Protest songs in the United States Tom Paxton ("Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation" - about the escalation of the war in Vietnam, "Jimmy Newman" – the story of a dying soldier, and "My Son John" – about a soldier who returns from war unable to describe what he's been through), among others. The first protest song to reach number one in the United States was P.F. Sloan's "Eve Of Destruction", performed by Barry McGuire in 1965. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s often used Negro spirituals as a source of protest, changing the religious lyrics to suit the political mood of the time.
1965 in the Vietnam War will not permit the U.S. to utilize its military and economic power in South Vietnam. The Committee decided that the communist forces in South Vietnam should seek a "decisive victory within a relatively short period of time", but must prepare to defend itself if the U.S. expands its war effort. U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam now totaled 184,314, compared to 23,310 a year earlier. U.S. casualties in 1965 totaled 1,928 dead, compared to 216 in the 1964. South Vietnamese military forces totaled 514,000, including the Army and the Popular Force and Regional Force militias. The South Vietnamese armed forces