{"id":54,"date":"2025-01-06T04:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T04:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam50.us\/Home\/?page_id=54"},"modified":"2026-02-21T09:59:26","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T14:59:26","slug":"chronology-of-the-vietnam-war-and-the-anti-vietnam-war-movement-in-the-u-s","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/vietnam50.us\/Home\/reports\/chronology-of-the-vietnam-war-and-the-anti-vietnam-war-movement-in-the-u-s\/","title":{"rendered":"Chronology of the Vietnam War and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement in the U.S."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"\">Prepared by Prof. Ng\u00f4 V\u00ednh Long for <em>the 25th Anniversary of the Victory of Peace in Vietnam<\/em>. Adapted from Appendix A, from&nbsp;<em>Vietnam and America: A Documented History<\/em>, by Marvin E. Gettleman, Jane Franklin, Marilyn B. Young and H. Bruce Franklin. New York: Grove Press. 1998.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><strong>208 B.C.<\/strong> The kingdom of\u00a0<strong>Nam-Vi\u1ec7t<\/strong>\u00a0is found. <br><strong>111 B.C. <\/strong>Nam-Vi\u1ec7t is incorporated into the Chinese empire, where it remains for more than a thousand years despite frequent rebellions. <br><strong>A.D. 40-43<\/strong> The Tr\u01b0ng sisters lead an insurrection against China that is successful for three years. <br><strong>A.D. 544-791<\/strong> Insurrections take place but fail to oust the Chinese. <br><strong>A.D. 939<\/strong> Vietnamese take advantage of the fall of the T\u2019ang dynasty in China to end direct Chinese rule. <br><strong>1010 <\/strong>Hanoi (then Th\u0103ng-Long) becomes capital of the country. <br><strong>1257 <\/strong>The first invasion of Vietnam by the Mongolian armies of Kublai Khan, who had conquered China and much of Europe. The invaders reach the capital but are driven out. <br><strong>1284 <\/strong>Kublai Khan launches half a million men against Vietnam, but the invasion is defeated. <br><strong>1287-1288<\/strong> A new Mongolian invasion is defeated by the Vietnamese. <br><strong>1407-1427 <\/strong>Invasion and occupation by China. <br><strong>1418-1427<\/strong> Chinese defeated and driven out by a war led by L\u00ea L\u1ee3i; establishment of the Later L\u00ea dynasty. <br><strong>1535-1540 <\/strong>Portuguese establish trading port near \u0110\u00e0 N\u1eb5ng. <br><strong>1616 <\/strong>Jesuits build first mission in Vietnam. <br><strong>1680 <\/strong>First French trading post established. <br><strong>1545-1787<\/strong> Intermittent warfare between two feudal houses, the Tr\u1ecbnh, who control the north, and the Nguy\u1ec5n, who control the south; both continue to recognize the L\u00ea dynasty as the sole legitimate rule of Vietnam. <br><strong>1771-1802<\/strong> The T\u00e2y S\u01a1n movement overthrows both the Tr\u1ecbnh and the Nguy\u1ec5n feudal regimes, introduces major reforms, defeats Chinese invasion, and reunifies the country. <br><strong>1802 <\/strong>T\u00e2y S\u01a1n overthrown by Nguy\u1ec5n \u00c1nh (Emperor Gia Long), who establishes Vietnam\u2019s last dynasty, the Nguy\u1ec5n. <br><strong>1804 <\/strong>The name\u00a0<strong>Vi\u1ec7t Nam<\/strong>\u00a0is officially adopted. <br><strong>1850 <\/strong>The French navy attacks \u0110\u00e0 N\u1eb5ng, beginning the colonial conquest of Vietnam. <br><strong>1883 <\/strong>France declares the name of Vietnam extinct and divides the country into Cochin China (southern), Annam (central), and Tonkin (northern). <br><strong>1890 <\/strong>H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh is born. He leaves Vietnam in 1911 as a cabin boy on a merchant vessel. <br><strong>1914-1919<\/strong> World War I. <br><strong>1917 <\/strong>Russian Revolution. <br><strong>1919 <\/strong>During the Versailles Conference (France) ending World War I, H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh appeals to the Wilson Administration for aid in securing legal and political rights. <br><strong>1920 <\/strong>At the French Socialist Party congress, H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh votes with the majority