The Vietnam War

What children learn in Level 66

• After France lost its colony in Vietnam in 1954, the country was split. The North was communist. The South was backed by the United States.
• Communist fighters tried to take over the South. American leaders feared that if one country fell, its neighbors would fall too. First they sent advisers. Then, under President Lyndon Johnson, hundreds of thousands of soldiers.
• The war was fought in jungles and villages, and it dragged on for years. It was terribly hard on the Vietnamese people. For the first time, Americans saw a war on the evening news.
• Americans were sharply divided. Some said the country had to stop communism and keep its promises. Others marched against the war, and said too many were dying. Many young men were drafted. People who love their country disagreed.
• American combat troops left in 1973. In 1975, the North took the South. More than 58,000 Americans and millions of Vietnamese had died. The American names are on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Try it with a grown-up: ask if anyone you know served.