Publish Date: Oct. 22, 1965
Cover Story: South Vietnam: A New Kind of War
How TIME Covered the News: After the Viet Cong had run havoc over stretches of South Vietnam, TIME chronicled what it framed as an aggressive fightback by the South Vietnamese and their American allies. There’s little sign yet of the quagmire Vietnam would eventually become.
“When finished early next year at a cost that may run as high as $100 million, Cam Ranh will be a port the size of Charleston, easing the pressure on Saigon’s chockablock facilities. It will need all the dock space the engineers can clear: one measure of the U.S. commitment in Viet Nam is that last January only 65,000 tons of military equipment were fed into the nation by sea; during November more than 750,000 tons will arrive—a tenfold increase.”