Why didn't the US capture Hanoi in the Vietnam war?

We fought a defensive war limited by political fears of China's mass engagement. After all, China had already contributed 300000 troops that were North Vietnam area-confined. read more

We didn’t try. The Johnson Administration was committed to keeping the war limited, and part of this was not sending ground forces across the DMZ. read more

Hess, Gary R. Vietnam: Explaining America's Lost War. So Americans decided not to take the war to North Vietnam on ground because of fears of Chinese intervention. Whether Peking's threats were genuine or not, American presidents prudently refused to risk such high odds. North Vietnam remained inviolable to ground attack. McNeill, Ian, and Ashley Ekins. read more

, March 25-26, 2017, sponsored by the Foreign Policy Research Institute, the First Division Museum at Cantigny, and Carthage College. read more