Changes

One of the themes, if not the major theme, throughout 1965 was the build-up of American troops in South Vietnam. At the beginning of the year, there was just over 23,000 American military personnel in South Vietnam. This number grew steadily over the year and until 1968, but with each increase in troops, each strategic decision was often debated in the Johnson Administration. There was a decided tension between civilian leaders, military commanders in Washington , and the military commanders in the country.

As early as January of 1965, the ambassador to South Vietnam, Maxwell Taylor , did not advocate the deployment of US ground troops into the country. Instead, he supported actions to disrupt the supply chain from North Vietnam, commonly referred to as the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Taylor believed that if the United States did not stop the aid streaming from the north, South Vietnam would fall to the communists.