In March 1965, four months after Johnson was elected president by a landslide, the first U.S. ground troops landed at Da Nang.

Johnson was convinced that, without the support of a massive U.S. force, South Vietnam was doomed. In response to the U.S. troop buildup, North Vietnam began to send thousands of soldiers to fight in South Vietnam. In the Ia Drang valley in Vietnam's central highlands, the North Vietnamese and U.S. armies met in the first major battle of the war. It was an American victory -- but U.S. casualties were heavy.

American GIs, meanwhile, found themselves in a baffling war. They were unable to distinguish friend from foe. American bombing and shelling drove tens of thousands of Vietnamese from their villages. American television networks kept a running tally of the U.S. "body count."

Johnson attempted to force the North Vietnamese to the negotiating table by bombing North Vietnam -- including the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the primitive but highly effective supply line that linked North Vietnam with its fighters and supporters in the South. But the tactic failed.
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