![Cover of LIFE magzine dated 06-12-1964 w LIFE, June 12, 1964](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/50704932.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
LIFE magazine’s coverage of the war in Vietnam was unique among American publications not only because the scope and quality of the photojournalism featured in its pages outpaced that of pretty much every other outlet, but because the evolution of the magazine’s attitude toward the war — from early, tentative support to a tough-minded (albeit reluctant) skepticism — was played out in such a dramatic, public way as the years passed and the body count mounted.
[See all of LIFE.com’s Vietnam War galleries.]
Here, on the 50th anniversary of the military coup that deposed (and led to the assassination of) South Vietnamese President Diem, LIFE.com takes a look back LIFE’s war-related covers from the 1960s into the early ’70s — magazine covers that help put into context the national dialog that grew to a sustained and sometimes frightening roar during those divisive years.
NOTE: This gallery is best viewed in “full screen” mode; see button at lower right of the gallery frame, above.
![LIFE cover 10-27-1961 w. camouflaged US soldier re LIFE, October 27, 1961](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/53370693.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![October 11, 1963](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1294091.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, November 15, 1963](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1298611.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Cover of LIFE magzine dated 06-12-1964 w LIFE, June 12, 1964](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/50704932.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, November 27, 1964](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc12974211.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Life Magazine Cover April 16, 1965 LIFE, April 16, 1965](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/506677733.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Life Magazine Cover July 2, 1965 LIFE, July 2, 1965](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/71099125.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Life Magazine Cover August 6, 1965 LIFE, August 6, 1965](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/50704938.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, October 22, 1965](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1298321.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Life Magazine Cover November 26, 1965 LIFE, November 26, 1965](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/507041821.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, January 14, 1966](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1298691.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, February 11, 1966](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1298741.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Cover of LIFE magazine dated 02-25-1966 LIFE, February 25, 1966](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/507049241.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Cover of LIFE magazine dated 10-28-1966, LIFE, October 28, 1966](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/50704943.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Life Magazine Cover November 4, 1966 LIFE, November 4, 1966](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/50317996.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Life Magazine Cover January 13, 1967 LIFE, January 13, 1967](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/50704653.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE cover 03-10-1967 showing American paratrooper LIFE, March 10, 1967](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/533707251.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, April 7, 1967](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1299281.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![Cover of LIFE dated 08-25-1967 w. legend LIFE, August 25, 1967](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/50704656.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, October 20, 1967](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1299941.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, February 16, 1968](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1300501.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, November 8, 1968](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1301301.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE Magazine Cover June 27, 1969 LIFE, June 27, 1969](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/85705153.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![1181730.jpg LIFE, May 22, 1970](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/1181730.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![LIFE, May 12, 1972](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/ugc1305101.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
![1137418.jpg LIFE, November 10, 1972](https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/1137418.jpg?quality=75&w=2400)
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