that splits to form the French Communist Party. <br><strong>1930 <\/strong>Formation of the Indochinese Communist Party (ICP). Major uprisings in Tonkin and Annam. <br><strong>1932 <\/strong>The French install B\u1ea3o \u0110\u1ea1i as Emperor. <br><strong>1939 <\/strong><em>November<\/em>\u2014The Communist Party decides on revolutionary struggle during the war and preparation for a general insurrection. <br><strong>1940 <\/strong>France falls to Germany. The Japanese invade Indochina. Frances pro-Nazi Vichy government turns French Indochina over to Japan but continues colonial administration in collaboration with the Japanese until 1945. Two million Vietnamese are starved to death as their rice is used to supply Japanese armies throughout Southeast Asia. <br><strong>1941 <\/strong><em>June<\/em>\u2014Founding of the Revolutionary League for the Independence of Vietnam (\u0110\u1ed9c L\u1eadp \u0110\u1ed3ng Minh H\u1ed9i, known as the Vi\u1ec7t Minh), which leads the resistance war against the French colonialists and the Japanese occupiers. <br><strong>1945 <\/strong><em>March<\/em>\u2014With the Vi\u1ec7t Minh gaining strength, Japan unilaterally ends French rule in Indochina and establishes independent Vietnam under Emperor B\u1ea3o \u0110\u1ea1i.<br><em>April 12<\/em>\u2014President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies; Harry Truman becomes President.<br><em>July-August<\/em>\u2014At the Postdam Conference, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union decide that Britain will occupy Vietnam and disarm Japanese troops south of the 16th parallel, and China will do the same north of the 16th parallel.<br><em>August 15<\/em>\u2014Japan surrenders.<br><em>August 18-28<\/em>\u2014Vi\u1ec7t Minh leads August Revolution; insurrections throughout Vietnam.<br><em>August 30<\/em>\u2014B\u1ea3o \u0110\u1ea1i abdicates in favor of the Vi\u1ec7t Minh government. <br><strong>1945 <em>September 2<\/em>\u2014Proclamation of Independence; founding of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV).<\/strong> In mid-September, British General Douglas Gracey lands, re-arms Japanese and French colonial forces, and begins restoring French control south of the 16th parallel.<br><em>September 22<\/em>\u2014French troops arrive in Saigon; struggle in south begins.<br><em>October<\/em>\u2014H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh appeals to President Harry Truman to support Vietnamese independence. <br><strong>1946 <\/strong><em>January<\/em>\u2014DRV holds elections for the first National Assembly.<br><em>March 6<\/em>\u2014The French sign agreement with H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh recognizing his government and semi-independence of Vietnam as a Free State in the French Union. The DRV&#8217;s purpose is to dislodge Chinese forces. H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh explains: It is better to sniff French dung for a while than eat China\u2019s all our lives.<br><em>November<\/em>\u2014The French, using US ships, bombard Haiphong, killing 6,000 civilians. They invade Haiphong and Hanoi.<br><em>December 19<\/em>\u2014Vi\u1ec7t Minh attack French forces; the war between France and the DRV has begun. <br><strong>1948 <\/strong>The Truman Administration begins funding the French war. <br><strong>1949 <\/strong><em>March<\/em>\u2014The \u00c9lys\u00e9e Agreement between France and the State of Vietnam declares Vietnam\u2019s independence as an associate state within the French Union.<br><em>April<\/em>\u2014The French install B\u1ea3o \u0110\u1ea1i as head of state.<br><em>October<\/em>\u2014The Chinese Communists proclaim the establishment of the People\u2019s Republic of China. <br><strong>1950 <\/strong>China and the Soviet Union recognize the Democratic Republic of Vietnam headed by H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh. The United States recognizes the B\u1ea3o \u0110\u1ea1i regime. Both Vietnamese governments claim sovereignty over all of Vietnam. The US Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) is sent to Vietnam by the Truman Administration. US advisers and eventually some 250 US pilots participate with the French forces in the fighting, and the United States ends up providing 80 percent of the financing of the French war. <br><strong>1954 <\/strong><em>March 13<\/em>\u2014Battle of \u0110i\u1ec7n Bi\u00ean Ph\u1ee7 begins.