-
The Geneva Accords were the agreements to end the fighting between the French and the Vietminh. These Accords divided Indochina into three separate countries, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. These Accords split Vietnam into the communist north led by Ho Chi Minh. And the pro-western led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Elections were held in 1956 to find out the governments of North and South Vietnam. -
John F. Kennedy became president on January 20th,1961. This man becoming president shifted the Vietnam war in a way nobody thought it would. He wanted to appear tough on communism to the American public. So JFK would increase troops and advisors being sent over to Vietnam. He also tired to convince Diem to make democratic reforms to up his popularity all around. -
Fear strikes over the U.S as President Lyndon Johnson informs the nation that Vietnamese ships have fired upon U.S destroyer ships. President Johnson now wanted to fire back in defense over American forces. So he asks congress to authorize him the use of force in order to attack back and defend these ships. Later in 2005 a declassified study reported that the second incident never actually happened.
-
Operation Rolling Thunder was a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam. There were two main goals of this campaign, to overwhelm the N. Vietnamese. By doing this they would then try to convince them to stop supplying the Viet Cong. This operation was a massive failure and didn't achieve any of it's primary objectives. -
The U.S was having a tough time separating citizens from VC military members so they had to start running search and destroy missions. The VC would not give up no matter what, many of their people were being killed and they were still not going to give up their homeland. The war was stuck in the middle because of this and the fact that the U.S refused to invade N. Vietnam. Now on July 28th, 1965 President Johnson sends the order for U.S ground operations to begin.The war is only going to worsen. -
The anti-war movement was heavily influenced by the civil rights movement. They had teach-ins where students and teachers across the U.S left their classes to speak on the Vietnam war and their opposition to it. Finally, many young men didn't want to fight in a war they felt was wrong. So they burned their draft cards to protest the war.
-
The My Lai Massacre was a mass killing of unarmed Vietnamese women and children by U.S. soldiers on March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War. As many as 500 civilians were killed in the hamlet of My Lai. This event sparked outrage and fueled the anti-war movement further. -
The year started with a VC surprise attack on U.S troops. The VC managed to attack almost all major U.S airbases and most of the S. Vietnamese cities. The Tet Offensive was a HUGE military failure for the Viet Cong, but was very effective in sending fear over to the U.S. -
On May 15, 1970, the police opened fire shortly after midnight on students in a May 15th protest of the U.S. invasion of Cambodia. Many students and people at Jackson State College in Mississippi were involved in these protests. Twelve students were wounded and two were killed. 21 year old student Phillip Gibbs and 17 year old James Earl Green. These deaths sparked many outrage throughout the U.S and further pushed the anti-war movement. -
The Pentagon Papers were 7,000 pages of documents basically telling all the lies that the past few cabinets have committed over the past 10-12 years. These documents were published by Daniel Ellsburg. He hoped to show the American people how dishonest these administrations had been. President Nixon was so worried about his reputation that he ordered a group called "the plumbers" to go in to the Brookings institute and crack the safe to steal these files.