Vietnam Timeline

1874 France takes control of Vietnam

President and US Military Presence: 1941 Roosevelt

1941 Ho Chi Minh founded the Viet Minh To fight the Japanese Popular leader Not anti-American Nationalist/land reform

President and US Military Presence: 1945 Truman

1945 Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam Independent US and Vietnamese fought against Japanese Quotes US Declaration of Independence Asks the US for aid five times

1950 United States gives direct economic and military aid to the French War begins between Vietminh and France Domino Theory/Keep Alliance with French In total $4 billion to the French

President and US Military Presence: 1954 Eisenhower

1954 Battle of Dien Bien Phu Last Battle of French/Vietminh War Vietminh won

1954 Geneva Conference Vietnam divided at the 17 th parallel. Elections in two years Cease fire Neither side would form alliances with other countries

1954 US Support Ngo Dinh Diem as leader of South Vietnam Western Educated. Diem was Catholic. Vietnam a country of Buddhists. Corrupt Two US advisors worked closely with Diem. Strongly Anti- Communist.

1956 Diem cancels elections He knew that Ho Chi Minh would win. He broke the Geneva Conventions.

President and US Military Presence: US

1960 National Liberation Front a.k.a. Viet Cong South Vietnamese who hate Diem Supported by peasants Civil War breaks out Use Guerilla/terror tactics Viet Cong Solider

President and US Military Presence: 1963 Kennedy

1963 Buddhists Riots in Hue Diem outlawed Buddhists flags Buddhists protested this and were shot A few monks lit themselves on fire- Made Diem look bad

President and US Military Presence: ,000 US

1963 Diem Overthrown and Assassinated Diem received millions in aid, yet his country was bankrupt Unpopular and corrupt US supported a military coup Diem & brother killed. Unwilling/able to change conditions that led to popularity communism/NLF

1963 Kennedy Assassinated Johnson swears he will not “lose” Vietnam Viet Cong are already assassinating US advisors

President and US Military Presence: 1964 Johnson 184,300 US

1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution Johnson claimed that two ships were attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin Congress gave Johnson a “blank check” in Vietnam Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

President and US Military Presence: ,000 US

1965 Operation Rolling Thunder Viet Cong attacked a US airfield in South Vietnam US begins bombing N. Vietnam. Continued for three years. Bomb bases, roads, railroads & Ho Chi Minh trail Start sending ground troops

President and US Military Presence: ,000 US

1968 Tet Offensive (Vietnamese New Year) The VC/NVA took control of major cities in S. Vietnam The US mainstream started questioning the war The US retook major cities but damage was done

President and US Military Presence: 1969 Nixon

1969 Secret Bombing of Cambodia Bombed communist strongholds Continued to bomb the Ho Chi Minh Trail Secret bombing Of Cambodia: Sites indicated In Red

President and US Military Presence: ,000 US

1969 My Lai Massacre March 16, 1968 Search and destroy mission 350 civilians killed by US army division Became public knowledge in 1969 My Lai Massacre Monument

1969 Anti-War Demonstrations After Tet, mainstream US against war College campuses center of protest movement- biggest at Columbia U where students occupied President’s office Marches, teach-ins, burning draft cards, jail, leaving country…

1970 Vietnamization Advisors said it would take 8 yrs to win the war Trained and fund S. Vietnamese troops to take over Allowed US troops to begin to come home

President and US Military Presence: ,000 US

1970 Kent State A protest against the invasion of Cambodia Burned down ROTC building National Guard fired on crowd Four students killed, one paralyzed for life

President and US Military Presence: ,000 US

1971 Pentagon Papers Defense Dept. employee Daniel Ellsburg leaked top secret document to the NY Times and Wash. Post Revealed Government was lying about war

1973 Last Troops Leave Vietnam After a massive bombing campaign in the North US turned the war over to South. (Paris Peace Accords) Symbolized our inability to defeat the Communists

President and US Military Presence: 1975 Ford

1975 Last Americans leave Saigon during the early morning The North took over Saigon The Civil War was over The Communist won

More than 58,000 US soldiers died $150 billion Over 2 million Southeast Asians died Equivalent of 650 Hiroshimas dropped