<br><em>April 16<\/em>\u2014Vice-President Richard Nixon publicly proposes sending US troops to Vietnam.<br><em>May 7<\/em>\u2014Fall of Di\u1ec7n Bi\u00ean Ph\u1ee7 to DRV army. <br><strong>1954 <\/strong><em>May 8-July 21<\/em>\u2014Geneva Conference, which ends with the Geneva Agreement that all foreign forces will be withdrawn from Vietnam; the 17th parallel set as the temporary demarcation line between forces of the French Union and those of the DRV; Vietnam to hold internationally supervised elections in 1956 to choose the government of the entire country.<br><em>June 1<\/em>\u2014Colonel Edward Lansdale arrives in Saigon to set up the Saigon Military Mission and coordinate covert attacks on the DRV.<br><em>June 16<\/em>\u2014B\u1ea3o \u0110\u1ea1i, as head of the State of Vietnam, appoints Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m as his premier.<br><em>July 1<\/em>\u2014Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m arrives in Saigon.<br><em>September 8<\/em>\u2014The United States arranges the creation of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), consisting of the United States, Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Thailand, and the Philippines and mandating the collective defense of Laos, Cambodia, and the State of Vietnam.<br><em>October 23<\/em>\u2014President Eisenhower pledges to Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m that the United States will support his regime as the Government of Vietnam (that is, the entire country). <br><strong>1955-1956<\/strong> Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m gains control over Saigon, rejects national elections guaranteed by the Geneva Accords, defeats Bao Dai in a rigged election in the south, proclaims the Republic of Vietnam with himself as president, and begins repression of those who had fought with the Viet Minh. The United States finances his government and trains and equips his security police and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN). <br><strong>1956-1959<\/strong> Terror campaign extends Saigon&#8217;s rule over the countryside. Creation of agrovilles or strategic hamlets. <br><strong>1957 <\/strong><em>January<\/em>\u2014The DRV announces a policy of building socialism in one country. <br><strong>1959 <\/strong>Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m\u2019s Law 10\/59 legitimizes massive repression. Scattered resistance breaks out. <br><strong>1960 <\/strong><em>March<\/em>\u2014Nam B\u1ed9 (South Vietnam) Veterans of Resistance proclaim rebellion.<br><em>April 17<\/em>\u2014140 African-American students form Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in Raleigh, NC.<br><em>December<\/em>\u2014Formation of the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF), which Saigon and Washington call the Viet Cong. NLF begins full-scale revolution against the Saigon regime. <br><strong>1961 <\/strong>President John F. Kennedy approves secret military plan for Vietnam and Laos, including covert war against North Vietnam and Special Forces covert operations in Laos and South Vietnam. The United States begins chemical defoliation in South Vietnam (Operation Hades, later Operation Ranch Hand). US military personnel increased to more than 3,000. <br><strong>1962 <\/strong>Establishment of US Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). US military personnel increased to more than 11,000. <br><strong>1963 <\/strong><em>May-August<\/em>\u2014Buddhist demonstrations violently repressed by the Saigon government.<br><em>August-October<\/em>\u2014US Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge plans with Washington and ARVN generals to overthrow Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m.<br><em>August 28<\/em>\u2014More than 250,000 people march in civil rights demonstration now known as March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his famous I Have a Dream speech.<br><em>September 21<\/em>\u2014War Resisters League (WRL) holds first U.S. demonstration against American war in Vietnam.