The Battle of Ia Drang: The History and Legacy of the Vietnam War's First Major Battle

Before the Vietnam War, most Americans would have been hard pressed to locate Vietnam on a map. South Vietnamese President Di¿m's regime was extremely unpopular, and war broke out between Communist North Vietnam and South Vietnam around the end of the 1950s. Kennedy's administration tried to prop up the South Vietnamese with training and assistance, but the South Vietnamese military was feeble. A month before his death, Kennedy signed a presidential directive withdrawing 1,000 American pers...