The Vietnam war was a long war from 1954-1975. The war took place in Southern Vietnam, North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The war was mainly between the communist people of Northern Vietnam and Southern Vietnam.  During this war, there were 540,000 U.S. people in Vietnam. The Northern communists ended up gaining control of the South. 3 million people were killed in this 20 year war with 58,000 of them being Americans. This war divided Americans because so many people found no reason for Americans to be in Vietnam. This led to huge anti-war protests that soon became violent. The Vietnam war was a difficult time for many people and Americans were just looking for a President that they could trust to lead them to safety which made the Watergate scandal very difficult for the population.