<br><em>November 1<\/em>\u2014Generals stage coup, assassinating Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m and his brother Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Nhu, head of the secret police.<br><em>November 22<\/em>\u2014Assassination of President Kennedy; Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President.<br><em>November 26<\/em>\u2014President Johnson issues NSAM 273, secret plan for a full-scale US war in Vietnam. US military personnel now between 16,000 and 19,000. <br><strong>1964 <\/strong><em>February 1<\/em>\u2014US Operations Plan 34A (Oplan 34-A) is implemented, including raids by mercenaries and Saigon commandos on North Vietnamese coastal installations.<br><em>June<\/em>\u2014General William Westmoreland becomes head of MACV; General Maxwell Taylor replaces Lodge as ambassador.<br><em>August 2<\/em>\u2014US destroyer Maddox fires on North Vietnamese PT boats responding to an Oplan 34-A raid on coastal islands.<br><em>August 4<\/em>\u2014US claims, despite a lack of evidence, that the destroyers Maddox and C. Turner Joy were attacked on the high seas for four hours by North Vietnamese PT boats. President Johnson orders retaliatory aerial bombing of North Vietnam.<br><em>August 7<\/em>\u2014Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving the president virtually unlimited power to conduct war in Southeast Asia. The only dissenting votes are cast by Senator Wayne Morse (Oregon) and Senator Ernest Gruening (Alaska).<br><em>September-November<\/em>\u2014President Johnson, successfully campaigning to be elected president, repeatedly promises that he will never send American boys to fight in Vietnam.<br><em>December<\/em>\u2014US military personnel number more than 23,000. <br><strong>1965 <\/strong><em>February 6<\/em>\u2014NLF attacks US forces at Pleiku.<br><em>February 7<\/em>\u2014Retaliatory bombing of North Vietnam (Operation Flaming Dart).<br><em>February 27<\/em>\u2014US White Paper alleges that war in South Vietnam is not indigenous but is a North Vietnam campaign of aggression.<br><em>March-June<\/em>\u2014Antiwar teach-ins on many US campuses.<br><em>March 2<\/em>\u2014Operation Rolling Thunder, the sustained US bombing of North Vietnam, begins; it continues until October 31, 1968.<br><em>March 8<\/em>\u2014US Marines, the first officially acknowledged combat units, go ashore at \u0110\u00e0 N\u1eb5ng to join the 24,000 US military advisers already in Vietnam.<br><em>April 17<\/em>\u2014In Washington, 25,000 people march against the war.<br><em>June<\/em>\u2014The eighth military government since the overthrow of Ng\u00f4 \u0110\u00ecnh Di\u1ec7m comes to power in Saigon, headed by Air Vice Marshall Nguy\u1ec5n Cao K\u1ef3 and General Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Thi\u1ec7u.<br><em>October-November<\/em>\u2014Large antiwar demonstrations in Washington and other US cities.<br><em>December<\/em>\u2014US military personnel number more than 184,000. <br><strong>1966 <\/strong><em>January<\/em>\u2014Senator J. William Fulbright held Foreign Relations Committee hearings about the war.<br><em>By the year end<\/em>, General Westmoreland commands over 1 million troops, including 362,000 Americans. During 1966, more than 5,000 Americans are killed and more than 30,000 are wounded.<br><em>September 22<\/em>\u2014800 Puerto Rican men pledge to refuse US Vietnam era draft, part of the colonial subjugation of our country, in Lares, Puerto Rico. <br><strong>1967 <\/strong>Throughout the year, there are huge antiwar demonstrations. More than 9,000 American are killed in Vietnam and close to 100,000 are wounded. By the fall, US troop strength is close to 500,000, and the forces under US command number more than 1.3 million.<br><em>April 4<\/em>\u2014Martin Luther King, Jr., denounces the war and calls the US government the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today; and this war is a blasphemy against all that America stands for.<br><em>November 21<\/em>\u2014General Westmoreland, called back home to engage in public relations, tells the nation that the enemy&#8217;s hopes are bankrupt, his forces are declining at a steady rate, and soon the South Vietnamese army will take charge of the final mopping up of the Vietcong.