1

1945Ho Chi Minh Creates

Provisional Government Following the surrender of Japan to Allied

forces, Ho Chi Minh and his People's Congress form a provisional government.

Japan transfers all power to Ho's Viet Minh.

Ho Declares Independence of VietnamBritish Forces Land in Saigon, Return Authority to French

First American Dies in Vietnam

1954Battle of Dien Bien Phu Begins A force of 40,000 heavily armed Viet Minh lay siege to the French

French Defeated at Dien Bien PhuGeneva Convention Agreements Announced Vietnam and

France sign the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Vietnam. As part of the agreement, a provisional demarcation line is drawn at the 17th parallel to remain until nationwide elections are held in 1956. The United States does not accept the agreement, neither does the government of Bao Dai.

garrison at Dien Bien Phu. The French have met their match.

2

1955Ngo Dihn Diem Rejects Conditions of Geneva Accords, Refuses to Participate in Nationwide ElectionsBritain, France, and United States covertlyurge Diem to respect Geneva accords and negotiate with the North. China and USSR Pledge Financial Support to HanoiDiem Becomes President of South Vietnam in rigged election

1956French Leave Vietnam

US Training South VietnameseThe US Military Assistance Advisor Group (MAAG) assumes

responsibility, from French, for training South Vietnamese forces. Election Deadline Passes

1959 Weapons Moving Along Ho Chi Minh Trail North Vietnam begins infiltrating cadres and weapons into South

Vietnam via the Ho Chi Minh Trail which became a strategic target for later military attacks.

US Servicemen Killed in Guerilla AttackDiem Orders Crackdown

on Communists, Dissidents

1960Diem Survives Coup Attempt

Viet Cong Formed Hanoi forms National Liberation

Front for South Vietnam. Diem government dubs them "Viet Cong."

1962US Military Employs Agent OrangeUS Air Force begins using Agent Orange – a defoliant that came in metal orange containers – to expose roads and trails used by Viet Cong forces.

3

1963Buddhists Protest Against Diem Tensions between Buddhists and the Diem government are further strained as Diem, a Catholic, removes Buddhists from several key government positions and replaces them with Catholics.

Diem Overthrown, Murdered, with tacit approval of the US.

Buddhist monks protest Diem's intolerance for other religions and the measures he takes to silence them. In a show of protest, Buddhist monks start setting themselves on fire in public places.

Questions• What happened in Vietnam

between 1945 and 1954?• How did America get involved

in Vietnam?• Who was Ho Chi Minh? Who

was Ngo Dinh Diem?

1964Gulf of Tonkin IncidentOn August 2, three North Vietnamese PT boats allegedly fire torpedoes at the USS Maddox, a destroyer located in the international waters of the Tonkin Gulf, some thirty miles off the coast of North Vietnam. The attack comes after six months of covert US and South Vietnamese naval operations.

4

Debate on Gulf of Tonkin ResolutionThe Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is approved by Congress on August 7 and authorizes President Lyndon Johnson to "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression." The Resolution allows Johnson to wage all out war against North Vietnam without ever securing a formal Declaration of War from Congress.

1965Operation "Rolling Thunder" Deployed

3 years of sustained bombing raids of North Vietnam

Marines Arrive at Da NangThe 1st American combat troops, the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade, arrive in

South Vietnam to defend the US airfield at Da Nang.

Heavy Fighting at Ia Drang ValleyThe 1st conventional battle; heavy

casualties US Troop Levels Top 200,000

1966South Vietnam Government Troops Take Hue and Da NangLBJ Meets With South Vietnamese LeadersLBJ meets with South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky and his military advisors.LBJ promises to continue to help South Vietnam fend off aggression from the North, but adds that the US will be monitoring South Vietnam's efforts to expand democracy and improve economic conditions.

5

Questions• What was the Gulf of Tonkin

Incident and Resolution?• What was Operation Rolling

Thunder?• Who was Nguyen Cao Ky?

6

1968North Vietnamese Launch Tet Offensive

1968Battle for Hue

The battle wages for 26 days as US and ARVN forces try to recapture

the site seized by the Communists during the Tet Offensive. Mass

graves containing the bodies of thousands of people who had been

executed during the Communist occupation are discovered.

1968 Misdirected Napalm Attack sparks protest

7

My Lai MassacreOn March 16, the men of Charlie Company, 11th Brigade, Americal Division took out their anger and frustration on the village of My Lai.

When news of the atrocities surfaced, it sent shockwaves through the US political establishment, the military's chain of command, and an already divided American public.

