Department of History

 

1950	Truman provided financial aid to the French in their war against the Viet Minh in Indochina, setting up a U.S. advisory group in Saigon.
1954	The U.S. was paying three-quarters of the war's cost.  The French were defeated at Dien Bien Phu (Eisenhower refused a request for direct military assistance).  The French decided to gradually disengage from Vietnam.  An international conference divided Vietnam at the 17th parallel and scheduled elections for 1956.
1955	With secret U.S. help, Ngo Dinh Diem became dictator of South Vietnam.  He refuted the upcoming elections and proclaimed South Vietnam to be the the Republic of Vietnam.
1956-1957	The last French air and ground forces left Vietnam.
1960	With Viet Cong insurgency increasing, Diem requested increased U.S. aid.
1961-1963	Kennedy gradually increased U.S. advisors from 900 to 17,000.
1963	Diem was assassinated; Kennedy was assassinated; Johnson became president.
1964	The Gulf of Tonkin Incident; Congress granted Johnson a "blank check."  Westmoreland became top U.S. commander in South Vietnam.
1965	With the government of South Vietnam on the verge of collapse, Johnson committed large scale ground forces (184,000) and began bombing North Vietnam.
1966	U.S. forces in South Vietnam reached 385,000.
1968	U.S. forces in Vietnam peaked at just over 500,000.  The siege at Khe Sanh and the TET offensive were military defeats but psychological victories for North Vietnam.  Johnson halted the bombing of North Vietnam, called for peace negotiations, and declined to run for re-election.  Peace talks began in Paris.  Abrahams became the top U.S. commander in South Vietnam.   Nixon was elected president.  Massive peace demonstrations occurred.
1969	Nixon began the "Vietnamization" of the war, steadily reducing U.S. ground forces.  He ordered secret bombings of Viet Cong bases in Cambodia.  Peace demonstrations continued.
1970	Nixon ordered U.S. forces to attack Viet Cong bases in Cambodia.  The partial success was offset by massive peace demonstrations in the U.S.  The reduction of U.S. forces continued.
1971	U.S. troop strength was down to 180,000.  Operations by South Vietnamese forces against guerrilla bases in Cambodia failed.  Nixon ordered increased the bombing of North Vietnam.  Six weeks of antiwar demonstrations followed, with over 650,000 protestors marching in Washington and tens of thousands elsewhere.
1972	North Vietnamese offensive across the DMZ caught U.S. by surprise; some northern provinces passed permanently into North Vietnamese hands.  In May, Nixon ordered the mining of Haiphong harbor, North Vietnam's major supply port.  In June the Watergate burglar occurred.  In August the last major U.S. ground forces withdrew, leaving 40,000 support personnel.  Re-elected in November, Nixon ordered a massive in the bombing of North Vietnam.
1973	A ceasefire agreement was signed in January, providing for the release of U.S. prisoners.  Although both North and South Vietnam immediately violated the ceasefire, the U.S. withdrew its remaining forces.  The Watergate hearings revealed Nixon's role in the Watergate cover-up.
1974	Nixon resigned; Ford became president.  North Vietnam waged a full scale war against South Vietnam.
1975	North Vietnam completed its conquest of South Vietnam on April 30.