<br><em>End of 1967<\/em>\u2014The U.S. troop casualties rose to 16,021. <br><strong>1968 <\/strong><em>January 30-February 24<\/em>\u2014The T\u1ebft Offensive: NLF launches simultaneous attacks on all US military bases in Vietnam and 110 cities and towns in South Vietnam.<br><em>March 1<\/em>\u2014The frenzied buying of gold, which breaks through the thirty-five-dollar-an-ounce price held since 1934.<br><em>March 12<\/em>\u2014Antiwar Senator Eugene McCarthy comes close to beating incumbent President Johnson in the New Hampshire Democratic primary.<br><em>March 16<\/em>\u2014Antiwar Senator Robert Kennedy enters the presidential race.<br><em>March 16<\/em>\u2014US soldiers massacre hundreds of villagers in the hamlet of M\u1ef9 Lai.<br><em>March 22<\/em>\u2014Announcement is made that General Westmoreland is being relieved of his command.<br><em>March 31<\/em>\u2014President Johnson announces a partial halt of the bombing of North Vietnam and withdraws from the presidential race.<br><em>April 4<\/em>\u2014Martin Luther King, Jr., is assassinated.<br><em>April 4-11<\/em>\u2014Riots and rebellions in 125 US cities; Army reserves are called-up.<br><em>April 11<\/em>\u2014The Civil Rights Act.<br><em>May 10<\/em>\u2014Peace talks between US and DRV open in Paris.<br><em>June 4<\/em>\u2014Robert Kennedy wins the Democratic primary in California, with 88 percent of the votes going to him and rival antiwar candidate McCarthy. That night Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles.<br><em>July 5<\/em>\u2014US Marines, proclaiming a major victory, withdraw under fire from the besieged base of Khe Sanh.<br><em>August 5-8<\/em>\u2014Republican National Convention in Miami Beach nominates Richard Nixon, who pledges that he will end the Vietnam War as soon as he takes office. A line of tanks has sealed off Miami Beach from the riots taking place in Miami.<br><em>August 26-29<\/em>\u2014Democratic National Convention in Chicago nominates Vice-President Hubert Humphrey, although he has won only 2.2 percent of the delegates in the state primaries, which were swept by McCarthy and Kennedy. Outside, police battle antiwar demonstrators.<br><em>End of 1968<\/em>\u2014The U.S. troop casualties double in one year to 30,160. <br><strong>1969 <\/strong><em>January<\/em>\u2014The NLF and the Saigon government join the peace talks.<br><em>January-June<\/em>\u2014President Nixon and H. Ross Perot secretly plan a massive POW\/MIA campaign to build support for continuing the war.<br><em>February<\/em>\u2014US troops participate in Operation Dewey Canyon I in Laos.<br><em>March<\/em>\u2014US forces in Vietnam peak at more than 540,000.<br><em>May 8<\/em>\u2014The NLF puts forward its ten-point position at the Paris negotiations.<br><em>May 14<\/em>\u2014President Nixon in a televised speech presents his Administrations eight-point negotiation position and announces the withdrawal of 25,000 US troops.<br><em>June 25<\/em>\u2014The Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam (PRG) is announced.<br><em>September 2<\/em>\u2014H\u1ed3 Ch\u00ed Minh dies.<br><em>October 15<\/em>\u2014Millions of Americans participate in the antiwar Moratorium.<br><em>November 15<\/em>\u2014During the antiwar Mobilization, a million protesters march in Washington and San Francisco while many GI&#8217;s in Vietnam, including entire units, stage antiwar demonstrations. <br><strong>1970 <\/strong><em>February<\/em>\u2014Henry Kissinger and L\u00ea \u0110\u1ee9c Th\u1ecd begin secret peace talks in Paris.<br><em>April 29<\/em>\u2014US and ARVN troops invade eastern Cambodia.<br><em>May 4<\/em>\u2014Nationwide protest demonstrations erupt, during which four students are shot to death and 13 wounded by soldiers at Kent State University.<br><em>May 14<\/em>\u2014Two African-American students killed and 30 wounded by police at Jackson State College, Jackson, MS.<br><em>June 24<\/em>\u2014Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.<br><em>August 29<\/em>\u201425,000 Chicano&#8217;s protest Vietnam war in streets of Los Angeles.