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Period: to
Vietnam War
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The Geneva Conference -
The Geneva Conference, intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from past wars. Communist in North Vietnam and Democratic in South Vietnam. In two years decide what type of government Vietnam as a whole will have -
Ngo Dinh Diem appointed as leader of South Vietnam -
The United States government liked Ngo Dinh Diem for several reasons, he was a strong anti-communist and opponent of French rule, he had become acquainted with many US religious and political leaders during the early 1950s, when fears about his safety and French ruled Vietnam led him to relocate to Europe and the United States. -
South Vietnam continues to separate from North Vietnam -
Premier Diem assured that South Vietnam did not want to sign the Geneva Accords and unite with Northern Vietnam. Instead, the region would not be partaking in the provisions of the North and instead of handling these differences politically through events such as elections, the region of South Vietnam would begin to turn to warfare instead. America could have stepped in and given influence to South on what they should have done, but they did not want to and resulted with a bad relationship. -
John F. Kennedy adds to national budget =
Kennedy added to the defense budget and added the Air Force, Reserves, and five new divisions. The increased of capabilities of the US Military and allowed for a substantial air campaign against Vietnam. -
President Ngo Dinh Diem is executed =
During a coup by South Vietnamese military forces, South Vietnamese President Ngo Ding Diem and his brother are captured and is executed. The coup was the culmination of nine years of autocratic and nepotistic family rule in South Vietnam. -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident -
Gulf of Tonkin Incident also known as the USS Maddox incident, was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese attack two US destroyers in international waters. 2 unprovoked attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats on the destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy of the U.S. Seventh Fleet and that led to the Gulf of Tonkin. -
President orders more troops in Vietnam =
President Johnson ordered 50,000 more troops to be sent into Vietnam. This impacted people at home because it meant that the draft would increase to 35,000 people each month. This only made tensions worse in the United States because people did not want to be drafted and with the increase it raised protests. -
Operation Rolling Thunder =
The US begins bombing campaign of North Vietnam. Operation Rolling Thunder was the codename for an American bombing campaign during the Vietnam War. U.S. military aircraft attacked targets throughout North Vietnam from March 1965 to October 1968. -
Richard Nixon wins election =
With one of the closest elections ever, Richard Nixon (Republican) defeated vice President Herbert Humphrey. Nixon promised a way to find peace in Vietnam, but was never clear about how we were going to accomplish that. This is one of the deciding points of the election because the American people were so tired of the of being in the Vietnam situation. -
Beginning of Tet Offensive -
The Tet Offensive was a combined assault of North Vietnamese and Viet Minh armies and they attacked over a hundred cities in South Vietnam. Major South Vietnamese areas are invaded including the US Embassy, the attacks were very gruesome and it struck fera within the US officials. This event marks the beginning of a gradual withdrawal from the region. -
U.S. Massacre at Mai Lai -
U.S. soldiers kill over 500 Vietnamese civilians amid a search and destroy campaign targeted to root out enemy territories and quickly eliminate them. This had major backlash because many people around the world found the U.S.’s military tactics to be too cruel. As a result of this President Johnson announced that he would not be running for re-election later that year. -
Draft lottery =
On December 1, 1969, the Selective Service System of the United States conducted two lotteries to determine the order of call to military service in the Vietnam War for men born from January 1, 1944 to December 31, 1950. These lotteries occurred during a period of conscription in the United States that lasted from 1947 to 1973. It was the first time a lottery system had been used to select men for military service since 1942. -
Kent State Shootings =
On May 4th 1970, four students attending Kent State University were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard. Those students were gathered together to protest the Vietnam War. Immediately, students led strikes and forced colleges and universities all around the country to temporarily close. These protests began on May 1st, the day after the invasion, and were just specifically protest against President Nixon. -
President Nixon orders launch of air offence in Operation Linebacker -
In early December, peace talks about the United States and North Vietnam collapsed. President Nixon ordered bombings to North Vietnam out of anger. Beginning on December 18th, over 20,000 tons of bombs were dropped on the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong. The US used American B-52's and flight-bombers to drop these bombs. North Vietnam claimed over 1,600 civilians were killed. -
United States withdraws from Vietnam -
The last few Americans still in South Vietnam were airlifted out of the country as Saigon fell to communist forces.America’s direct eight-year intervention in the Vietnam War was at an end. In Saigon, some 7,000 U.S. Department of Defense civilian employees remained behind to aid South Vietnam in conducting what looked to be a fierce and ongoing war with communist North Vietnam.