In 1965 the USA launched Operation Rolling Thunder: the bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Vietnam is a LONG way from America so, why did the US get involved in this conflict?
Not everybody had reservations about the USA being in Vietnam. Though Nixon had spoken of leaving the war in his campaign to become President, once he entered the White House he started to believe that a quick withdrawal might make the USA look weak. In his ‘Vietnamisation’ speech in July 1969, Nixon appealed to the ‘great silent majority’ in America to offer their support to continuing the war so that America could ‘win the peace’ rather than retreat and appear weak.
People who supported Nixon and the continuation of the war included construction workers from the World Trade Centre and so became known as the ‘hard hats’. Together with Wall Street office workers, the hard hats confronted anti-war demonstrators on the streets of Manhattan.