<br><em>December<\/em>\u2014Congress bans US combat troops in Laos and Cambodia. <br><strong>1971 <\/strong><em>January 10<\/em>\u2014People&#8217;s Peace Treaty between peoples of the United States and Vietnam, endorsed by 130 organizations and million of north Americans later.<br><em>February-March<\/em>\u2014Dewey Canyon II: The invasion of Laos by ARVN troops with US air support turns into a debacle.<br><em>April<\/em>\u2014As part of a massive antiwar demonstration in Washington, Vietnam veterans stage Dewey Canyon III, during which several hundred throw their medals and ribbons at the Capitol.<br><em>May 3<\/em>\u2014May Day Action Against Viet Nam War results in largest mass arrests in U.S. history. 14,000 people shut down shut down war machine for 3 days. Washington, DC.<br><em>June<\/em>\u2014The\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>\u00a0begins serial publication of\u00a0<em>The Pentagon Papers<\/em>, the top-secret Pentagon history of the Vietnam War, stolen by Daniel Ellsberg and Anthony Russo.<br><em>October<\/em>\u2014Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Thi\u1ec7u, running unopposed, is elected president of South Vietnam.<br><em>December 26<\/em>\u201415 members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) capture the Statue of Liberty for 43 hours (New York). <br><strong>1972 <\/strong><em>February<\/em>\u2014President Nixon visits China.<br><em>March-May<\/em>\u2014Major offensive by insurgent forces in South Vietnam.<br><em>May<\/em>\u2014Nixon orders mining of Haiphong harbor.<br><em>June<\/em>\u2014Nixons Plumbers apprehended during burglary of the Democratic headquarters in the Watergate apartment and office complex.<br><em>July<\/em>\u2014The Union of Vietnamese in the U.S. (Li\u00ean hi\u1ec7p Vi\u1ec7t ki\u1ec1u t\u1ea1i M\u1ef9) was founded, supporting the seven-peace points of the National Liberation Front. <br><em>October<\/em>\u2014Kissinger and L\u00ea \u0110\u1ee9c Th\u1ecd reach agreement on peace terms; Nixon announces that peace is at hand; Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Thi\u1ec7u rejects terms.<br><em>November<\/em>\u2014Nixon wins re-election in a landslide.<br><em>December 13<\/em>\u2014Peace talks break down when L\u00ea \u0110\u1ee9c Th\u1ecd rejects changes in the agreement demanded by Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Thi\u1ec7u.<br><em>December 18-31<\/em>\u2014Operation Linebackers II: the massive Christmas bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong, during which many B-52s and other planes are shot down.<br><em>December 26<\/em>\u2014Peace talks resume, leading essentially to reinstatement of the October agreement by January 18, 1973. <br><strong>1973 <\/strong><em>January 27<\/em>\u2014Peace agreement, signed by US, DRV, ARVN, and PRG, basically implements the terms of the 1969 NLF ten-point position.<br><em>February 1<\/em>\u2014In a secret letter to Hanoi&#8217;s Prime Minister Ph\u1ea1m V\u0103n \u0110\u1ed3ng, Nixon pledges over $4 billion in US aid to North Vietnam.<br><em>March<\/em>\u2014The last US combat troops are withdrawn from Vietnam. The last US prisoners of war are released; they are made the heroes of the war in the Nixon Administration&#8217;s Operation Homecoming. US draft ended.<br><em>July 1<\/em>\u2014Congress passes a law forbidding the use of any funds for combat in, over, or off the shores of Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam as of August 15, 1973.<br><em>November<\/em>\u2014Congress passes the War Power Act over presidential veto. <br><strong>1974<\/strong> <em>January-May<\/em>\u2014Cease-fire breaks down, and Saigon launches major offensive.<br><em>May<\/em>\u2014House Judiciary Committee begin impeachment hearings.<br><em>August-September<\/em>\u2014Nixon resigns. He is replaced by Gerald Ford, whom he had appointed vice-president after Vice-President Spiro Agnew resigned in 1973 while being indicted for several felonies, for which he was later convicted. President Ford pardons Nixon for any and all crimes he may have committed while president. <strong>1975<\/strong> <em>January-April<\/em>\u2014Major offensive by NLF and army of the DRV. Saigon&#8217;s army collapses. Nguy\u1ec5n V\u0103n Thi\u1ec7u resigns.