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Vietnam War Timeline

  • Domino Theory coined

    Domino Theory coined
    President Dwight D. Eisenhower coined the domino theory when he suggested that the fall of French Indochina to the communists could create a “domino” effect in Southeast Asia.
  • Geneva Accords

    Geneva Accords
    Geneva Accords, collection of documents issuing from the Geneva Conference which was held to resolve several problems in Asia.
  • Assassination of Diem

    Assassination of Diem
    Diem served as a prime minister and first president of South Vietnam. Diem's heavy-handed tactics against the Vietcong insurgency deepened his government's unpopularity.
  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
    The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a joint resolution that the United States Congress passed in response to the Gulf of Tonkin incident.
  • LBJ ordered 1st troops to Vietnam

    LBJ ordered 1st troops to Vietnam
    Lyndon B. Johnson commenced Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965, continuing through 1967.Johnson also authorized the first of many deployments of ground combat troops to Vietnam.
  • My Lai Massacre

    My Lai Massacre
    The My Lai massacre was the mass murder of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians by United States troops.
  • Tet Offensive

    Tet Offensive
    The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on the cities and outposts of South Vietnam.
  • Nixon’s Vietnamization policy

    Nixon’s Vietnamization policy
    A program designed to shift the responsibility of the war from the U.S. to the South Vietnamese, allowing the United States to gradually withdraw its troops from Vietnam.
  • Nixon sends troops into Cambodia

    Nixon sends troops into Cambodia
    Following months of secret U.S. bombings on Communist bases, President Richard Nixon ordered U.S. ground troops to invade Cambodia.
  • Kent State shooting

    Kent State shooting
    Students protested the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces, as a result, Guardsmen shot and killed four students.
  • Hard Hat Riot

    Hard Hat Riot
    Together with Wall Street office workers, the hard hats confronted anti-war demonstrators on the streets of Manhattan.
  • Nixon’s Christmas bombing

    Nixon’s Christmas bombing
    President Richard Nixon presented a massive bombing campaign to break the stalemate. For nearly two weeks, American bombers pounded North Vietnam.
  • Paris Peace Accords

    Paris Peace Accords
    The United States, South and North Vietnam, and Vietcong signed “An Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam”. It took place in Paris.
  • War Powers Act

    War Powers Act
    The War Powers Resolution is a federal law intended to keep the U.S. president's power in check when committing the U.S. to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress.
  • Saigon Falls

    Saigon Falls
    The South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese Army, effectively ending the Vietnam War.