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Beginnings of Vietnam War
Beginning
Vietnamese forces occupy the French command post at Dien Bien Phu and the French commander orders his troops to cease fire. The battle had lasted 55 days. Three thousand French troops were killed, 8,000 wounded. The Viet Minh suffered much worse, with 8,000 dead and 12,000 wounded, but the Vietnamese victory shattered France's resolve to carry on the war. -
Brown Vs. Board of Education
BVsB Brown Vs. Board of Education challenged the Plessy Vs Ferguson case of 1896 allowing "seperate but equal facilities." US Supreme court had a unanimous decision in agreement of the violation of the 14th ammendment. Ordered desegregation of schools -
Vietnam Begins for the US
USstartVThe war for Vietnam continues North Vietnam decides they wish to unify under communism. US agrees to train South Vietnamese troops for combat and ally themselves in the fight against communism. The US would suffer heavy losses in this unpopular war in the years to come. -
Rosa Parks
[rosaparks](<a href='http://www.infoplease.com/spot/civilrightstimeline1.html)' Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white man. She is arrested for the occurance and the arrest sparks the Montgommery bus boycott led by MLK. -
AFL - CIO
timeline The two largest American labor unions, the American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, merge to form the AFL-CIO, boasting membership of fifteen million. -
Eisenhower wins election
eisenhower Eisenhower wins 1956 election and starts 2nd term. Well liked and popular, but frail in health and old age. -
Interstate Highway Act
[IHA]('http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1394)
Interstate highway system begins with the signing of the Federal-Aid Highway Act. The interstate highway system would enable quick and efficient travel for business and leisure travelers and make destinations like Disneyland and the National Park system more easily connected to the urban population centers of the USA. -
Boycott Success
bsuccess A year after Rosa Park's arrest started the Montgommery bus boycott, it achieved success and buses were desegregated, giving hope for future equality. -
SCLC
MLK MLK, Steele, and Shuttlesworth establish Southern Christian Leadership Conference with MLK as its president. Major part of civil rights movment. -
Little Rock
LR National Guard called to duty by Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus bar nine black students from attending previously all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas. He withdrew the troops on September 21 and the students were allowed entrance to class two days later. A threat of violence caused President Eisenhower to dispatch federal troops to Little Rock on September 24 to enforce the edict. -
Sputnik
NASA The USSR beats US into space with the launching of Sputnik. Shocked American punblic and crippled their self-esteem, as well as fed them fear of Soviet advancement. -
Explorer I
explorer 1 Explorer I, the first U.S. space satellite, is launched by the Army at Cape Canaveral. It would discover the Van Allen radiation belt. Heart-warming success after many failures and was hope for the US after having lost the space race to the Russians. -
Fidel Castro gets recognized
castro
January 7, 1959 - The United States recognizes the new Cuban government under rebel leader Fidel Castro. Castro becomes the Premier of Cuba on February 16. -
Mercury Seven
NASAApril 9, 1959 - NASA selects the first seven military pilots to become the Mercury Seven, first astronauts of the United States. The Mercury Seven included John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepherd, and Deke Slayton. -
Russian Visit
IKESeptember 26, 1959 - President Dwight D. Eisenhower hosts Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev at his farm in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the first visit of any Soviet Union leader to the United States. -
North Carolina Sit-in
NCSIFour black college students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College in Greensboro, North Carolina stage a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth lunch counter, protesting their denial of service. This action caused a national campaign, waged by seventy-thousand students, both white and black, over the next eight months, in sit-ins across the nation for Civil Rights. -
John F. Kennedy
KennedyThe presidential race to succeed two term president Dwight D. Eisenhower is won by Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic candidate from Massachusetts, over incumbent Vice President Richard M. Nixon. Kennedy was a narrow victor in the popular vote, by slightly more than 120,000 votes, but won a more substantial victory in the Electoral College tally, 303 to 219. 62.8% of the voting age population took part in the contest. -
