Vietnam
A Chronology of America’s
Longest War
February 1930
The Indochinese Communist Party is formed
in Hong Kong under the leadership of Ho
Chi Minh. The party opposes French
colonial rule. Born Nguyen Sinh Cung,
“Uncle Ho” embraced Communism while
living abroad in England and France from
1915-23; in 1919, he petitioned the powers
at the Versailles peace talks for equal rights
and self-determination in Indochina.
September 22, 1940
The French government agrees to allow
the Japanese to use Vietnam to station
troops. The Japanese troops, allegedly
ignorant of the Franco-Japanese
agreement, cross into Vietnam from
China and take French-held cities.
Japan continues to occupy more of
Indochina, but permits Vichy French
administration to continue.
May 1941
Ho Chi Minh forms the Viet Minh during
the meeting of the Central Committee
of the Indochina Communist Party. Ho
returns to Vietnam and declares the
nation’s independence from France.
The Viet Minh’s purpose is to fight the
French and the Japanese.
March 1945
Japan overthrows Vichy, imprisons their
civil servants and renders Vietnam
“independent” under Japanese
“protection,” with Bao Dai as emperor.
August 13, 1945
Japan surrenders North Vietnam (above
the 16th parallel) to Nationalist
Chinese. On August 19, the Viet Minh
take Hanoi and four days later, Hue,
forcing Bao Dai to abdicate.
September 2, 1945
Ho Chi Minh announces the formation of
the Democratic Republic of Vietnam
(DRV), proclaims himself as president
and prepares to negotiate for the
independence of Vietnam.
September 13, 1945
British forces arrive in Saigon to begin
disarmament of the Japanese and to
assume control of South Vietnam.
September 26, 1945
Lt. Col. A. Peter Dewey, head of the Office of
Strategic Security (OSS) mission in Vietnam
is the first American killed there. He was
killed by Vietminh troops while driving a jeep
to the airport. Reports later indicated that his
death was due to a case of mistaken identity
-- he had been mistaken for a Frenchman.
The OSS is the precursor of the Central
Intelligence Agency.
January 1946
The Viet Minh win majority of seats in
the National Assembly. France
recognizes the DRV as a free state
within the French Union, bt not
independent.
December 19, 1946
Following months of steadily
deteriorating relations, the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam launches its first
consorted attack against the French,
first in Hanoi and later against French
garrisons in the South, and the
Franco-Vietnamese War begins.
June 1948
Bao Dai becomes chief of state of Vietnam
under French control. Vietnam's last
emperor, he had ascended to the throne in
1924 (at age 12), gone to school in France,
returned to Vietnam in 1932, and
cooperated with the Japanese occupying
Vietnam during World War II. After the war,
he briefly joined ranks with Ho Chi Minh and
the Viet Minh, only to flee into exile in Hong
Kong and France.
January 14, 1950
Ho Chi Minh proclaims the Democratic
Republic of Vietnam as the only legal
government of Vietnam. Four days
later, China recognizes the DRV over
Bao Dai’s State of Vietnam.
February 7, 1950
The United States and Great Britain
recognize Bao Dai’s State of Vietnam
as the legitimate government of
Vietnam.
June 27, 1950
President Harry Truman
announces that the United States
will send $15 million dollars in
military aid to the French for the
war in Indochina. Included in
the aid package is a military
mission and military advisors. By
1954 the U.S. is shouldering 75%
of the cost of the war, and has
contributed $2.6 billion.
December 23, 1950
Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement
is signed by the United States,
Vietnam, France, Cambodia, and
Laos.
April 7, 1954
At a news conference, President
Eisenhower outlines the Domino
Theory: "You have a row of dominoes
set up. You knock over the first one,
and what will happen to the last one is
the certainty that it will go over very
quickly."
May 7, 1954
Some 40,000 Viet Minh forces defeat
13,000 French at Dien Bien Phu, a
remote outpost the French had chosen
as a bulwark against the Viet Minh
since November 1953.