<br><em>April 30<\/em>\u2014Saigon surrenders to the revolutionary forces. Last US personnel leave in an emergency helicopter airlift from the roof of the US Embassy.<br><strong><em>May 16<\/em>\u2014The United States imposes a trade embargo on Vietnam.<\/strong> <br><strong>1976 Vietnam unifies as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV) with Hanoi as its capital<\/strong>. After fifteen months of hearings and investigations, the House Select Committee on Missing Persons in Southeast Asia reports that there is no credible evidence that any US POW&#8217;s are being held against their will in Vietnam. <br><strong>1977 <\/strong>Khmer Rouge, now rulers of Kampuchea (Cambodia), launch attacks on Vietnamese villages in T\u00e2y Ninh province. Vietnam is admitted to the United Nations. Vietnam counterattacks Khmer Rouge forces. <br><strong>1978<\/strong> <em>November<\/em>\u2014Vietnam signs friendship pact with the Soviet Union.<br><em>December<\/em>\u2014President Jimmy Carter normalizes relations with China. Vietnam, allied with dissident Khmer Rouge forces, invades Cambodia. <br><strong>1979 <\/strong><em>January<\/em>\u2014Vietnamese forces defeat Khmer Rouge and help install a friendly government in Cambodia.<br><em>February<\/em>\u2014China invades northern Vietnam but is defeated by mid-March. <br><em>September<\/em>\u2014Committee in Solidarity with Vietnam, Kampuchea and Laos was found to expose Pol Pot genocidal regime.<br><strong>1981 <\/strong>President Ronald Reagan&#8217;s Administration sets up covert operations in Laos, Thailand, and the United States to promote the POW\/MIA issue. <br><strong>1982 <\/strong>Vietnam Veterans Memorial is unveiled in Washington. President Reagan sets up POW\/MIA Interagency Group with leading POW\/MIA activists in key positions. <br><strong>1983 <\/strong><em>January 23<\/em>\u2014President Reagan declares that from now on, the POW\/MIA issue will be the highest national priority. <br><strong>1985<\/strong> May 5\u2014The Tenth Anniversary of Peace in Vietnam at Washington Irving High School in New York City with June Jordan &amp; Adrienne Torf, David Dellinger, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Reps. from South Africa ANC, Vietnam, Laos, Nicaragua and El Salvador, Barry Romo, Prof. Mel King, Holly Near &amp; Jeff Langley and Roy Brown, co-chaired by Prof. Johnnetta Cole &amp; Don Luce. <br><strong>1986<\/strong> formation of the National Network of Indochina Activists to co-sponsor the Committee to Welcome Kim Phuc.<br><strong>1989 <\/strong>After eight years of fomenting the POW\/MIA issue, the Reagan Administrations final report on the question admits that it has found no reliable evidence of any US POW&#8217;s alive in Southeast Asia. The last Vietnamese troops are withdrawn from Cambodia.<br><strong>The first year Vietnam is self-sufficient in food over 150 years.<\/strong> <br><em>April 27<\/em>\u2014Music of Friendship: An evening in concert with \u0110inh Th\u00ecn and Nguy\u1ec5n Xu\u00e2n Ho\u1ea1ch and Pete Seeger and Bev Grant at the New School for Social Research Graduate Center, sponsored by the Committee in Solidarity with Vietnam, Kampuchea &amp; Laos and the NSSR Economic Student Union.<br><strong>1990<\/strong> <em>November 1 to December 17<\/em>\u2014The first &#8220;American veterans to meet Vietnamese combat veteran on US visit&#8221; Nguy\u1ec5n Ng\u1ecdc H\u00f9ng and translator Tr\u1ea7n V\u0103n Th\u00e1i, traveling 11 US cities calling for normalization, sponsored by the National Network of Indochina Activists and the Asia Resource Center, and endorsed by Clergy and Laity Concerned, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, the Association of Vietnamese in the US, Women&#8217;s Workshop in the Americas, US\/Puerto Rico Solidarity Network. <br><strong>1991 <\/strong><em>April 9<\/em>\u2014President George Bush announces a road map for full normalization of relations with Vietnam in two years.