Vietnam War By julob 1960 Cuba and Soviet Union sign a trade agreement to establish diplomatic relations 1961 Kennedy sends military advisors to Vietnam 1965 North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh refuses peace talks with President Johnson 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated 1968 Robert Kennedy is assassinated 1969 Ho Chi Minh dies in Hanoi 1969 Woodstock Music Festival 1973 Last ground troops leave Vietnam 1975 North Vietnamese troops capture Saigon