| 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." |