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Dien Bien Phu
The French and Vietmin had been engaged in a long bloody war in which the French assumed they would win due to far superior weaponry. The fight went on for a logn time in which the French attempted to draw out the Vietminh and kill them to get rid on communist. This may have worked but the Vietminh used guerilla warfare allowing them to defeat the French -
Geneva Sccords signed
French realized they were losing the fight against Vietnam and wanted to end the war. A conference was held in Geneve, Switzerland to discuss the problems ocurring in Indochina. The Geneva Accord claimed that Vietnam would become its own independent country free from Frances rule. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Congress passed this bill allowing president Johnson to take whatever acts necessary to promote/keep the peace in southeast Asia. This started when president Johnson requested a higher military presence in southeast Asia after two ships already there had been fired on -
Operation Rolling Thunder
The government hoped that heavy bombing on the North would lead them to surrendering to the democratic government in the South. The U.S. also hoped that the bombing would stop or hinder the North's ability to transport supplies to the VIetcong. The operation included a series of heavy bombing on North Korea in order to hinder them in any way posible. -
Nixon wins the Election
In 1960 Nixon ran against JFK but lost the election and lost another election 2 years after for governer in California leading many to believe his political career was over. In February of 1968 he came out and anounced he was running for president againt Rockefeller. -
Kent State Shooting
Over a thousand college students were rallying outside their school in pretest to the expansion of the war into Cambodia. The rally was a peaceful rally and the gurds who shot at the crowd claimed to be responding to shots fired at them which turned out to be from a sniper on a neighboring rooftop. Four students were shot and killed while many others wher injured. -
Pentagon Papers printed in NY
The Ne York time began to print some of the 47 documents on how the U.S. involvement in southeast Asia increased over the period of three years. Daniel Ellburg stole the documents from the Pentagon as an act for the antiwar movemoent in which he had become very active in. By publishing the papers the NY time exposed the government ad the truth about what was happening in Vietnam angering many citizens and causing an uprising.
