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Ho Chi Mihn is born
establishing the Communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Vietnam in 1945 and defeating the French Union in 1954 at the battle of Điện Biên Phủ -
Vietnam declares independence from France, but neither France nor the United States recognize Vietnam as a separate nation.
cheered by an enormous crowd gathered in Hanoi’s Ba Dinh Square. It would be 30 years, however, before Ho’s dream of a united, communist Vietnam became reality. -
The fist combat troops arrive in Vietnam
Vietnam: U.S. Advisors 1955-1965. The U.S. military advisory effort in Vietnam had a modest beginning in September 1950, when the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG), Vietnam, was established in Saigon. -
The Geneva Accords cause Vietnam to be split into North and South
17th parallel -
President Eisenhower declares "Domino Theory"
President Eisenhower was the first to refer to countries in danger of Communist takeover as dominoes. -
The Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh defeat the French at Dien Bien Phu
The United States soon stepped up to fill the vacuum, increasing military aid to South Vietnam and sending the first U.S. military advisers to the country in 1959 -
Ngo Dihn Diem cancels elections in Vietnam
South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem declares in a broadcast that since South Vietnam had not signed the Geneva Agreements, South Vietnam was not bound by them. -
National Liberation Front is formed
North Vietnam announces the formation of the National Front for the Liberation of the South at a conference held “somewhere in the South.” This organization, more commonly known as the National Liberation Front (NLF), was designed to replicate the success of the Viet Minh -
A South Vietnamese monk sets himself on fire.
Buddhist Monk, He was attempting to show that to fight all forms of oppression on equal terms, Buddhism too, needed to have its martyrs -
The United States withdraws support of Ngo Dinh Diem, leader of South Vietnam
Ngo Dinh Diem was assassinated -
President Kennedy is assassinated, leading to the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson
Upon the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and ended on January 20, 1969. ... Following the 1968 presidential election he was succeeded by Republican Richard Nixon. -
President Johnson claims a U.S. ship had been fired upon by North Vietnamese
U.S.S. Maddox and U.S.S. Turner Joy, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution at the insistence of President Lyndon B. Johnson, with the understanding that the president would seek their approval before launching a full-scale war in Vietnam with U.S. military personnel.
