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North Korea invades South Korea by crossing the 38th parrallel.
Korean War
Description: A dividing line for Korea was the 38th Parrallel. North Korea crosses the line to invade South Korea which started the Korean War. -
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Korean War
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President Harry S. Truman relieves General Douglas MacArthur of command in Korea.
Korean War
Description: President Truman fired MacArthur and replaced him with General Matthew Ridgeway. It was thought that MacArthur was disobediant to orders and this was a problem. The firing of the General did set off a brief uproar among the U.S. public, however. -
Eisenhower wins the Presidential election by a landslide.
Korean War
Description: During this time, Cold War tension betweent the U.S. and the Societ Union was at a high level. Foreign policy was one of the major issues in the race for the Republic nomination. The extent of corruption in the federal government was a problem and the nation was polarized over the stalemated war. -
Communists attack "Pork Chop Hill."
Description: The Battle of Pork Chop Hill was one of the last battles in the Korean War. It was faught while the United States and Communist Chinese and Koreans negotiated an armistice. -
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Laotian Civil War
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The French suffer a decisive defeat at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu.
Vietnam War
Description: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu was the climatic confrontation of the First Indochina War between between the French Union's French Far East Expeditionary Corps and Viet Minh communist-nationalist revolutionaries. The battle occurred between March and May in 1954 that ended in a comprehensive French defeat that influenced negotiations over the future of Indochina at Geneva. -
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Vietnam War
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African-American Civil Rights Movement (1954-68)
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Space Race
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Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat to a white passenger.
Civil Rights
Decription: In Montgomery, Alabama NAACP (National Association of the Advancement of Coloured People) member Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat at the front of the "colored section" of a bus to a white passenger, defying a Souhtern custom of the time. She was arrested and in response to that the black community launched the Montgomery bus boycott that lasted for a little over a year until the buses were desegregated. -
The launching of Sputnik I.
Space Race
Description: The world's first orbiting satellite is launched. It created a period of public fear and uncertainty in the United States and it was a key Cold War event. -
Greensboro sit-ins
Civil Rights
Description: In Greensboro, North Carolina four black students from North Carolina Agriculture and Technical College begin a sit-in at a segregated Woolworth's lunch counter. The event triggers many similar non-violent protests throughout the south and six months later, the four original protesters are served lunch at the same counter. -
The seizing of Vientiane.
Laotian Civil War
Description: On this day, Captain Kong Lee and his Neutralist battalion were able to seize control of the administrative capital of Vientiane, while Prime Minister Tiao Samsanith, government officials and military leaders met in the royal capital of Luang Prabang. Immediately, Thailand imposed an embargo on the city of Vientiane. -
First American to orbit Earth.
Description: On this day, John Gleen flew the Friendship 7 mission and became the first American to orbit the Earth. He was the fifth person in space after the cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov and fellow Mercury 7 astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. -
The North Vietnamese attack two U.S. destroyers sitting in international waters. (the Golf of Tonkin Incident)
Vietnam War
Description: The first incident on August 2, 1964, happened when the destroyer USS Maddox engaged three North Vietnamese Navy torpedo boats and a sea battle resorted. The incident lead to the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and it escalated the War in Vietnam -
The assassination of Malcolm X.
Civil Rights
Description: In Harlem, New York the black nationalist and founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity is shot to death. It was believed that the assailants were members of the Black Muslim faith. A faith Malcolm had recently abandoned in favor of orthodox Islam. -
Operation Steel Tiger
Laotian Civil War
Description: On this day, the U.S. began Operation Steel Tiger over the Laotian panhandle and the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to locate and destroy enemy forces and material being moved southward at night into South Vietnam. Since circumstances made it a highly complex matter in regard to the neutrality of Laos, target approval had to come from Washington. -
The United States of America wins the race to the moon.
Description: On this day, the USA won the race to the moon when Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on its surface. Armstrong is follwed by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and the Soviets no longer chase the moon. -
Executive Order 11246
Description: Asserting that civil rights laws alone were not enough to remedy descrimination, President Johnson issues the Executive Order 11246. This enforced affirmative action for the fisrt time. It required government contractors to "take affirmative action" toward prospective minority employees in all aspects of hiring and employment. -
First astronauts killed in the United States space program.
Desription: During a launch pad test for Apollo I, astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White, and Roger Chaffee die in a fire in their capsule. Apollo I was the first manned mission of the U.S. Apollo manned lunar landing program. It never made its target launch date because of the accident. -
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Cambodian Civil War
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The assassination of Martin Luther King.
Description: In Memphis, Tennessee Martin Luther King is shot as he stands on the balcony outside his hotel room. He was only 39 years old and the escaped convict and committed racist, James Earl Ray, is convicted of the crime. -
Cu Kiet Campaign
Description: On this day, the Royal Lao Army launched a large attack known as the Cu Kiet Campaign against the communist in the Plain of Jars/Xieng Khoang areas. It was supported by its own air unites and the U.S. Air Force. -
The bombing of targets in northern Laos.
Laotian Civil War
Description: At the beginning of 1970, fresh troops from North Vietnam advanced through northern Laos. The Air Force called in B-52s and on this day they were used to bomb targets in northern Laos. The enemy advance was halted by Laotian reinforcements. -
Offensive against the Cambodian army.
Cambodian Civil War
Description: On this day the North Vietnamese had taken matters into their own hands and launched an offensive against the Cambodian Army with documents uncovered from the Soviet archives. The archives revealed that the invasion was launched at the explicit request of the Khmer Rouge following negotiations with Nuon Chea. -
Cambodian Campaign.
Cambodian Civil War
Description: On this day, South Vietnamese and U.S. units unleashed a limited, multipronged Cambodian Campaign that Washington hoped would solve multiple problems. It was launched after the alarming North Vietnamese attempt to overrun the entire country. -
President announces that U.S. troops will attack enemy locations in Cambodia.
Description: The news sparks protests nationwide, especially on college campuses. Some protests led to violence and some college students were wounded and even killed. This event was very controversial. -
Pochentong airfield attack.
On this night, a force of 100 PAVN/NLF commandos attacked Pochentong airfield, the main base of the Republican Air Force. With this one action, the raiders destroyed almost the entire inventory of government aircraft, including all of its fighter planes. -
Operation Chenla II.
On this day, FANK launched Operation Chenla II, its first offensive of the year. The main objective of the campaign was to clear Route 6 of enemy forces and thereby reopen communications with Kompong Thom, the Rebublic's second largest city, which had been isolated from the capital for more than a year. The operation was successful. -
The last U.S. troops are withdrawn from Vietnam.
Vietnam War
Description: Two months after the signing of the Vietnam peace agreement, the last U.S. combat troops leave South Vietnam as Hanoi frees the remaining American prisoners of war held in North Vietnam. Media also caused public opinion to turn on the war and people wanted the troops to return home.