Bay of Pigs
BoPIThe "Bay of Pigs" invasion of Cuba is repulsed by Cuban forces in an attempt by Cuban exiles under the direction of the United States government to overthrow the regime of Fidel Castro. -
Berlin Wall
Bwall The construction of the Berlin Wall begins by the Soviet began, segregating the German city, previously held in four sectors by Allied forces, including the United States. The wall would last for twenty-eight years. -
Astronaut John Glenn - First 55 Minute Orbit
GlennLt. Colonel John Glenn becomes the first U.S. astronaut in Orbit in the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule. He would circle the earth three times before returning to earth, remaining aloft for four hours and fifty-five minutes. This flight equalized the space race with the Soviet Union, whose Vostok I flight on April 12, 1961 with Yuri Gagarin had become the first manned spaceflight into orbit one year earlier. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
CMCThe Cuban Missile Crises begins. In response to the Soviet Union building offensive missiles in Cuba, President John F. Kennedy orders a naval and air blockade of military equipment to the island. An agreement is eventually reached with Soviet Premier Khrushchev on the removal of the missiles, ending the potential conflict after thirty-eight days, in what many think was the closest the Cold War came to breaking into armed conflict. -
MLK Arrested
ArrestMartin Luther King is arrested and jailed during anti-segregation protests in Birmingham, Ala.; he writes his seminal "Letter from Birmingham Jail," arguing that individuals have the moral duty to disobey unjust laws. -
Lyndon Bais Johnson into office
LBJIn Dallas, Texas, during a motorcade through downtown, President John F. Kennedy is mortally wounded by assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn into office later that day. Two days later, Oswald was himself killed on live national television by Jack Ruby while being transported in police custody. -
Total War in Vietnam
vietwar General Nguyen Khanh Seizes Power in Saigon
3 North Vietnamese PT boats allegedly fire torpedoes at the USS Maddox named the Gulf of Tonkin Incident
Following the Gulf of Tonkin Incident Congress authorizes President Johnson to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." The US wages total war against North Vietnam -
Voting Rights Act
VRACongress passes the Voting Rights Act of 1965, making it easier for Southern blacks to register to vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other such requirements that were used to restrict black voting are made illegal. -
MLK Dies
MLKDEATHMartin Luther King, at age 39, is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room, (Memphis, Tenne). Escaped convict and committed racist James Earl Ray is convicted of the crime. Civil rights movement and the world suffered a great loss with his death. -
Nixon Wins
Nixon Richard M. Nixon recaptures the White House from the Democratic party with his victory of Hubert H. Humphrey, Democratic, and 3rd Party candidate George Wallace. Nixon captures 301 Electoral College Votes to 191 for Humphrey and 46 for Wallace. -
War Tension
vietnamwarPresident Richard M. Nixon announces his new Vietnam policy, declaring the Nixon Doctrine that expected Asian allies to care for their own military defense. This policy, and all Vietnam war policies, would be heavily protested throughout the remainder of the year. On November 15, 1969, more than two hundred and fifty thousand anti-Vietnam war demonstrators marched on Washington, D.C. to peacefully protest the war. -
Watergate
WatergateThe Watergate crisis begins when four men are arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters in the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. on the same day that Okinawa is returned from U.S. control back to Japan. Scandal eventually ruins Nixon. -
Nixon Announces End of US involvement in Vietnam
[endwar](http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/jan-23-1973-nixon-announces-end-of-u-s-involvement-in-vietnam/)
Jan. 23, 1973, President Richard Nixon announced an accord had been reached to end the Vietnam War. In a televised speech, Nixon said the accord would “end the war and bring peace with honor.” The Paris Peace Accords ended direct US involvement in the war. -
A Ford, not a Lincoln
ford Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns amid charges of tax evasion and is replaced by the appointment of Gerald R. Ford on October 12. Began the process of healing in America.