Mark Moyar - Triumph Regained: The Vietnam War, 1965-1968

2022 by Mark Moyar

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Encounter Books, 900 Broadway, Suite 601, New York, New York, 10003.

First edition published in 2022 by Encounter Books, an activity of Encounter for Culture and Education, Inc., a nonprofit, tax-exempt corporation.

Encounter Books website address: www.encounterbooks.com

The maps that appear in this volume are courtesy of Cambridge University Press.

Manufactured in the United States and printed on acid-free paper. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 1997) (Permanence of Paper).

FIRST EDITION

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Moyar, Mark, 1971 author.

Title: Triumph Regained : the Vietnam War, 19651968 / Mark Moyar.

Description: First edition. | New York, NY : Encounter Books, 2022. Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2022008881 (print) | LCCN 2022008882 (ebook) ISBN 9781641772976 (hardback) | ISBN 9781641772983 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Vietnam War, 1961-1975. | VietnamHistory19451975.

Classification: LCC DS557.7 .M773 2022 (print) | LCC DS557.7 (ebook) DDC 959.704/3dc23/eng/20220315

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022008881

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022008882

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For Trent

Marines from company E, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines move out from Landing Zone White during Operation Starlite.

Indonesian President Sukarno, left, and General Suharto.

A CH-47 Chinook helicopter delivers artillery equipment and supplies to the 1st Cavalry Division in the Ia Drang Valley.

Tuesday lunch in the White House dining room. From left: George Christian, Walt Rostow, Robert McNamara, Tom Johnson, Richard Helms, Dean Rusk, Lyndon B. Johnson.

Captured photograph of Vietnamese Communist soldiers.

F-105 Thunderchiefs assigned to Operation Rolling Thunder bomb North Vietnam.

South Vietnamese armored units enter Da Nang to suppress the Struggle Movement, May 1966.

North Vietnams leaders attend an Independence Day celebration in Hanoi. From left: Vo Nguyen Giap, Truong Chinh, Le Duan, Ho Chi Minh.

American and South Vietnamese leaders meet at Cam Ranh Bay. From left: Lyndon B. Johnson, William Westmoreland, Nguyen Van Thieu, Nguyen Cao Ky.

U.S. Marine Corps tanks and infantry near Con Thien.

Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara speaks at the Stennis hearings, August 25, 1967.

U.S. Army soldiers prepare to assault a North Vietnamese position during Operation Hawthorne.

From left, William Westmoreland, Earle Wheeler, Ellsworth Bunker.

South Vietnamese Rangers search for Communist fighters in Cholon during the Tet Offensive.

U.S. Marines disembark from a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter near Khe Sanh.

South Vietnamese citizens and officials observe funerals for victims of the Hue Massacre.

In Operation Pursuit, a column of American troops traverses rice paddies near Da Nang.

General Creighton Abrams addresses President Lyndon Johnson and the Wise Men, March 26, 1968.

North Vietnamese rockets strike Saigon during the second wave offensive of May 1968.

Protesters clash with police at Chicagos Grant Park during the Democratic National Convention, August 28, 1968.

Work on this history began at the end of the twentieth century, when it was conceived as a one-volume account of the Vietnam War derived from other, more narrowly focused histories. The initial research revealed a need for a much larger exploration of primary sources than originally anticipated, which turned into a quest so lengthy as to necessitate division of the history, with the first volume ending in July 1965. This book, the second volume of what will be a trilogy, picks up the story in August 1965 and continues to the end of 1968 with the conclusion of Lyndon B. Johnsons presidency.