Vietnam

Vietnam War Era

  • French defeated by Vietminh at Dien Bien Phu

  • Ngo Dinh Diem wins rigged election to become president of South Vietnam

  • U.S. Special Forces first arrive to begin training ARVN soldiers

  • "National Liberation Front for South Vietnam" formed

  • Buddist monk Thich Quang Duc self-immolates

  • Ngo Dinh Diem assassinated

  • President Kennedy assassinated

  • Maddox and C. Turner Joy report attack in Gulf of Tonkin

  • Congress passes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

  • Operatoin Rolling Thunder begins

  • First "teach-in" protest helf at University of Michigan

  • Nguyen Van Thieu becomes president of South Vietnam

  • Battle of Khe Sanh begins

  • The Tet Offensive launched by VietCong and North Vietmanese Army

  • Lieutenant William Calley and his men involved in My LaiMassacre

  • President Johnson announces he will not seek reelection

  • Battle of Khe Sanh ends

  • Operation Rolling Thunder ends

  • "Vietnamization" announced by Nixon

  • Ho Chi Minh dies of heart failure

  • Kent State Massacre

  • Cease-fire signed in Paris

  • Max Beilke becomes last American combat soldier to leave South Vietnam

  • America airlifts thousands from Saigon as it falls to Communism

  • President Carter pardons draft dodgers