Vietnam War

The US justified massive intervention by claiming that if communist North Vietnam unified the country, a “domino effect” would cause all of Southeast Asia (Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, even the Philippines) to fall to communism, eventually threatening Australia and the Pacific. The August 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident was deliberately exaggerated and partly fabricated (the second alleged attack on USS Maddox never happened, as admitted in declassified NSA documents and the 2005 NSA report). Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution anyway, giving LBJ a blank check for war. The US installed and propped up a series of corrupt puppet regimes in Saigon while claiming to defend “freedom.” CIA programs (Phoenix Program) assassinated or imprisoned tens of thousands of suspected Viet Cong with minimal due process. Massive bombing campaigns (Operation Rolling Thunder, Arc Light, Linebacker) dropped more tonnage than all of WWII combined, including widespread use of napalm and Agent Orange. 58,220 Americans killed, over 300,000 wounded, many with lifelong PTSD and Agent Orange-related illnesses. $168 billion spent (over $1 trillion in 2024 dollars), helping fuel 1970s inflation and stagflation.