Miranda's Vietnam Timeline

Geneva Conference

Apr 26, 1954

Powers from all of the leading nations met in Geneva. This meeting changed the amount of involvement the US had in the French/Vietnamese conflict.

Defeat at Dien Bien Phu

May 7, 1954

Ho Chi Minh’s forces overtook the French forces. This ended the French involvement in Indochina.

JFK Wins Presidency

Nov 8, 1960

John F. Kennedy wins the 1960 presidential election. This will change the United States' involvement in Vietnam due to the differences in foreign policy between Kennedy and Eisenhower.

Draft begins

Dec 2, 1962

Men born on September 14th were put at top of draft list, and June 8th birthdays were placed at the bottom of the list. 850,000 men were affected by the drawing of the “draft lottery.”

Overthrow of Diem

Nov 2, 1963

President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam is overthrown by a tactical US military operation. The goal of the operation was to get Diem out of office to increase resistance against Vietcong. The plan was not to kill Diem, but he ended up dying in the operation.

Tonkin Resolution

Aug 7, 1964

President Lyndon B. Johnson was hereby giving the US army permission to increase their presence in Vietnam. The Tonkin Resolution was put in place through a resolution introduced to congress, which only 2 senators voted in the negation of.

First US troops sent to Vietnam

Mar 1, 1965

After the passage of the Tonkin resolution, president Nixon and the US congress were motivated to send troops to oversee the coflict unfolding in Vietnam.

Operation Rolling Thunder

Mar 2, 1965

The operation lasted untilNov. 1, 1968. The operation consisted of very scheduled attacks on the North to stop their fighters who were helping the guerilla fighters in the North, and to collapse their economy. The operation was supposed to last three weeks, but ended up lasting three years.

Teach-Ins

May 15, 1965

This was the very first teach-in, and it involved debate over foreign policy-particularly in Asia. 3,000 were involved in this particular teach-in.

Tet Offensive

Jan 30, 1968

The north broke the ceasefire between North Vietnam and South Vietnam as they proceeded to attack and conquer over 100 south vietnamese cities. There were around 45,000 lives lost this day.

Massacre at My Lai

Mar 16, 1968

The majority of civilians that lived in My Lai were victimized. There were no confirmed numbers, but it is assumed that around 500 were killed. The US Army kept the massacre a secret for a year, then fourteen soldiers were charged with crimes surrounding the massacre once word of it got around.

Lyndon B. Johnson withdraws from presidential race

Mar 31, 1968

President Johnson shocked the nation with his announcement. He discussed his decision for a week with other politicians in 1967.

Richard Nixon wins the election of 1968

Nov 5, 1968

Nixon defeats democrat Hubert Humphrey in the election. This affected the US invovement in Vietnam because we were once again changing foreign policies.

Vietnamization

May 1, 1969

This was an idea originally introduced by Johnson. Nixon renamed it to "Vietnamization," and it planned to decrease American involvement in the Vietnamese conflict.

Invasion of Cambodia

Apr 30, 1970

North Vietnam had been supplying troops to Cambodia, so the US went to stop this. Nixon announced that we would be sending troops on April 30, 1970.

Kent State

May 4, 1970

Members of the Ohio National Guard killed 4 students and injured 9 others. These students were protesting against the Cambodian campaign.

26th Amendment

Mar 23, 1971

This amendment decreased the voting age in the US from 21 to 18. The official vote was 94-0 in the senate. Idea to lower the voting age first surfaced with the beginning of the Vietnam war with the saying “old enough to fight, old enough to vote.”

Withdrawal of US Troops

Nov 30, 1972

All American troops are officially out of Vietnam. The idea of withdrawal has been present since June 8,1969 when president Johnson first introduced that the idea was gaining popularity among citizens.

War Powers Act

Nov 7, 1973

The act was passed by senate after Nixon vetoed it. This consisted of 5 parts, but essentially can be summed up by saying it is fine for congress to send American troops to countries seen as a threat to America.

South Vietnam Surrender

Apr 30, 1975

The North Vietnamese seized control of Saigon, which lead to the resignation of the South Vietnamese president. The resignation of the president was essentially the downfall of the South.