When the Vietnam War happened, what was your opinion?

The word "Vietnam" today has become a term to describe a disastrous experiment in American war history.The war was significant in that there was a split of opinion. The public was still overwhelmingly against the war and it wasn't until Nixon stepped in that the war ended and the country turned Communist. The original questions still has not faded from memory : What was the purpose/justification for going into Vietnam to stop a communist government? Why did so many lives had to be spent to create a government that would be conducive to American foreign policy?