Operation Rolling Thunder

Operation Rolling Thunder was a sustained U.S. air campaign against North Vietnam from March 1965 to November 1968. It aimed to weaken North Vietnamese support for the war in South Vietnam and pressure Hanoi to negotiate.

Operation Flaming Dart: Two U.S. air-strike series against North Vietnam in February 1965, launched in response to attacks on U.S. forces. These strikes immediately preceded Rolling Thunder and helped establish its retaliatory logic.
Gulf of Tonkin incident: A 1964 naval confrontation involving U.S. and North Vietnamese forces that helped prompt greater U.S. involvement in Vietnam. The resulting congressional resolution expanded presidential authority before Rolling Thunder began.
Robert McNamara: U.S. secretary of defense from 1961 to 1968 and a central architect of American policy in Vietnam. McNamara helped shape the campaign's graduated, politically controlled bombing strategy.
Operation Linebacker II: A December 1972 U.S. bombing campaign against North Vietnam, concentrated on Hanoi and Haiphong. Its brief intensity followed years of limited bombing, making the campaigns sharply different tests of coercion.
Operation Steel Tiger: A U.S. air campaign begun in 1965 against infiltration routes through the Laotian panhandle. It complemented Rolling Thunder by targeting routes supplying communist forces through Laos.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: A 1964 U.S. congressional resolution authorizing President Lyndon B. Johnson to use military force in Southeast Asia. It supplied broad domestic authorization for the escalation that included Rolling Thunder.
Dean Rusk: U.S. secretary of state from 1961 to 1969 under presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Rusk participated in the administration's debates over escalation and the diplomatic purpose of bombing.
North Vietnamese air defenses: The integrated network of fighter aircraft, antiaircraft guns, and surface-to-air missiles defending North Vietnam. These defenses inflicted losses and forced changes in U.S. tactics throughout the campaign.
Operation Barrel Roll: A U.S. air campaign in Laos, begun in 1964, supporting the Royal Lao government and disrupting communist forces. Its neighboring campaign in Laos shows how the air war extended beyond North Vietnam.
Battle of Pleiku: A February 1965 attack by Viet Cong forces on a U.S. military installation near Pleiku, South Vietnam. The attack prompted retaliatory strikes that helped launch the sustained bombing campaign.

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