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Geneva Accords
The Geneva Agreements were signed. As part of the agreement, the French agreed to withdraw their troops from northern Vietnam. Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, pending elections within two years to choose a president and reunite the country. -
Domino Theory coined
President Dwight D. Eisenhower coins one of the most famous Cold War phrases when he suggests the fall of French Indochina to the communists could create a “domino” effect in Southeast Asia. -
Assassination of Diem
Following the overthrow of his government by South Vietnamese military forces the day before, President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother are captured and killed by a group of soldiers. The death of Diem caused celebration among many people in South Vietnam, but also lead to political chaos in the nation. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” by the communist government of North Vietnam. -
LBJ ordered 1st troops to Vietnam
On 8 March 1965, two U.S. Marines battalions waded ashore on Danang's beaches. 3,500 soldiers were the first combat troops the U.S. had dispatched to South Vietnam to support the Saigon government to defeat an increasingly lethal Communist insurgency. Their mission was to protect an air base the Americans were using for a series of bombing raids they had recently conducted on North Vietnam, which had been supplying the insurgents with ever larger amounts of military aid. -
My Lai Massacre
an incident that occurred when American soldiers killed more than 500 unarmed South Vietnamese citizens in the village of My Lai. It occurred when Charlie Company was ordered to enter the village for a search and destroy mission. -
Tet Offensive
A coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. -
Nixon’s Vietnamization policy
Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnamese forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops". -
Nixon sends troops into Cambodia
President Nixon ordered United States troops to occupy parts of Cambodia. Nixon claimed that the soldiers were protecting the United States' withdrawal from South Vietnam. -
Kent State shooting
also known as the May 4 massacre and the Kent State massacre, were the killings of four and wounding of nine other unarmed Kent State University students by the Ohio National Guard -
Hard Hat Riot
It started around noon when around 400 construction workers and around 800 office workers attacked around 1,000 demonstrators affiliated with the student strike of 1970. -
Nixon’s Christmas bombing
Richard Nixon initiated a massive “carpet bombing” campaign in Northern Vietnam (mainly Hanoi) that was officially called “Operation Linebacker II” and also became known as the Christmas bombing campaign. It lasted for 11 days. More than 20,000 tons of explosives were dropped, including on civilians. -
Paris Peace Accords
the Paris Peace Accords were signed after four years of negotiations, with the intent to establish peace in Vietnam and end the war. The Accords were signed by the United States, and North and South Vietnam. -
Saigon Falls
During the Second Indochina War (or Vietnam War) in the 1960s and early '70s, Saigon was the headquarters of U.S. military operations. Parts of the city were destroyed by fighting in 1968. On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon, and the city was subsequently renamed Ho Chi Minh City.