 1968 and early 1969.ÿ