WEBVTT

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[Music in]

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NARRATOR: After months of study
and debate, President John F.

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Kennedy decided to honor and uphold the
commitments made to Vietnam by the Truman

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and Eisenhower administrations.

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In December 1961 Kennedy raised the number of
American advisors in Vietnam from one thousand

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to one thousand five hundred and committed the
United States to a more visible and hazardous

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role.

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Technically, U.S. personnel were
in Vietnam only to train, advise,

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and support the South Vietnamese [music out].

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But many Americans came under enemy fire.

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As American casualties rose,
so did the number of U.S.

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advisors President Kennedy sent to Vietnam.

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By the summer of 1963 [music in] more than one
hundred Americans had been killed in action,

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and the number of U.S. advisors and support
personnel had escalated to fifteen thousand

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[music out].

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And still the war went badly
for the South Vietnamese.

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