To Change a War: General Harold K. Johnson and the PROVN Study

Abstract

The South Vietnamese government awarded campaign medals to Americans who served in the Vietnam War.Each decoration was adorned with a metal scroll affixed to the ribbon and bearing the date "1960-."The closing date was not filled in, perhaps prophetically, since in a sense for many Americans that war has never ended.If, as the medal scroll suggests, American participation is dated from 1960, the early years were those of an advisory effort.Then, in the spring of 1965, the United States began deploying ground forces to take part in the war, with the supporting air and naval campaigns also expanding proportionately.At the peak, in the spring of 1969, some 543,500 Americans were serving in South Vietnam, with many thousands more operating from ships off shore and airfields in adjacent countries.From June of 1964 American forces in the Republic of Vietnam were commanded by General William C. Westmoreland, while in the Pentagon General