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Us drops the Atomic Bomb on Japan to end WWII
On 15 August, six days after the bombing of Nagasaki, Japan announced its surrender to the Allies, signing the Instrument of Surrender on 2 September, officially ending World War II. The bombings led, in part, to post-war Japan's adopting Three Non-Nuclear Principles, forbidding the nation from nuclear armament. The role of the bombings in Japan's surrender and their ethical justification are still debated. -
Vietcong formed
Its military organization was known as the People's LiberationArmed Forces (PLAF). The PLAF were, according to the officialhistory of the (North) Vietnamese Army, strictly subordinated tothe general staff in Hanoi. Their name "Viet Cong", (VC) camefrom the Vietnamese term for Vietnamese Communist (Việt NamCộng Sản) and was popularized by the South Vietnamesegovernment in an effort to downplay the NLF's role as a trulynational, not simply communist organization. -
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Cuban revolution
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Kennedy elected president
John F. Kennedy was elected president over Nixon because he appealed to the population. Nixon did not look as good on TV as Kennedydid. -
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Bay of pigs
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was an unsuccessful attempt by United States-backed Cuban exiles to overthrow the government of the Cuban dictator Fidel Castro. Increasing friction between the U.S. government and Castro's leftist regime led President Dwight D. Eisenhower to break off diplomatic relations with Cuba in January 1961. Even before that, however, the Central Intelligence Agency had been training anti-revolutionary Cuban exiles for a possible invasion of the island. -
Agent orange
Agent Orange is the combination of the code names for Herbicide Orange and Agent LNX, one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its chemical warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth defects as a result of its use.The Red Cross of Vietnam estimates that up to 1 million people are disabled or have health problems due to Agent orange. -
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cuban missile crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest the world ever came to nuclear war. The United States armed forces were at their highest state of readiness ever and Soviet field commanders in Cuba were prepared to use battlefield nuclear weapons to defend the island if it was invaded. Luckily, thanks to the bravery of two men, President John F. Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, war was averted. -
Blockade
President Kennedy eventually settled on a naval blockade as a first step short of launching the bombing raid and invasion of Cuba to remove them. The news that missiles were in Cuba was announced to the American public and the world during an October 22 White House address to the nation. -
Khrushchev announces the removal of missiles from Cuba
President John F. Kennedy announced a naval blockade to prevent the arrival of more missiles and demanded that the Soviets dismantle and remove the weapons already in Cuba. The situation was extremely tense and could have resulted in war between the United States and the Soviet Union, but at the last minute, Khrushchev turned the Soviet ships around that were to deliver more missiles to Cuba and agreed to dismantle and remove the weapons that were already there. -
Diem overthrown, murdered
On 1 November, with only the palace guard remaining to defend Diệm and his younger brother, Nhu, the generals called the palace offering Diệm exile if he surrendered. However, that evening, Diệm and his entourage escaped via an underground passage to Cholon, where they were captured the following morning, 2 November. The brothers were assassinated together in the back of an armoured personnel carrier with a bayonet and revolver by Captain Nguyễn Văn Nhung, under orders from Dương Văn Minh. -
Kennedy assasinated
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas Governor John Connally, and Connally's wife Nellie, in a presidential motorcade. A ten-month investigation in 1963-64 by the Warren Commission concluded that Kennedy was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald acting alone. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident
The destroyer USS Maddox, while performing a signals intelligence patrol as part of DESOTO operations, engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats of the 135th Torpedo Squadron. A sea battle resulted, in which the Maddox expended over two hundred and eighty 3-inch and 5-inch shells, and in which four USN F-8 Crusader jet fighter bombers strafed the torpedo boats. One US aircraft was damaged, one 14.5 mm round hit the destroyer, three North Vietnamese torpedo boats were damaged. -
Tet offensive
The Tet Offensive was a military campaign during the Vietnam War that was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnam against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks that were launched against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam, during a period when no attacks were supposed to take place. -
News of My Lai Massacure reaches U.S.
My Lai was located in the province of Quang Ngai, an area believed to be a stronghold of the Viet Cong and thus a focus of the U.S. military. After receiving word that Viet Cong were in the hamlet, a company of U.S. soldiers was sent there on a search-and-destroy mission. Although no armed Viet Cong were found, the soldiers nonetheless killed all the elderly men, women, and children they could find. -
MLK slain in Memphis.
On April 3, King returned to Memphis to address a gathering at the Mason Temple (World Headquarters of the Church of God in Christ). His airline flight to Memphis was delayed by a bomb threat against his plane. -
Richard Nixon elected president
According to Walter Isaacson, soon after taking office, Nixon had concluded that the Vietnam War could not be won and he was determined to end the war quickly. Conversely, Black argues that Nixon sincerely believed he could intimidate North Vietnam through the "Madman theory". Nixon sought some arrangement which would permit American forces to withdraw, while leaving South Vietnam secure against attack. -
Kent state
Occurred at Kent State University in the U.S. city of Kent, Ohio, and involved the shooting of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on Monday, May 4, 1970. The guardsmen fired 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. Some of the students who were shot had been protesting against the Cambodian Campaign, which President Richard Nixon announced in a television address on April 30. -
Last American troops leave Vietnam
The last American combat soldiers leave South Vietnam, though military advisors and Marines, who are protecting U.S. installations, remain. For the United States, the war is officially over. Of the more than 3 million Americans who have served in the war, almost 58,000 are dead, and over 1,000 are missing in action. Some 150,000 Americans were seriously wounded. -
Ford calls Vietnam war "Finished"
In 1975 U.S. President Gerald Ford announces that as far as the U.S. is concerned, the Vietnam War is “finished.” Gerald Ford was anticipating the fall of Saigon to Communist forces at the time. This call for the end of war was highly anticipated. All people involved were very excited for all the men to be coming home.