June 16, 1954
Bao Dai selects Ngo Dinh Diem as prime
minister of the State of Vietnam.
July 21, 1954
Delegates from nine nations convening in
Geneva end hostilities in Indochina.
Vietminh General Ta Quang Buu and
French General Henri Delteil 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 which will divide Vietnam until
nationwide elections are held in 1956. The
United States does not accept the
agreement, neither does the government of
Bao Dai and Diem.
September 8, 1954
The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
(SEATO) is formed by the United
States, France, Great Britain,
Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan,
Thailand, and the Philippines.
January 1, 1955
The United States begins to send aid
directly to Bao Dai’s government in
Saigon.
February 12, 1955
The US Military Assistance Advisory
Group (MAAG-1) assumes
responsibility, from the French, for
training South Vietnamese forces.
October 26, 1955
After defeating Bao Dai in a rigged
election, Diem announces the
formation of the Republic of Vietnam,
and proclaims himself its first
president.
May 1957
Diem visits the United States, addresses
a joint session of Congress and
receives a declaration of support from
President Eisenhower.
May 1959
U.S. advisors are ordered to Vietnam to
assist South Vietnamese infantry,
artillery, armored and marine forces.
The Magnificent Seven
(1960)
December 20, 1960
National Liberation Front (NLF) is formed in
South Vietnam with Hanoi’s support to
overthrow the Saigon government. Diem’s
government dubs them "Vietcong" or
Vietnamese Communists. North Vietnam
forms Group 559 to begin infiltrating cadres
and weapons into South Vietnam via the Ho
Chi Minh Trail. The Trail will become a
strategic target for future military attacks.
May 5, 1961
President John F. Kennedy announces it may
be necessary to send U.S. troops to
Vietnam. In his inaugural address four
months earlier, Kennedy had declared that
Americans will be ready to "...bear any
burden, meet any hardship, support any
friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival
and the success of liberty." There were
already 800 U.S. advisers in Vietnam; by
November 1963 there were 16,700.
December 8, 1961
U.S. State Department publishes a
“white paper” claiming that South
Vietnam is threatened by “clear and
present danger” of Communist
aggression.
February 7, 1962
Two U.S. Army air support companies
arrive in Saigon, bringing total of U.S.
troops in South Vietnam to 4,000.
May 1, 1963
Buddhists gather in the city of Hue to protest a decree
prohibiting them from flying their flag. Several
months of rioting break out. 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. 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.
May 8, 1963
Diem’s troops fire on 20,000 Buddhists
gathered in the city of Hue to celebrate
Buddha’s birthday, killing 8 children
and 1 woman.
August 24, 1963
Washington cables Saigon embassy,
recommending that Diem be removed.
November 1, 1963
With tacit approval of the United States,
operatives within the South
Vietnamese military overthrow Diem.
He and his brother Nhu are shot and
killed in the aftermath. Diem is
replaced by Vice President Nguyen
Ngoc Tho and General Duong Van
Minh.
November 22, 1963
John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
Kennedy's death meant that the
problem of how to proceed in Vietnam
fell squarely into the lap of his vice
president, Lyndon Johnson.
November 23, 1963
President Lyndon B. Johnson
announces continued U.S. support for
the South Vietnamese government.
January 30, 1964
In a bloodless coup, General Nguyen
Khanh seizes power in Saigon. South
Vietnam junta leader, Major General
Duong Van Minh, is placed under
house arrest, but is allowed to remain
as a figurehead chief-of-state.
August 2, 1964
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. A second,
even more highly disputed attack, is alleged
to have taken place on August 4 against
another U.S. destroyer, the Turner Joy. The
U.S. retaliates with an air strike in North
Vietnam.
August 7, 1964
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution 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 passes unanimously in the
House, and by a margin of 82-2 in the
Senate. The Resolution allows Johnson to
wage all out war against North Vietnam
without ever securing a formal Declaration
of War from Congress.
