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The longest war in American history starts.
Photo: [AP/Horst Faas] -
13 Americans are killed. (1st American Casualties in Vietnam)
Photo: [Corbis] -
President-Elect John F. Kennedy narrowly defeats Richard Nixon.
Article: [The Scranton Times] -
A coup attempt against President Ngô Đình Diệm fails.
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This political organization was allied with North Vietnam and mainly operated in South Vietnam and Cambodia.
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The U.S. begins using Agent Orange.
Photo: [The New York Times] -
There is another coup attempt against President Ngô Đình Diệm. They bombed Independence Palace.
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Viet Cong are victorious against South Vietnam in the Battle of Ap Bac.
Photo: [The New York Daily Times] -
Buddhists start to protest against Ngô Đình Diệm in Vietnam.
Photo: [AP/Malcolm Browne] -
Buddhists protest against Ngô Đình Diệm in Vietnam ends.
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Ngô Đình Diệm, South Vietnamese President from 1955-1963, is assassinated by the South Vietnamese army. Photo: [US National Archives]
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President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn-in.
Photo: [CNN] -
Laird speech before Wisconsin Republicans. “Either we abandon or we enlarge our own commitment of material and supplies, and carry the war to North Vietnam.” Photo: [United Press International]
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The longest held POW was captured Capt. Floyd J. "Jim" Thompson.
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Viet Cong attacks Bien Hoa Air Base.
Image: [Cherries/Bill Langan] -
A controversial sea battle between U.S. and 3 North Vietnamese ships.
Photo: [Unknown] -
Naval aviator Lieutenant Everett Alvarez Jr. is shot down.
Photo: [Corbis] -
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is approved by Congress authorizing President Johnson to take measures to repel any attack and prevent further aggression.
Image: [National Archives Identifier 2803448] -
Lyndon B. Johnson defeats Barry Goldwater by a landslide.
Article: [The Evening Telegram] -
Robert Shumaker is shot down.
Photo: [CBS News] -
U.S. implements Operation Rolling Thunder.
Photo: [U.S. Air Force/NARA/Cecil J. Poss] -
The first antiwar teach-in is held at the University of Michigan.
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Phillip Butler is shot down. Photo: [Phillip Butler Website]
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Jeremiah Denton is shot down.
Photo: [National Archives] -
James Stockdale is shot down.
Photo: [Unknown] -
Howard Rutledge is shot down. Photo: [Veteran Tributes]
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More than 200,000 U.S. soldiers are deployed in Vietnam.
Photo: [LA Progressive] -
President Johnson states that the United States should stay in South Vietnam until communist aggression there is ended.Photo: [U.S. Information Agency]
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President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Photo: [LBJ Library/Yoichi R. Okamoto] -
Oscar Mauterer is shot down.
Photo: [Pam Cain] -
James Mulligan is shot down.
Photo: [The Valley Patriot] -
Jeremiah Denton blinks out T-O-R-T-U-R-E in Morse Code in a Vietnamese interview that was broadcasted in America.
Photo: [Associated Press] -
"Hanoi March", 52 prisoners parade in public view , being paraded through the streets of Hanoi. Photo: [U.S. Air Force]
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaks out against the Vietnam War before 100,000 people in New York City.
Photo: [The Atlantic] -
U.S. State Department documents indicated there were more than 650 servicemen listed as POW/MIAs in Vietnam.
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U.S. begins the Tet Offensive.
Photo: [Bettmann/CORBIS] -
The U.S begins the Battle for Hue.
Photo: [CORBIS/Bettmann] -
The U.S. ends the Battle for Hue.
Photo: [Associated Press] -
The angry and frustrated men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division enter the village of My Lai and start the massacre. Article: [The Plain Dealer]
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated.
Article: [Times - Picayune] -
U.S. ends the Tet Offensive.
Photo: [Tim Page/CORBIS] -
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U.S. ends Operation Rolling Thunder.
Photo: [U.S. Air Force/NARA/Cecil J. Poss] -
Melvin Laird's Speech launching go public campaign.
Photo: [Associated Press] -
Ho Chi Minh dies.
Article: [The New York Daily News] -
Nixon “Silent Majority” speech established Vietnamization as America’s principal exit strategy from Vietnam and promised continued withdrawals of American ground forces.
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U.S. invasion of Cambodia announced by Nixon. Photo: [National Archives and Records Administration]
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Shootings at Kent State University. Article: [The Plain Dealer]
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Shootings at Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi. Photo: [Jack Thornell / AP]
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Defense Secretary Melvin R. Laird points to a chart showing the administration's Vietnamization record during a news conference, Oct. 11, 1972, in Washington. Photo: [AP]
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Operation Homecoming begins.
Photo: [U.S. Air Force] -
Operation Homecoming ends.
Article: [Pacific Stars and Stripes] -
The longest war in American history ends.
Article: [Pacific Stars and Stripes]
