NOTEWORTHY EVENTS FROM THE “THE VIETNAM WAR” 1954 - 1975

By tc44
  • Period: to

    1954-1975

  • • President Johnson declares he will not "lose Vietnam" during a meeting with Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge in Washington.

    • President Johnson declares he will not "lose Vietnam" during a meeting with Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge in Washington.
    January 1961 - Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev pledges support for "wars of national liberation" throughout the world. His statement greatly encourages Communists in North Vietnam to escalate their armed struggle to unify Vietnam under Ho Chi Minh. January 20, 1961- John Fitzgerald Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th U.S. President and declares "...we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to insure the survival and the success of liberty."

  • • The Geneva Accords divide Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel

    • The Geneva Accords divide Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel
    The Geneva Accords divide Vietnam in half at the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh's Communists ceded the North, while Bao Dai's regime is granted the South. The accords also provide fornational elections to be held in all of Vietnam within two years to reunify the country. The U.S. opposes the unifying elections, fearing a likely victory by Ho Chi Minh. The communists likewise opposed the free election

  • • Massive anti-war demonstrations held in the U.S.

    • Massive anti-war demonstrations held in the U.S.
    With growing religious strife coming on the heels of military embarrassment, it was clear by the summer of 1963 that America's policy in Vietnam was in trouble. In the middle of the cauldron was the new American Ambassador to Saigon, Republican Henry Cabot Lodge. Richard Nixon's vice presidential candidate in the 1960 election, Lodge was named to his post on 27 June. Even as he assumed his duties, U.S. intelligence learned that senior ARVN officers were moving against Diem: these included Genera

  • • JFK and Ngo Dinh Diem meet

    • JFK and Ngo Dinh Diem meet
    Washington D.C., November 5, 2003 - A White House tape of President Kennedy and his advisers, published this week in a new book-and-CD collection and excerpted on the Web, confirms that top U.S. officials sought the November 1, 1963 coup against then-South Vietnamese leader Ngo Dinh Diem without apparently considering the physical consequences for Diem personally (he was murdered the following day). The taped meeting and related documents show that U.S. officials, including JFK, vastly overestim

  • • Diem overthrown

    • Diem overthrown
    Ngô Đình Diệm (Vietnamese: Ngô Đình Diệm, pronounced [ŋo ɗîɲ zjə̂ˀm], Saigon: [ɗîn jə̃ˀm] ( listen)), (January 3, 1901 – November 2, 1963) was the first President of South Vietnam (1955–1963). In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam.

  • • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
    The Tonkin Gulf Resolution (officially, Asia Resolution, Public Law 88-408) was a joint resolution which the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in response to a sea battle between the North Vietnamese Navy's Torpedo Squadron 135[1] and the destroyer USS Maddox on August 2 and an alleged second naval engagement between North Vietnamese boats and the US destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy on August 4 in the Tonkin Gulf; both naval actions are known collectively as the Gulf of Ton

  • • Operation Rolling Thunder begins

    • Operation Rolling Thunder begins
    On this date (March 2, 1965), Operation Rolling Thunder begins with more than 100 United States Air Force jet bombers striking an ammunition depot at Xom Bang, 10 miles inside North Vietnam.

  • • MyLai Massacre

    • MyLai Massacre
    The My Lai Massacre (Vietnamese: thảm sát Mỹ Lai [mǐˀ lɐːj]; English pronunciation: /ˌmiːˈlaɪ/ ( listen), also /ˌmiːˈleɪ, ˌmaɪˈlaɪ/,[1] Vietnamese: [mǐˀlaːj]) was the mass murder of 347–504 unarmed citizens in South Vietnam on March 16, 1968, conducted by a unit of the United States Army. All of the victims were civilians and most were women, children (including babies), and elderly people. Many of the victims were raped, beaten, tortured, and some of the bodies were found mutilated.[2]

  • • President Nixon stuns Americans by announcing U.S. and South Vietnamese incursion into Cambodia

    • President Nixon stuns Americans by announcing U.S. and South Vietnamese incursion into Cambodia
    January 1, 1969 - Henry Cabot Lodge, former American ambassador to South Vietnam, is nominated by President-elect Nixon to be the senior U.S negotiator at the Paris peace talks. January 20, 1969 - Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th U.S. President and declares "...the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. This honor now beckons America..." He is the fifth President coping with Vietnam and had successfully campaigned on a pledge of "peace with honor." January 2