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Mao Zedong
This is the year when Mao Zedong had taken power in China. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
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The beginning
This was the year when the Korean War had began. It was the South Vietnamese agains the North Vietnamese, Soviet and Chinese. -
Arming the South Vietnamese.
This was the day that the president had sent men to train and arm the South Vietnamese. -
The Domino Theory
Eisenhower said "You have a row of dominoes set up; you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over quickly." -
A new president
When JFK took office he saw Vietnam as an opportunity to prove America's ani-Communist resolve. "now we have a problem in making our power credible, and Vietnam is the place." -
Gulf of Tonkin
Two North Vietnamese gun boats were said to have attacked an American destroyer off the coast of North Vietnam. -
The first Battle
This was the year when the first U.S. combat troops arrived in Da Nang. By the end of this year, more than 200,000 of our troops were in Vietnam. -
First Mass Demonstration
This was a HUGE demonstration, 20,000 people, in Washington protests grew in size and militancy. -
Walt Rostow
This is when Walt said "I see the light at the end of the tunnel. -
Tet Offensive
This was the year when North Vietnam and the Vietcong launched the Tet Offensive. A series of attacks on the lunar new year. -
Peace talks in Paris.
This was the year when Johnson announced the start of the peace talks in Paris becausehis support for the war and his popularity was plummeting. -
Vietnamization
This is when Nixon and Kissinger had began turning the fight over to South Vietnamese troops while withdraping their troops. -
Paris Peace Accords
This called for an end to the fighting and to have ALL foreign troops to withdraw from Vietnam, -
The crushing defeat.
As the last helicopter took off, from the roof of the American Embassy in Saigon, it carried evacuees to nearby WarShips belonging to the US. With nearly 400 people still IN the embassy, most were South Vietnamese, the North Vietnamese were on the outskirts of the ciry and many South Vietnamese were still trying to get INTO the embassy. This was the day we suffered defeat from a small army. -
Doi Moi
This is when the party leaders followed China's lead and instituted free-market reforms with less state control of the economy and more private enterprise.