Timeline of the Vietnam War: 1968-1969

Despite committing nearly half a million U.S. troops to Vietnam, the U.S. government gradually realized it was an unwinnable war. Meanwhile, protestors at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago were brutally assaulted by police and National Guard troops, and Richard Nixon became president. Public anger erupted over the loss of 46 U.S. troops in the Battle for Hamburger Hill- needless deaths. Nixon decided to "Vietnamize" the war- a euphimism for letting the South Vietnamese go it alone.