Vietnam

By Victoria Hannah

  • Eisenhower Administration

  • Dien Bien Phu

    The final battle in the first Indochinese War. During the Geneva Accords Conference, French forces were occupying Dien Bien Phu when Viet Minh forces overran the base which caused the French to sign the Geneva Accords to end the battle.

  • Geneva Accords

    Diplomats from United States, Soviet Union, China, France, and Great Britain meet in Geneva Switzerland to resolve several problems in Asia, including the war between the French and Vietnamese nationalists in Indochina. The conference started just as Vietnam captured Dien Bien Phu. At the Conference agreement were drawn up, in the agreements France agreed to withdraw their troops from Northern Vietnam. No foreign troops could enter Vietnam for two years.

  • Kennedy Administration

  • Johnson Administration

  • Tonkin Resolution

    The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression” by the communist government of North Vietnam. It was passed by the U.S. Congress after an alleged attack on two U.S. naval destroyers stationed off the coast of Vietnam. This launched America’s full-scale involvement in the Vietnam War.

  • Fulbright Commission

    the Senate Foreign Relations Committee convened a series of public hearings to question a range of experts on the progress of the Vietnam War.

  • Daniel Ellsberg

    He had served as a U.S. Marine Corps officer and worked as a strategic analyst at the RAND Corporation and the Department of Defense, he had worked on the preparation of the 1967 study. In 1967 he supported the US involvement in the war but in 1969 he believed the war was unwinnable. He thought the information in the Pentagon Papers about U.S. decision-making should be available to the public. He secretly copied sections of the papers, and gave portions of the report to a reporter.

  • Pentagon Papers

    A top-secret Department of Defense study of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. Daniel Ellsberg opposed the war, and decided that the information contained in the Pentagon Papers should be available to the American public. He photocopied the report and in March 1971 gave the copy to The New York Times, which then published a series of scathing articles based on the report’s most damning secrets.

  • Tet Offensive

    A series of surprise attacks by North Vietnam forces. North Vietnamese forces attacked more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. it was an attempt to stir up rebellion in South Vietnam and encourage US to scale back its involvement. North Vietnam won. this was the turning point in the Vietnam war and the beginning of the American withdraw from Vietnam.

  • My Lai Massacre

    One of the most horrific incidents committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. American soldiers brutally killed many people in the village of My Lai. More than 500 people were slaughtered, including young girls and women who were raped and mutilated before being killed. U.S. Army officers covered it up for a year before it was reported, sparking international outrage. The My Lai killings and the cover-up fueled anti-war sentiment and divided the United States.

  • Vietnamization

    Vietnamization was a strategy that aimed to reduce American involvement in the Vietnam War by building up South Vietnam’s armed forces and withdrawing U.S. troops, would prepare the South Vietnamese to act in their own defense against a North Vietnamese takeover and allow the United States to leave Vietnam with its honor intact.

  • Nixon Administration

  • Invasion of Cambodia

    American military troops, accompanied by the South Vietnamese People's Army, were to invade Cambodia. The invasion was under the pretext of disrupting the North Vietnamese supply lines. They also invaded in order to bomb and destroy the Viet Cong base camps, that were backing up the other operations in South Vietnam

  • Christmas Bombing

    Also known as Linebacker II. these were plans drawn up for retaliatory bombings of North Vietnam. Beginning on December 18, American B-52s and fighter-bombers dropped over 20,000 tons of bombs on the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong. North Vietnam claimed that over 1,600 civilians were killed.The bombings continued until December 29, at which time the North Vietnamese agreed to resume the talks. A few weeks later, the final Paris Peace Treaty was signed and the Vietnam War came to a close

  • Paris Peace Conference/Accords

    US, S. Vietnam, Viet Cong, and N. Vietnam sign an agreement ending the War and restoring peace. Cease-fire, the US agreed to the withdrawal of all US troops and dismantle the US bases, the N. Vietnamese agreed to release all prisoners of war. Both sides agreed to the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Laos and Cambodia. The 17th Parallel would remain a dividing line, for eventual reunification. International control commission, N. Vietnamese would not initiate military movement across the DMZ

  • War Powers Act

    A congressional resolution designed to limit the U.S. president’s ability to initiate or escalate military actions abroad. The law requires that presidents notify Congress after deploying the armed forces and limits how long units can remain engaged without congressional approval. The goal was to avoid another lengthy conflict, its effectiveness has been repeatedly questioned throughout its history, and several presidents have been accused of failing to comply with its regulations.

  • Ford Administration

  • Fall of Saigon

    Communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces captured the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon, forcing South Vietnam to surrender, two years after the US signed Paris Peace Accords, pulling out of the war. Bringing about an end to the Vietnam War.