<br><em>June<\/em> 1\u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/ccrjustice.org\/home\/what-we-do\/our-cases\/afsc-v-brady\">Center for Constitutional Rights sues and wins the U.S. Department of Treasury (AFSC v Brady)<\/a> for plaintiffs American Friends Service Committee, Geo-Vista Global Experiences and Veterans For Peace, Inc. for excessive prohibitions on travel service providers to Vietnam, Cambodia and North Korea. The Department of Treasury quickly drops all limitations.<br><em>July<\/em>\u2014Phony pictures of alleged US POW&#8217;s in Vietnam unleash POW\/MIA media blitz.<br><em>August 2<\/em>\u2014Creation of the Senate Committee on POW\/MIA Affairs, which begins eighteen months of hearings.<br>1<strong>992<\/strong> Formation of a public calls for the end of economic embargo against Vietnam by the national Vietnam Reconciliation Initiative coalition.<br>1<strong>993 <\/strong><em>January<\/em>\u2014Senate Committee on POW\/MIA Affairs releases an inconclusive final report.<br><em>July<\/em>\u2014President Bill Clinton&#8217;s Administration announces that it will no longer block International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to Vietnam.<br><em>September<\/em>\u2014Clinton Administration maintains the US trade embargo against Vietnam that has been in effect since 1975, but allows US companies to begin bidding on future contracts for projects in Vietnam funded by international development agencies. <br>Dec<em>ember<\/em>\u2014Office of the Mayor John C. Daniels signed the Proclamation of the New Haven Board of Aldermen designating New Haven and Hu\u1ebf, Vietnam as sister cities. <br><strong>1994 <\/strong><em>February 3<\/em>\u2014President Clinton announces that he is lifting the trade embargo on Vietnam because of one factor and one factor only: This will help achieve the fullest possible accounting for our prisoners of war and our missing in action. <br><strong>1995 <\/strong><em>April 9<\/em>\u2014We were terribly wrong, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara on Vietnam.<br><strong><em>July 11<\/em>\u2014The United States normalizes relations with Vietnam. <\/strong><br><strong>2000 <\/strong><em>February 28<\/em>\u2014Vietnam announces for the first time that it will pay compensation for soldiers (1961-1975) and their children (about 2 millions) affected by Agent Orange during the war with the United States.<br><em>March 30<\/em>\u2014The Air Force (Ranch Hand Study) has found the strongest evidence to date that exposure to Agent Orange is linked to diabetes.<br><em>April 19<\/em>\u2014South Korean veterans (of the U.S. allied forces) admit to many cases of massacre of civilians in Vietnam in 1966. South Korea sent 320,000 troops to support the U.S. in Vietnam during the period of 1965-1973 4,960 killed and 11,000 injured.<br><em>April 30\u2014<\/em>The 25th Anniversary of the Victory of Peace in Vietnam, A Celebration and Rededication, at the Stephen W\u00edse Free Synagogue.<br><em>July 13\u2014<\/em>The U.S. and Vietnam sign their first bilateral trade agreement (BTA)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prepared by Prof. Ng\u00f4 V\u00ednh Long for the 25th Anniversary of the Victory of Peace in Vietnam. Adapted from Appendix A, from&nbsp;Vietnam and America: A Documented History, by Marvin E. Gettleman, Jane Franklin, Marilyn B. Young and H. Bruce Franklin. New York: Grove Press. 1998. 208 B.C. The kingdom of\u00a0Nam-Vi\u1ec7t\u00a0is found. 111 B.C. Nam-Vi\u1ec7t is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":61,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-54","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Chronology of the Vietnam War and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement in the U.S. - The 50th Anniversary of Peace &amp; Social Progress in Vietnam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vietnam50.us\/Home\/reports\/chronology-of-the-vietnam-war-and-the-anti-vietnam-war-movement-in-the-u-s\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chronology of the Vietnam War and the Anti-Vietnam War Movement in the U.S. - The 50th Anniversary of Peace &amp; Social Progress in Vietnam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Prepared by Prof. Ng\u00f4 V\u00ednh Long for the 25th Anniversary of the Victory of Peace in Vietnam. 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