The build-up of war in Vietnam was peculiar, for a while, politicians seemed to want nothing to do with Vietnam before pouncing on it as a chance to stop communism. Under JFK, the Americans were helping the South Vietnamese by training them but not fighting outright. After JFK’s assassination and the somewhat questionable “attacks” on USS Turner Joy and Maddox, the US turned its collective eye to-wards Vietnam.
On March 2, 1965, bombing campaign “Rolling Thunder” commenced. It was designed to cripple military infrastructure in North Vietnam. The campaign eventually lasted for a grand total of three years. Millions of tons of weaponry were unleashed upon Vietnam by thousands of aircraft, some of them the gargantuan B-52.
The first Americans to fight were the Air Force, as operation Rolling Thunder was well under way by January 1965. Over forty American F-105 were scrambled into Danang AFB and operated for several months, remarkably without ground protection. In March of 1965, the Marines landed to help protect Danang AFB. In contrary to later public opinion, early public opinion was in overwhelming support of the move. This marked the beginning of the ground war in Vietnam for the Americans.
The deployment of Marines was increased to 200,000 as attacks upon South Vietnam increased in severity. While the policies implemented were strictly defensive, the frustration felt by the South was strange as a losing trend was obviously developing. A three point plan was conjured to help combat the North. First was the commitment to win. Second was major offensives to halt the losing trend. Third was basically a clean phase. President Johnson approved the three point plan in late 1965, and the Vietnam war began in earnest.