February 7, 1965
Johnson orders bombing of North Vietnam (excluding
Hanoi and Haiphong) after 8 American soldiers are
killed in a Viet Cong attack on Pleiku. Sustained
American bombing raids of North Vietnam, dubbed
Operation Rolling Thunder, are nearly continuous
for three years. In 1967, Secretary of Defense
Robert McNamara, appearing before a Senate
subcommittee, testifies that US bombing raids
against North Vietnam have not achieved their
objectives. McNamara maintains that movement of
supplies to South Vietnam has not been reduced,
and neither the economy nor the morale of the
North Vietnamese has been broken.
March 8, 1965
The first American combat troops, the
9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade,
arrive in Vietnam to defend the US
airfield at Da Nang. Scattered Vietcong
gunfire is reported, but no Marines are
injured.
April 12, 1965
In an effort to disrupt movement along
the Mugia Pass -- the main route used
by the NVA to send personnel and
supplies through Laos and into South
Vietnam -- American B-52s bomb
North Vietnam for the first time.
November 14, 1965
The first conventional battle of the
Vietnam war takes place as American
forces clash with North Vietnamese
units in the Ia Drang Valley. The US
1st Air Cavalry Division employs its
newly enhanced technique of aerial
reconnaissance to finally defeat the
NVA, though heavy casualties are
reported on both sides.
January 10, 1967
Johnson requests a 6 % income tax
surcharge to finance U.S. involvement
in Vietnam.
April 4, 1967
At a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at
Riverside Church in New York City, Martin
Luther King publicly speaks out against US
policy in Vietnam. Calling the US "the
greatest purveyor of violence in the world,"
King later encourages draft evasion and
suggests a merger between antiwar and
civil rights groups.
April 15, 1967
Over 100,000 people in New York and
San Francisco demonstrate against
the war in Vietnam.
January 31, 1968
In a show of military might that catches the US
military off guard, North Vietnamese and
Vietcong forces sweep down upon several
key cities and provinces in South Vietnam,
including its capital, Saigon. Within days,
American forces turn back the onslaught
and recapture most areas. From a military
point of view, Tet is a huge defeat for the
Communists, but turns out to be a political
and psychological victory. The US military's
assessment of the war is questioned and
the "end of tunnel" seems very far off.
March 16, 1968
As Johnson’s popularity plummets, Sen. Robert
Kennedy announces that he will run for the
presidency. On the same day in Vietnam, Lt.
William Calley orders his men to fire on the village
of My Lai, killing nearly 500 villagers. "This is what
you've been waiting for -- search and destroy -- and
you've got it," said their superior officers. 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.
March 31, 1968
With his low approval ratings and dismayed by
Senator Eugene McCarthy's strong showing
in the New Hampshire primary, President
Lyndon Johnson, in a televised address,
stuns the nation and announces that he will
not be a candidate for re-election.
http://www.historychannel.com/speeches/ra_archive/speech_148.ram
April 3, 1968
North Vietnam offers to participate in
peace talks.
August 26-29, 1968
As the frazzled Democratic party
prepares to hold its nominating
convention in Chicago, city officials
gear up for a deluge of
demonstrations. Mayor Richard Daley
orders police to crackdown on antiwar
protests. As the nation watched on
television, the area around the
convention erupts in violence.
October 31, 1968
Johnson halts bombing of North
Vietnam. Seven days later Richard
Nixon, running on a platform of "law
and order," defeats Hubert H.
Humphrey to become U.S. president.
March 15, 1969
In an effort to destroy Communist supply
routes and base camps in Cambodia,
President Nixon gives the go-ahead to
"Operation Breakfast." The covert
bombing of Viet Cong sanctuaries in
Cambodia, conducted without the
knowledge of Congress or the
American public, will continue for
fourteen months.
June 8, 1969
Nixon announces first U.S. troop
withdrawal of 25,000 soldiers.
July 25, 1969
The president announces the “Nixon
Doctrine.” He calls for sending more
economic and military aid to South Vietnam
to strengthen the South Vietnam military.
Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird described
the policy of "Vietnamization" when
discussing a diminishing role for the US
military in Vietnam. The objective of the
policy was to shift the burden of defeating
the Communists onto the South Vietnamese
Army and away from the United States.
October 15, 1969
Thousands of Americans participate in
demonstrations against the war. Two
weeks later, Nixon appeals to what he
calls the “silent majority,” Americans
who support the war, claiming that
total withdrawal from Vietnam would
harm U.S. interests.
April 29, 1970
U.S. forces invade Cambodia to attack
North Vietnamese and Viet Cong
sanctuaries.
Soldier Blue (1970)
May 4, 1970
National Guardsmen open fire on a crowd of
student antiwar protesters at Ohio's Kent
State University, resulting in the death of
four students and the wounding of eight
others. President Nixon publicly deplores
the actions of the Guardsmen, but cautions:
"...when dissent turns to violence it invites
tragedy." Several of the protesters had been
hurling rocks and empty tear gas canisters
at the Guardsmen.
June 24, 1970
Senate repeals 1964 Gulf of Tonkin
resolution, by a vote of 81 to 10.
June 13, 1971
A legacy of deception concerning US policy in
Vietnam on the part of the military and the
executive branch is revealed as the New
York Times begins publication of leaked
portions of 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.
May 8, 1972
Nixon announces that the U.S. will mine North
Vietnamese harbors, in Operation
Linebacker. “The bastards have never been
bombed like they’re going to be bombed
now,” he says privately. 114 U.S. aircraft are
lost. Meanwhile, the North Vietnamese
economy is ruined, transportation system
paralyzed, and air defense system
exhausted.
October 21, 1972
In secret peace talks in Paris since August
1969, Henry Kissinger, Nixon’s national
security advisor, and North Vietnamese
military leader Le Duc Tho reach agreement
in principle on several key measures leading
to a cease-fire in Vietnam. The view that
"peace is at hand" is dimmed somewhat by
South Vietnamese President Thieu's
opposition to the agreement.
December 18-28, 1972
In 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 the
North Vietnamese that no section of
Vietnam is off-limits to bombing raids .
Operation Linebacker II kills more than 1500
civilians, levels a hospital, and destroys
large part of Hanoi. Some 15 B-52s and 11
other aircraft are lost.
January 27, 1973
A 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. Later that year the Nobel Peace
Prize is awarded to Kissinger and Tho.
Kissinger accepts the award, while Tho
declines, saying that a true peace does not
yet exist in Vietnam.
March 29, 1973
North Vietnam releases 60 American
prisoners of war, who leave Vietnam
along with the last remaining U.S.
forces.
August 8, 1974
Nixon resigns to avoid being impeached for
his role in the Watergate scandal. In May,
impeachment hearings against Nixon had
begun by the House Judiciary Committee.
Among the articles of impeachment
introduced was a resolution condemning
Nixon for the secret bombing of Cambodia
Spring 1975
The North Vietnamese initiate the Ho
Chi Minh Campaign -- a concerted
effort to "liberate" Saigon. Under the
command of General Dung, the NVA
sets out to capture Saigon by late
April, in advance of the rainy season.
April 23, 1975
Anticipating the fall of Saigon to
Communist forces, President Gerald
Ford, speaking in New Orleans,
announces that as far as the US is
concerned, the Vietnam War is
"finished."
April 30, 1975
South Vietnamese President Duong Van Minh
delivers an unconditional surrender to the
Communists in the early hours. North
Vietnamese Colonel Bui Tin accepts the
surrender and assures Minh that, "...Only
the Americans have been beaten. If you are
patriots, consider this a moment of joy." As
the few remaining Americans evacuate
Saigon from the roof of the U.S. embassy,
the last two US servicemen to die in
Vietnam are killed when their helicopter
crashes.
January 21, 1977
In a bold and controversial move, newly
inaugurated President Jimmy Carter
extends a full and unconditional pardon to
nearly 10,000 men who evaded the Vietnam
War draft.
