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Gulf of Tonkin incident
North Vietnamese patrol boat fired at an American destroyer the USS Maddox. They missed but the Maddox fired back leaving heavy damage on the patrol boat. -
U.S. combat
L.B.J. announced that he had ordered U. S. military forces in Vietnam. He sent large number of troops to Vietnam -
M.L.K. Speaks out about the War
Martin Luther King speaks out about how he is against the war against Vietnam. He later encourages draft out of the war and suggests a merger between antiwar and civil rights groups. -
Tet Offensive
The North Vietnamese join forces with the Viet Cong to launch the Tet Offensive. Attacked about one hundred South Vietnamese cities and towns. -
Mai Lai
A U.S. soldiers kills many of Vietnamese civilians in the town of Mai Lai. Did not reach public till 1969 -
Nixon Takes office
President Richard M. Nixon takes office as the new President of the United States. He promises to achieve "Peace With Honor." -
Withdraw form Vietnam
Nixon annoouced the 1st U.S. troop withdraw from Vietnam -
Ho Chi Minh
Communist leader Ho Chi Minh dies. He was the prime minister. -
Vietnamization
Nixon describes a policy of "Vietnamization" when discussing a diminishing role for the US military in Vietnam. It was a policy to shift the burden of defeating the Communists onto the South Vietnamese Army and away from the U.S. -
Cambodia
Nixon announces that U.S. troops will attack enemy locations in Cambodia. There were nationwide protests, especially on college campuses. -
Kent State masscure
National Guardsmen open fire on a crowd of student antiwar protester. -
Last Americans Evacuate
South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh delivers surrender to the Communists. North Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin accepts the surrender. As the few remaining Americans evacuate Saigon the last two US servicemen to die in Vietnam are killed when there helicopter crashes