Home»History and Legacy»Timeline»1945-1964: The Road to War»United States Activates Military Assistance Command, Vietnam

United States Activates Military Assistance Command, Vietnam

February 8, 1962

1962-02-08_MACV_patch
1962-02-08_MACV_patch
Insignia of U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam.

The United States activates Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), with headquarters in Saigon. MACV’s first commander is General Paul D. Harkins. The new command absorbs and supervises the Military Assistance and Advisory Group, Vietnam. From 1962 on, MACV directs the conduct of the war.1

1Graham A. Cosmas, MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Escalation, 1962-1967, United States Army in the Vietnam War (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2006), 27, 23-29; Tucker, ed., Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War, 435–36; Richard W. Stewart, Deepening Involvement, 1945–1965, United States Army Campaigns of the Vietnam War (Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, 2012), 48.