Spring 1978
The VA first reports health problems in Vietnam
veterans related to Agent Orange-- a defoliant first
used by the U.S. Air Force in 1962 that came in
metal orange containers --to expose roads and
trails used by Vietcong forces. Between 1981-1983,
16,000 Vietnam veterans and their families file a
class-action lawsuit against seven major chemical
companies for Agent Orange poisoning. The
companies agree to pay 180 million dollars to settle
the suit. A CDC study in 1990 concludes that Agent
Orange did not harm U.S. soldiers in Vietnam.
December 1978
Determined to overthrow the government of
Pol Pot, Vietnam invades Cambodia.
Phnompenh, Cambodia's capital, falls
quickly as Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge
followers flee into the jungles. Vietnam
installs Hanoi-backed Cambodian National
United Front for National Salvation.
Cambodia is renamed the People’s
Republic of Kampuchea. Ten years later,
Vietnam finally bows to pressure from the
U.N. and agrees to withdraw troops from
Cambodia, with all troops gone by 1990.
February 17, 1979
China attacks Vietnam to protest
Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia.
Sixteen days later, China withdraws.
1981
Swarms of Vietnamese refugees take to the
sea in overcrowded and unsafe boats in
search of a better life. The ranks of the "boat
people" include individuals deemed
enemies of the state who've been expelled
from their homeland. The U.S. provides $2
million to protect “boat people,” Indochinese
refugees who fled the war-torn region. After
pirates attack more than 3/4ths of the boats,
the U.S. and Thailand announce a joint
force to protect the boat people.
November 11, 1982
Designed by Maya Ying Lin, a 22 year-old Yale
architectural student, the Vietnam Veteran's
Memorial opens in Washington, DC. The quiet,
contemplative structure consisting of two black
granite walls forming a "V", lists the names of the
58,183 Americans killed in the Vietnam War. The
memorial itself stirred debate as some thought its
presentation was too muted and somber, lacking
the familiar elements of war-time heroics found in
most war memorials.
September 30, 1986
A Pentagon panel concludes that there still
are Americans held prisoner in Southeast
Asia. For the family members of those still
listed as Missing-In-Action, the war is not
over. In an address to the National League
of Families of American Prisoners and
Missing in Southeast Asia, President Ronald
Reagan pledges to make the finding of
these individuals one of the "highest
national priority." In July 1987 a special
envoy to President Reagan visits Hanoi to
discuss the status of American pows.
January 1988
Congress passes the Amerasian
Homecoming Act, which allows
Vietnamese children whose fathers
were American servicemen to come to
the U.S. with their mothers.
November 4, 1988
Vietnam returns the remains of 23
servicemen missing in action since the
Vietnam War. During Reagan’s term in
office, the remains of 196 MIAs are
returned.
April 30, 1990
Vietnamese Communist Party leader
Nguyen Van Linh appeals for
friendship and economic cooperation
with the United States.
July 11, 1995
As Communist Vietnam inched toward
market reforms and pledged full
cooperation in finding all Americans
listed as still missing-in-action,
President Clinton announces the
formal normalization of diplomatic
relations with Vietnam.
May 23, 1996
Ushering in a new era of cooperation between the
two former enemies, the United States and
Vietnam exchange ambassadors. Douglas
"Pete" Peterson, a prisoner of war for 6 years
during the Vietnam War, is named by President
Clinton US ambassador to the Socialist Republic
of Vietnam, while H.E. Le Van Bang assumes
the position of Vietnamese ambassador to the
United States.
September 7, 1999
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright,
commissions the new U.S. consulate
in Ho Chi Minh City, as "a symbol of
America's commitment to continued
progress towards full reconciliation and
normalization" with Vietnam.
July 13, 2000
President Clinton announces a bilateral trade
agreement between the US and Vietnam,
that "will dramatically open Vietnam's
economy, further integrate it into the
international community, and increase trade
between our two nations." In November,
Clinton visits Hanoi, becoming the first US
president ever to do so. On December 10,
2001, the U.S.-Vietnam Bilateral Trade
Agreement (BTA) took effect.