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Dien Bien Phu is overrun by the Vietminh
Commander Vo Nguyen Giap Surrounded troops and placed heavy artillery in caves of the mountains overlooking the French camp. Viet Minh forces overran the base in early May, prompting the French government to seek an end to the fighting with the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954. -
Ngo Dinh Diem refuses to take part in electrons
Although these elections were called for by the Geneva Accords of July 1954, Diem and his supporters in the United States realized that if the elections were held, Ho Chi Minh and the more populous north would probably win, thereby reuniting Vietnam under the Communist banner. Accordingly, he refused to hold the elections and the separation of North and South soon became permanent. -
Eisenhower explains his "domino theory"
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower described the theory during an April 7, 1954, news conference, when referring to communism in Indochina. Finally, you have broader considerations that might follow what you would call the falling domino principle. -
Vietcong begin attacks on the Diem government
In 1957 alone there were more than 150 assassinations attributed to communist subversives. People were killed by the Viet Minh underground in Chau Doc. The insurgents continued their violence between 1958 and 1959 -
SDS Founded
was a student activist movement in the United States that was one of the main representations of the New Left. The organization developed and expanded rapidly in the mid-1960s before dissolving at its last convention in 1969. -
U.S. supported coup of diem
In November 1963, President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam was deposed by a group of Army of the Republic of Vietnam officers who disagreed with his handling of both the Buddhist crisis and the Viet Cong threat to the regime.
The Kennedy administration had been aware of the coup planning, but Cable 243 from the United States Department of State to US Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., stated that it was US policy not to try to stop it. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
North Vietnamese patrol torpedo boats attacked the USS Maddox while the destroyer was in international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving President Lyndon B. Johnson nearly unlimited powers to oppose “communist aggression” in Southeast Asia. -
operation rolling thunder begins
Operation Rolling Thunder was the codename for an American bombing campaign during the Vietnam War. U.S. military aircraft attacked targets throughout North Vietnam from March 1965 to October 1968. This massive bombardment was intended to put military pressure on North Vietnam’s communist leaders and reduce their capacity to wage war against the U.S.-supported government of South Vietnam. -
U.S. troop levels increased to 50,000
President Johnson has commited a further 50,000 US troops to the conflict in Vietnam. With monthly drafts rang from 17,000-35,000 -
Americans involvement in Vietnam begins
North Vietnamese and communist Viet Cong forces launched a coordinated attack against a number of targets in South Vietnam.
in 1968 -
protests at the democratic convention
Protest activity took place prior to and during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In 1967, counterculture and anti-Vietnam War protest groups had been promising to come to Chicago and disrupt the convention, and the city promised to maintain law and order. -
My Lai massacre
A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children and old men—in the village of My Lai . More than 500 people were slaughtered in the My Lai massacre, including young girls and women who were raped and mutilated before being killed. -
Johnson announces he will not run for re-election
President Johnson delivers a nationally televised address to explain a de-escalation of the U.S. bombing campaign in Vietnam. He concludes with a shocking announcement: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president." -
Nixon wins the election
The Republican nominee, former Vice President Richard Nixon, defeated the Democratic nominee, incumbent Vice President Hubert Humphrey. -
vietnamization introduced
Vietnamization was a strategy that aimed to reduce American involvement in the Vietnam War by transferring all military responsibilities to South Vietnam. The increasingly unpopular war had created deep rifts in American society. President Nixon believed his Vietnamization strategy, which involved building up South Vietnam’s armed forces and withdrawing U.S. troops
