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Wright Brother’s Airplane
The brothers' breakthrough was their creation of a three-axis control system, which enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft effectively and to maintain its equilibrium. This method remains standard on fixed-wing aircraft of all kinds.From the beginning of their aeronautical work, the Wright brothers focused on developing a reliable method of pilot control as the key to solving "the flying problem". -
Ho Chi Minh Established Communist Rule in Vietnam
Rise to power (1925–1945) The Communist Party traces its lineage back to 1925, when Hồ Chí Minh established the Vietnamese Revolutionary Youth League, commonly referred to as Thanh Niên. Thanh Niên sought to make use of patriotism in an effort to end the colonial occupation of the country by France. -
TIMESPAN: Vietnam War.
The Vietnam War started in the 1950s, according to most historians, though the conflict in Southeast Asia had its roots in the French colonial period of the 1800s. -
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” by the communist government of North Vietnam. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. -
My Lai Massacre
Later, when the U.S. Army started its investigation, the media changed it to the Massacre at Songmy. Currently, the event is referred to as the My Lai Massacre in the United States and called the Sơn Mỹ Massacre in Vietnam. The incident prompted global outrage when it became public knowledge in November 1969. -
TIMESPAN: Richard Nixon
On August 9, 1974, he resigned in the face of almost certain impeachment and removal from office—the only time an American president has done so. After his resignation, he was issued a controversial pardon by his successor, Gerald Ford -
Vietnamization
President Nixon believed his Vietnamization strategy, which involved building up South Vietnam's armed forces and withdrawing U.S. troops, would prepare the South Vietnamese to act in their own defense against a North Vietnamese takeover and allow the United States to leave Vietnam with its honor intact. -
Woodstock Music Festival
The festival, which took place in August 1969, drew about half a million people and was headlined by now-legendary acts like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead, Joe Cocker, and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. -
Draft Lottery
On December 1st, 1969, America's first military draft lottery since World War II was held. With the war in Vietnam as a backdrop – and the futures of some 850,000 young men (born between 1944-1950) on the line – the lottery featured a bin containing 366 capsules, one for each possible birthday -
Manson Family Murders
The Family members proceeded to kill the five people they found: Sharon Tate (eight and a half months pregnant), who was living there at the time; Jay Sebring, Abigail Folger, and Wojtek Frykowski, who were visiting her; and Steven Parent, who had been visiting the caretaker of the home. -
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin formed the American crew that landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC. Armstrong became the first person to step onto the lunar surface six hours and 39 minutes later on July 21 at 02:56 UTC; Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later -
Invasion of Cambodia
In March 1970, General Lon Nol initiated a military coup while Cambodia's hereditary leader, Prince Norodom Sihanouk, was out of the country. A civil war then broke out in which Prince Norodom allied himself with the Khmer Rouge, and Lon Nol received the backing of the United States. -
Kent State Shootings
The Kent State shootings (also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre), were the shootings on May 4, 1970, of unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, during a mass protest against the bombing in neutral Cambodia by United States military forces. -
Pentagon Papers
The Pentagon Papers, officially titled Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force, is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. -
26th Amendment
Passed by Congress March 23, 1971, and ratified July 1, 1971, the 26th amendment granted the right to vote to American citizens aged eighteen or older. -
War Powers Resolution
The War Powers Resolution (also known as the War Powers Resolution of 1973 or the War Powers Act) (50 U.S.C. 1541–1548) is a federal law intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. -
Fall of Saigon
On April 30, 1975, Saigon, capital of the Republic of Vietnam, falls to Communist troops from North Vietnam, marking the end of the Vietnam War. Active U.S. involvement in the conflict had ended in 1973 with a cease-fire agreement between the parties, but fighting continued between North and South Vietnam.
