Direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam continued until 1973 when the Paris Peace accords established peace in Vietnam and ended the Vietnam War. Yet, two years later, on April 30, 1975, North Vietnam captured the capital of South Vietnam, Saigon. 7 years earlier, President Johnson called for perseverance and patience of the American people in a long war with heavy casualties. But in this same year (1968), a Gallup poll showed that only 35% of the American people approved of how Johnson was handling the war, 50 percent disproved. Anti-war protest movements were gaining steam and were getting better organized. Anti-war demonstrations were being joined by veterans of the war in wheel chairs and crutches. Television cameras caught them throwing away medals that they had won during the war, medals that may have been handed to them by Lyndon Johnson himself. The war was being fought not just on the battlefield, but in the hearts of Americans who were tired of seeing body bags returning back home. North Korea and the communist knew this was the surest way to victory. After all, they defeated France with the same tactics in 1954.
In January of 1968, President Johnson addressed congress with these words:
"The enemy has been defeated in battle after battle.
The number of South Vietnamese living in areas under Government protection tonight has grown by more than a million since January of last year.
These are all marks of progress. Yet:
The enemy continues to pour men and material across frontiers and into battle,
despite his continuous heavy losses.
He continues to hope that America's will to persevere can be broken. Well--he is wrong. America will persevere. Our patience and our perseverance will match our power. Aggression will never prevail.
But our goal is peace--and peace at the earliest possible moment."
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