The Chronology of the Vietnam War

·         1945 Ho Chi Minh announces Declaration of Independence from France.

·         1950 French-controlled Vietnam receives U.S. financial aid and military advisers.

·         1954 Dienbienphu falls to Ho’s Vietminh. Geneva Accords end Indochina War and temporarily divide Vietnam at the seventeenth parallel. Ngo Dinh Diem becomes South Vietnam’s premier.

·         1955 Diem establishes the Republic of Vietnam. U.S. advisers take over training of South Vietnamese army (ARVN).

·         1960 National Liberation Front (Vietcong) formed.

·         1961 President John Kennedy markedly increases military aid to South Vietnam.

·         1962 Strategic-hamlet program put in operation.

·         1963 Buddhist protests commence. ARVN coup overthrows and assassinates Diem. 16,000 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1964 General William Westmoreland takes charge of U.S. Military Assistance Command in South Vietnam. Gulf of Tonkin incident and subsequent U.S. congressional resolution. United States bombs North Vietnam. 23,300 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1965 First American combat troops arrive in South Vietnam, at Danang. 184,000 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1966 B-52s attack North Vietnam for first time. Senate Foreign Relations Committee opens hearings on U.S. in Vietnam.385,000 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1967 Major antiwar demonstrations in New York and San Francisco; protest march on the Pentagon. 485,600 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1968 North Vietnamese forces surround Khesanh. Tet offensive. My Lai massacre. President Lyndon Johnson announces partial bombing halt and decision not to run for reelection. Peace talks begin in Paris. General Creighton Abrams replaces Westmoreland as commander of American troops in Vietnam. 536,000 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1969 United States begins bombing North Vietnamese bases in Cambodia. Provisional Revolutionary Government (PRG) formed by Vietcong. First U.S. troop withdrawal announced after American military personnel in Vietnam reach peak strength of 543,400 in April. Ho Chi Minh dies. Nationwide antiwar protests in October. 475,200 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1970 United States and South Vietnamese forces join in Cambodian incursion. Student protests force some four hundred colleges and universities to close following Kent State killings. Cooper-Church amendment limits U.S. role in Cambodia. Senate repeals Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. 334,600 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1971 United States provides air support for South Vietnamese invasion of Laos. Antiwar rally of 400,000 in Washington. Daniel Ellsberg releases Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.

·         1972 North Vietnam launches first ground offensive since 1968. U.S. bombing and mining of North Vietnamese ports. Last U.S. ground troops leave South Vietnam. Preliminary peace agreement reached; National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger announces that “peace is at hand.” South Vietnam rejects peace treaty. United States bombs Hanoi and Haiphong. 24,200 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1973 Peace agreement signed in Paris by North and South Vietnam, the Vietcong, and the United States. End of U.S. draft. Congress passes War Powers Act. First American POWs released in Hanoi. U.S. bombing in Southeast Asia ends. Fewer than 250 U.S. military personnel in Vietnam.

·         1974 South Vietnam announces new outbreak of war.

·         1975 North Vietnamese offensive captures Danang. Senate rejects President Gerald Ford’s request for emergency aid for South Vietnam. South Vietnam surrenders following North Vietnam’s capture of Saigon. Khmer Rouge takes control in Cambodia. Pro-Hanoi People’s Democratic Republic established in Laos.