7 May 1954
|
France
's ass kicked at Dien Bien Phu.
|
8 Jul 1959
|
First American combat death.
|
22 Mar 1962
|
The
Strategic Hamlet Program
commences with
Operation Sunrise
.
|
31 May 1963
|
Buddhist monk Nun Nu Thanh Quang immolates himself at the Dieu de Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam.
|
11 Jun 1963
|
Buddhist monk Thich Quang Duc immolates himself in downtown Saigon.
|
16 Aug 1963
|
A Buddhist monk immolates himself in Phanthiet, Vietnam.
|
1 Nov 1963
|
President of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Deim,
assassinated
.
|
2 Aug 1964
|
Gulf of Tonkin incident, wherein the
U.S.S. Maddox
is "attacked".
|
Oct 1964
|
Red China
, Vietnam's principal ally, successfully detonates an atomic bomb.
|
21 Oct 1964
|
"We are not about to send American boys nine or ten thousand miles away from home to do what Asian boys ought to be doing for themselves."
President Lyndon B. Johnson
.
|
10 Feb 1965
|
The Qui Nonh Hotel is destroyed by a VC bomb, killing 23 Americans.
|
May 1966
|
Buddhist nun Thich Nu Thanh Quang immolates herself at the Dieu de Pagoda in Hue, Vietnam.
|
16 Mar 1968
|
My Lai Massacre
.
|
30 Jan 1968
|
Tet Offensive. While technically a loss for the North Vietnamese, it caught the Americans offguard, and the tide of American public opinion begins to change.
|
29 Feb 1968
|
Robert McNamara
resigns as Secretary of Defense, apparently deciding the Vietnam War was unwinnable.
|
4 Nov 1968
|
"Let me give you the promise of the future... Prosperity without war, progress without inflation."
Nixon
.
|
22 Jan 1969
|
Richard M. Nixon
takes office.
|
Feb 1969
|
Nixon authorizes the secret bombing of Cambodia. Don't tell anyone. It's a secret.
|
3 Sep 1969
|
Ho Chi Minh
dead of natural causes.
|
29 Apr 1970
|
South Vietnamese Army invades Cambodia. Three U.S. divisions follow 48 hours later.
|
4 May 1970
|
Kent State Massacre, in which National Guardsmen open fire on American college students, killing four.
|
9 Dec 1970
|
President
Richard M. Nixon
orders more illegal bombing in Cambodia. "I want them to hit everything. I want them to use the big planes, the small planes, everything they can that will help out there[...] Right now there is a chance to win this goddamn war, and that's probably what we are going to have to do because we are not going to do anything at the conference table."
|
21 Feb 1972
|
Only Nixon could go to China.
Vulcan proverb
.
|
22 Jan 1973
|
Ex-President
Lyndon B. Johnson
dies of a heart attack.
|
27 Jan 1973
|
Cease fire signed in Paris.
|
Nov 1973
|
War Powers act passed by Congress.
|
10 Dec 1973
|
Henry Kissinger
accepts the Nobel Peace Prize for negotiating the Vietnam peace accord. The irony of that particular individual accepting that particular award cannot be understated.
|
9 Aug 1974
|
Nixon resigns the presidency.
Gerald Ford
assumes office.
|
29 Apr 1975
|
Final evacuation of Saigon.
|
18 Jul 1984
|
James Oliver Huberty
opens fire at a San Ysidro
McDonald's
, leaving 20 dead and 16 wounded. He held off police for an hour, sometimes taking time to finish off victims already wounded. A witness reported Huberty, a recently dismissed security guard, as saying that he'd "killed many people in Vietnam and wanted to kill more."
|