-
First shipload
10 Aug 50 - First shipload of U.S. arms aid to pro-French Vietnam arrives -
French
7 May 54 - Viet Minh overrun French fortress at Dien Bien Phu -
President Eisenhower
12 Feb 55 - President Eisenhower's administration sends the first U.S. advisers to South Vietnam to train the South Vietnamese Army -
News conference
5 Sep 56 - President Eisenhower tells a news conference that the French are "involved in a hopelessly losing war in Indochina" -
Two American
8 July 59 - Two Americans are killed and one wounded during a Viet Minh attack 20 miles north of Saigon -
Kennedy
13 May 61 - President Kennedy orders 100 "special forces" troops to S. Vietnam -
11 dec 61
11 Dec 61 - U.S. aircraft carrier "Core" arrives in Saigon with 33 helicopters and 400 air and ground crewmen assigned to operate them for S. Vietnam -
22 Dec 61
22 Dec 61 - SP4 James Davis of Livingston, Tennessee killed by Viet Cong (VC) later called by President Johnson "The first American to fall in defense of our freedom in Vietnam" chopper_clr.gif (2593 bytes) -
1 Nov 63
1 Nov 63 - S. Vietnamese President Diem and his brother are assassinated outside of Saigon. One coup follows another and weakens the war effort -
2 Aug 64
2 Aug 64 - US Navy destroyers "Maddox" and "C. Turner Joy" are reported attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin (attacks 2 Aug + 4 Aug) -
4 Aug 64
4 Aug 64 - Later revealed in the "Pentagon Papers": A cable from the US commander of the destroyer task force stated, "No actual visual sighting. . . . .suggest complete evaluation before any further action." -
fall 1964
Fall 1964 - U.S. turns down an offer of secret peace talks with North Vietnam chopper_clr.gif (2593 bytes) -
16 MAR 65
16 Mar 65 - Alice Herz, an 82-year-old survivor of Nazi terror, set herself on fire in Detroit shortly after President Johnson announced major troop increases and the bombing of North Vietnam. -
14 May 69
14 May 69 - President Nixon, during a policy address on Vietnam, proposes an "8-point peace plan" that would include mutual withdrawal of all non-Vietnamese forces to designated bases over a 12-month period, after which remaining troops would be totally withdrawn from S. Vietnam -
3 Sep
3 Sep 69 - Ho Chi Minh dies -
1 Dec 69
1 Dec 69 - The first draft lottery in 27 years was held at Selective Service Headquarters in Washington, DC -
26-30
26-30 Dec 71 - The US carries out the heaviest air strikes on North Vietnam since 1968 in Operation Proud Deep, consisting of 1,025 sorties -
30 Mar 72
30 Mar 72 - The North Vietnamese launch a major offensive across the DMZ, the biggest since Tet 1968. In retaliation, Nixon orders the bombing of the Hanoi and Haiphong area -
1951
1951 - U.S. military aid amounted to more than $500 million by 1951