Vietnam War Timeline

  • Domino Theory coined- Eisenhower

    Domino Theory coined- Eisenhower
    Former US President Dwight D. Eisenhower described the theory in a press conference on April 7, 1954, referring to communism in Indochina: Finally, you have broader considerations that could follow what you would call the "falling domino" principle.
  • Geneva Accords

    Geneva Accords
    The Geneva Conference was a conference that was intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War and involved several nations
  • Assassination of Diem

    Assassination of Diem
    Ngô Đình Diệm was a South Vietnamese politician. He was the final prime minister of the State of Vietnam, and then served as the first president of South Vietnam.
  • Saigon Falls

    Saigon Falls
    The Fall of Saigon, also known as the Liberation of Saigon by North Vietnamese or Liberation of the South by the Vietnamese government, and known as Black April by anti-communist overseas Vietnamese .
  • Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

    Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
    The Southeast Asia Resolution or Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, published L. 88–408, 78 Stat. In response to the incident in the Gulf of Tonkin, the United States Congress enacted Joint Resolution 384 on August 10, 1964.
  • LBJ ordered 1st troops to Vietnam

    LBJ ordered 1st troops to Vietnam
    Operation Rolling Thunder began on February 13, 1965, and lasted until the spring of 1967. Johnson also authorized the first of many ground combat units to be sent to Vietnam to fight the Viet Cong on the ground.
  • Tet Offensive

    Tet Offensive
    More than 100 South Vietnamese cities and outposts were the targets of North Vietnamese coordinated attacks during the 1968 Tet Offensive. The offensive was intended to encourage the United States to reduce its involvement in the Vietnam War and inspire rebellion among the South Vietnamese population.
  • Mỹ Lai massacre

    Mỹ Lai massacre
    On March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War, United States troops committed the mass murder of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians in the Sn Tnh District of South Vietnam. This was known as the M Lai massacre.
  • Nixon’s Vietnamization policy

    Nixon’s Vietnamization policy
    Through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnamese forces and assign to them an ever-increasing combat role, at the same time steadily reducing the number of U.S. combat troops," the Richard Nixon administration's Vietnamization policy sought to end the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.
  • Nixon sends troops into Cambodia

    Nixon sends troops into Cambodia
    President Richard Nixon gives his formal authorization to commit U.S. combat troops, in cooperation with South Vietnamese units, against communist troop sanctuaries in Cambodia.
  • Hard Hat Riot

    Hard Hat Riot
    On May 8, 1970, the Hard Hat Riot took place in New York City. Around noon, around 1,000 protesters associated with the 1970 student strike were attacked by approximately 400 construction workers and office workers.
  • Nixon’s Christmas bombing (What was its effect?)

    Nixon’s Christmas bombing (What was its effect?)
    The impact of the so-called “Christmas Bombings” on the final agreement was difficult to assess. Some historians have argued that the bombings forced the North Vietnamese back to the negotiating table. Others have suggested that the attacks had little impact, beyond the additional death and destruction they caused.
  • Paris Peace Accords

    Paris Peace Accords
    The Paris Peace Accords, officially the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Viet Nam, was a peace treaty signed on January 27, 1973, to establish peace in Vietnam and end the Vietnam War.
  • War Powers Act

    War Powers Act
    The War Powers Resolution 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.