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Period: to
Vietnam War
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US intervention starts
With the Cold War intensifying, the United States hardened its policies against any allies of the Soviet Union, and by 1955 President Dwight D. Eisenhower had pledged his firm support to Diem and South Vietnam. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_career_of_Dwight_D._Eisenhower -
Ngo Dinh Diem
In 1955, however, the strongly anti-communist Ngo Dinh Diem pushed Bao aside to become president of the Government of the Republic of Vietnam (GVN). http://www.britannica.com/biography/Ngo-Dinh-Diem -
NLF is formed
In December 1960, Diem’s opponents within South Vietnam–both communist and non-communist–formed the National Liberation Front (NLF) to organize resistance to the regime. http://www.redandgreen.org/personals.html -
Buddhist monk, Saigon
The man sits impassively in the central market square, he has set himself on fire performing a ritual suicide in protest against governmental anti-Buddhist policies. http://www.vietnampix.com/fire1.htm -
The killings of Diem, Ngo Dinh Nhu and Kennedy
A coup by some of his own generals succeeded in toppling and killing Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, in November 1963, three weeks before Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. http://blog.richmond.edu/heroes/2013/12/10/john-f-kennedy-the-peace-president/ -
U.S. Combat forces to Vietnam
In March 1965, Johnson made the decision–with solid support from the American public–to send U.S. combat forces into battle in Vietnam. http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history -
Fire-Free Zones
By 1966, large areas of South Vietnam had been designated as “free-fire zones,” from which all innocent civilians were supposed to have evacuated and only enemy remained. photo: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/35/3e/96/353e96b6e73aa2f56ab683b5b4305f25.jpg -
Protest outside the Pentagon
In October 1967, some 35,000 demonstrators staged a mass antiwar protest outside the Pentagon. http://blog.dreamchrono.com/2014/07/mr-jones-watches-flower-power/ -
My Lai
The North Vietnamese continued to insist on complete U.S. withdrawal as a condition of peace, however, and the next few years would bring even more carnage, including the horrifying revelation that U.S. soldiers had massacred more than 400 unarmed civilians in the village of My Lai in March 1968. Photo: http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-american-war-crimes.php