8

1968Westmoreland Requests

206,000 More TroopsLBJ Announces He Won't Run

Paris Peace Talks BeginMartin Luther King, Robert

Kennedy AssassinatedUpheaval at Democratic Convention in Chicago

As the frazzled Democratic party prepares to hold its nominating convention in Chicago, Mayor Richard

Daley orders police to crackdown on antiwar protests. As the nation watched on television, the area around

the convention erupts in violence.Richard Nixon Elected President

Questions• What was the Tet Offensive?• What was the My Lai

Massacre?• What happened politically in

1968?

1969Nixon Begins Secret Bombing of CambodiaIn an effort to destroy Communist supply routes and base camps in Cambodia, the covert bombing of Cambodia, conducted without the knowledge of Congress or the American public, will continue for fourteen months. Policy of "Vietnamization" AnnouncedThe objective of the policy is to shift the burden of defeating the Communists onto the South Vietnamese Army and away from the United States. Ho Chi Minh Dies at Age 79

9

1969Massive Antiwar Demonstration in DC

10

Other Americans protest in favor of the war

Nixon publicly deplores the actions of the Guardsmen, but cautions: "...when dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy." Protesters had been hurling rocks and empty tear gas canisters at the Guardsmen.

1970

Kent State IncidentNational Guardsmen open fire on a crowd of student antiwar protesters at Ohio's Kent State University killing 4 students and wounding of 8 others.

11

National Guardsmen at Kent State University.

Questions• What was Vietnamization?• Why did so many people

protest the Vietnam War?• What happened at Kent State?

1971Lt. Calley Convicted of Murder for My Lai Massacre.Pentagon Papers PublishedA legacy of deception, concerning US policy in Vietnam, on the part of the military and the executive branch is revealed as the New York Timespublishes the Pentagon Papers. The Nixon administration, eager to stop leaks of what they consider sensitive information, appeals to the Supreme Court to halt the publication. The Court decides in favor the Times and allows continued publication.

12

1972Nixon Cuts Troop Levels by 70,000

Responding to charges by Democratic presidential candidates that he is not moving

fast enough to end US involvement in Vietnam, Nixon orders troop strength reduced

by seventy thousand. Secret Peace Talks Revealed

B-52s Bomb Hanoi and HaiphongIn an attempt to force North Vietnam to make

concessions in the ongoing peace talks, the Nixon administration orders heavy bombing of

supply dumps and petroleum storage sites in and around Hanoi and Haiphong. The

administration makes it clear to North Vietnam that no section is off-limits to bombing raids.

Actress Jane Fonda Visits North Vietnam

Jane Fonda sits on a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun in 1972.

1973Cease-fire Signed in ParisA cease-fire agreement that, in the words of Richard Nixon, "brings peace with honor in Vietnam and Southeast Asia," is signed in Paris by Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho. The agreement is to go into effect on January 28. End of Draft AnnouncedLast American Troops Leave Vietnam

13

Kissinger and Le Duc Begin Secret TalksNumber of US Troops Falls to 280K

1975Sihanouk Ousted

in Cambodiaby his defense

minister, Lon Nol

1975Phnom Penh Captured by Khmer RougeThe Khmer Rouge accept the surrender of Cambodian leader Lon Nol on April 16 ushering in a period of genocide and forced "re-education" engineered by Pol Pot. They killed over 2 million Cambodians during this time.

The Fall of SaigonSouth Vietnam President unconditionally surrenders to the Communists April 30, 1975.

As the few remaining

Americans evacuate Saigon,

the last two US servicemen to die

in Vietnam are killed when their

helicopter crashes.

North Vietnamese Colonel assures that, "...Only the Americans have been beaten. If you are patriots, consider this a moment of joy."

14

Questions• What were the Pentagon

Papers?• When did the war end for

America?• What happened in Cambodia?• When did America finally

leave Vietnam?

The Legacy of the War

Total Americans who served in Vietnam: 2,700,000

Americans killed in Vietnam:58,182

Vietnamese casualties: 2,000,000

15

Total Americans Prisoners of War (POW) and Missing in Action (MIA) 2,583

POW John McCain being welcomed home by President Nixon after 5 ½ years in captivity.

16

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial – “The Wall”

All 58,195 who died in the Vietnam War, from 1959 to 1975, are listed on the Memorial.

Questions• How many Americans died in

Vietnam?• What role did Senator John

McCain have in the war?• What is “The Wall?”