Chapter 29 Notes: Major events of Vietnam

I. Vietnam -- major events and chronology of US involvement

• 1950 -- US begins to provide financial assistance to French.


• 1954 -- Geneva accord divides Vietnam; Diem comes to power with US backing.


• 1955 -- French pullout; US military advisers begin training South Vietnamese.


• 1960 -- Vietcong (North Vietnamese-backed insurgency group in South Vietnam) created.


• 1961 -- Laos is lost; JFK intensifies US involvement.


• 1963 -- Buddhist monk protests; Diem overthrown and killed by CIA-backed coup; 16,000 US military advisors in S. Vietnam.


• 1964 -- Gulf of Tonkin Resolution allows LBJ to escalate military actions without congressional approval; US bombing of N. Vietnam begins.


• 1965 -- US combat troops land in Danang; 184,000 American troops on the ground by year's end.


• 1966 -- 385,000 US troops; B52 bombing of north begins.


• 1967 -- Beginning of anti-war demonstrations; Senate hearings on Vietnam begin; 485,600 troops.


• 1968 -- Tet Offensive -- Vietcong (with North Vietnamese army) attack major South Vietnamese cities, US forces repel the attack, killing 37,000 enemy troops in one month; My Lai Massacre -- US troops kill, rape and torture 500 villagers, army initially covers it up; LBJ announces that he won't run; peace talks with North Vietnam begin in Paris; 536,000 troops.


• 1969 -- bombing of Cambodia begins; US begins to withdraw troops; anti-war protests intensify; Ho Chi Minh dies; 475,000 troops at year's end.


• 1970 -- US and S. Vietnam invade Cambodia; Kent State killings, student protests close 400 universities; Congress repeals Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and limits US role in Cambodia; 334,600 US troops.


• 1971 -- Invasion of Laos (Ho Chi Minh trail); 400,000 person anti-war protest in D.C.


• 1972 -- N. Vietnam launches ground offensive (Easter Offensive); US bombing or North escalates; US ground troops leave Vietnam; Secretary of State Kissinger orchestrates peace treaty that South Vietnam rejects; 24,200 US troops.


• 1973 -- Paris Peace Treaty signed between US, North and South Vietnam and the Vietcong; US draft ends; beginning of US POW release, US ends all bombing; less than 250 US troops in Vietnam.


• 1974 -- New war between North and South Vietnam.


• 1975 -- South Vietnam surrenders to N. Vietnam; Khmer Rouge comes to power in Cambodia (kills 40% of population); leftist regime comes to power in Laos; President Ford's request for aid to S. Vietnam rejected by Congress.


• US death toll -- 58,000; over 300,000 wounded; 500,000 dishonorably discharged out of 2.5 million who served; rampat drug use -- 2 out of 3 smoked marijuana, 1 out of 3 used heroin; cost of US involvement: $150 billion.


• Vietnamese death toll -- over 2 million!