Final answer:
Operation Rolling Thunder was the most successful U.S. bombing campaign during the War in Southeast Asia, meant to reduce civilian casualties and to support U.S. combined arms strategy without ground invasion risks.
Step-by-step explanation:
Operation Rolling Thunder was the most successful U.S. bombing campaign of the War in Southeast Asia. It was a sustained bombing campaign that began in March 1965 and lasted until the fall of 1968. Although the goal of the campaign was to target military objectives and convince the North Vietnamese of the South's ability to win with U.S. assistance, there were significant unavoidable civilian casualties.
The use of combined arms, which included aerial bombardment and traditional ground forces, was a strategy to minimize U.S. casualties while trying to wear down the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army. Despite this, the bombing campaign highlighted the limited effectiveness of air power alone in forcing a surrender or achieving a decisive victory, as the civilian population often suffered heavily, and the morale and political impacts of such campaigns were significant.