Joint warfare in South Vietnam, 1963–1969 the election of Richard Nixon, and the change of U.S. policy to Vietnamization, or giving the main combat role back to the South Vietnamese military. The North Vietnamese term for the large-scale introduction of U.S. ground forces, in 1965, is the "Local War", according to Gen. Trần Văn Trà, the [North Vietnamese] " Party concluded, the "United States was forced to introduce its own troops because it was losing the war. It had lost the political game in Vietnam...the situation allows us to shift our revolution to a new stage, that of decisive victory." The Party issued a resolution to
1972 in the Vietnam War this weekend." Anti-war demonstrators protested the bombing of North Vietnam throughout the United States. Hundreds of protesters were arrested. Several North Vietnamese MiG-17F fighter-bombers attacked United States Navy warships in the Battle of Đồng Hới. This was the first air attack on U.S. warships of the Vietnam War. One US destroyer was damaged. The U.S. navy sunk several motor torpedo boats and shot down several North Vietnamese war planes and also engaged shore batteries in North Vietnam. President Nixon announced that American troops would be reduced in numbers in South Vietnam from 69,000 on this date to 49,000 by 1