Clark Clifford:  One of the wise men of Lyndon Johnson.  Became secretary of defense and encouraged Johnson to stop escalating the war.

Gerald Ford:  Named vice-president after Spiro Agnew resigned and became president after Richard Nixon resigned in 1974.  Was president when the war ended in 1975.

Lyndon Johnson:  Became president when John Kennedy was assassinated.  Escalated the war.  Had many successful domestic programs. Chose not to run again in 1968.  Died in 1973, just before the peace agreement was signed.

John Kennedy:  Elected president in 1960.  Assassinated in 1963.  Uncertain if he would have followed same path as Johnson.

Henry Kissinger: National security adviser to Richard Nixon.  Negotiated Paris peace agreement in 1973.

Robert McNamara:  Secretary of defense from 1961 through 1968.  Senior policy maker of the Vietnam war.

Richard Nixon: Elected president in 1968 and 1972.  Began troop withdrawal,  ended the draft,  approved Cambodia mission, negotiated Paris agreement.  Resigned in 1974 die to Watergate scandal.

Jan Scruggs:  Vietnam veteran who initiated the idea to build the Vietnam Memorial.

William Westmoreland: U.S. military commander of forces in Vietnam from 1964 through 1968.  Later was army chief of staff.
 

Leonid Brezhnev:  Leader of the Soviet Communist party from 1964 through 1983.  Met with president Nixon in 1972 in Moscow and signed arms agreement.

Mao Zedong: Chinese Communist party chairman.  Met with president Nixon in Beijing in February, 1972.

Zhou Enlai: Chinese foreign minister.  Helped arrange visit with president Nixon.  Disliked by the North Vietnamese.

Bao Dai: Last emperor of Vietnam.  Abdicated in 1945 to Vietminh and Ho Chi Minh.  Went into exile, but returned under French rule.  Was ousted by Ngo Dinh Diem after the war with France.

Ho Chi Minh: Born Nguyen Tat Thanh in 1890.  Created Vietminh and proclaimed independence from France in 1945.  President of North Vietnam from 1945 until his death in September, 1969.  Never saw the independence he desired.

Le Duc Tho:  Negotiated in Paris.  Won Nobel Peace Prize in 1973, but rejected it.

Ngo Dinh Diem:  Prime Minister of South Vietnam.  Oppressive and corrupt leader until he was killed in a coup in November, 1963.

Nguyen Van Thieu: Became president of South Vietnam in 1967.  Ineffective leader who felt betrayed by the Americans and fled South Vietnam with much gold in 1975.

Vo Nguyen Giap:  Superior war strategist for Communists.

Norodom Sihanouk:  Leader of Cambodia who tried to keep Cambodia neutral.  Overthrown in 1970.

Lon Nol:  Cambodian defense minister who led coup to oust Sihanouk in 1970.  Opened the door to U.S. missions in Cambodia.  Escaped as Pol Pot was coming to power.

Pol Pot:  Cambodian Communist leader who slaughtered millions of his own people.  Ousted from power in 1978.