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Ho Chi Minh Takes Power
Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese Communist leader, who was primary force behind the revolutionary spirit of the Vietnamese. He led his people to independence and achieved what he had always desired; freedom. -
War Powers Act
Designed to greatly expand the executive branch's authority over the war machine. This gave president Franklin Roosevelt the power to direct government agencies as he saw fit to help the war cause. -
Vietcong Formed
Created by the North Vietnamese communists to escalate the armed struggle in South Vietnam. -
Eisenhower Announces Domino Theory
The Domino Theory was a metaphor for the spread of communism. -
Geneva Accords
The Conference takes note of the Agreements ending hostilities in Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam and organizing international control and the supervision of the execution of the provisions of these agreements. -
JFK Assassination
Crowds of excited people lined the streets and waved to the Kennedys. The car turned off Main Street at Dealey Plaza around 12:30 p.m. As it was passing the Texas School Book Depository, gunfire suddenly reverberated in the plaza.
Bullets struck the president's neck and head and he slumped over toward Mrs. Kennedy. The governor was also hit in the chest. -
Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution stated that “Congress approves and supports the determination of the President, as Commander in Chief, to take all necessary measures to repeal any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent any further aggression.” As a result, President Johnson, and later President Nixon, relied on the resolution as the legal basis for their military policies in Vietnam. -
Operation Rolling Thunder
Operation Rolling Thunder was the name given to America’s sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. -
Ia Drang Valley (Battle)
The fighting at Ia Drang set the tone for the conflict as American forces continued to rely on air mobility and heavy fire support to achieve victory. Conversely, the North Vietnamese learned that the latter could be neutralized by quickly closing with the enemy and fighting at close range. -
Paris Peace Talks Begin
This was the backdrop as the United States and Hanoi agreed to enter into preliminary peace talks in Paris in 1968. However, almost as soon as the talks were started, they stalled. When President Lyndon Johnson turned over the presidency to Richard Nixon eight months into the talks, the only thing the two sides had agreed on was the shape of the conference table. -
Tet Offensive
North Vietnamese troops and Viet Cong forces attacked both towns and cities in South Vietnam, breaking the ceasefire that had been called for the Vietnamese holiday of Tet (the lunar new year). -
My Lai Massacre
A unit of the Americal Division's 11th Infantry Brigade arrived in the hamlet of My Lai in the northern part of South Vietnam. They were on a “search and destroy” mission to root out 48th Viet Cong Battalion thought to be in the area. -
Richard Nixon Elected
Nixon ran on a campaign that promised to restore "law and order". -
Vietnamization Announced
The plan was to encourage the South Vietnamese to take more responsibility for fighting the war. It was hoped that this policy would eventually enable the United States to withdraw gradually all their soldiers from Vietnam. -
Kent State Incident
Guards came to Kent State. For students deeply opposed to the war, the Guard was a living symbol of the military system they opposed. For other students, the Guard was an outsider on their campus, prohibiting all their rallies, even peaceful ones, ordering them about, and tear gassing them when they refused to obey. -
Cease Fire Signed
The American forces pulled out soon after the cease-fire agreement was signed. This ended US involvement but it did not end the war. -
Nixon Resigns
Mr. Nixon said he decided he must resign when he concluded that he no longer had "a strong enough political base in the Congress" to make it possible for him to complete his term of office. -
Fall of Saigon
Without American military aid, the Saigon government was unable to fend off North Vietnamese attacks. South Vietnam crumbled as Americans evacuated and thousands of Vietnamese scrambled to flee their country.
