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Oklahomans and the Vietnam War

Timeline


1954
July – The Geneva Accords are signed by Vietnam and France, ending France's colonial rule.
1955
July – Ngo Dinh Diem renounces the Geneva Accords
October – Diem is elected president of South Vietnam
1957
October – Fighting breaks out between the North Vietnam and South Vietnam
1959
May – North Vietnam begins moving men and supplies down the Ho Chi Minh Trail 1960
December – Formation of the National Liberation Front
1961
May – President John F. Kennedy approves sending Special Forces to South Vietnam and approves the "secret war" in Laos
1962
February – The United States establishes Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV) led by General Paul Harkins
1963
November – Ngo Dinh Diem is overthrown, captured and killed
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas
December – North Vietnam sends its first army units into the South
August – The Gulf of Tonkin Incident occurs
US Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1965
March – US begins Operation Rolling Thunder
The first US combat troops arrive in Vietnam
October–November – Battle of the Ia Drang Valley, the first major battle between America and North Vietnam
1966
December – Number of US forces in Vietnam reaches 385,000
1967
September – Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president of South Vietnam
President Lyndon Johnson offers to stop bombings of North Vietnam in return for negotiations
October – Activists hold antiwar demonstrations across the country
December – US forces reach in Vietnam reach 500,000
1968
January –  Tet Offensive begins
1969
January – Richard Nixon takes office as president of the United States
June – The withdrawal of US troops begins
1970
May – US forces invade Cambodia
September – Ho Chi Minh dies
National Guard troops kill four students at Kent State University in Ohio
June – The US Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
1971
June – The New York Times begins publishing The Pentagon Papers
December – US forces in Vietnam down to 156,800 1972
August – The last US combat unit leaves South Vietnam
October – South Vietnamese President Thieu rejects peace treaty
December – The US breaks off peace talks with North Vietnam
Operation Linebacker II begins
1973
January – The US and North Vietnam sign the Paris Agreement which calls for a ceasefire US military draft ends
March – Last American combat soldiers leave Vietnam and the is over for America
August – US bombing of Cambodia ends
November – US Congress passes the War Powers Act
1974
August – President Nixon resigns and is replaced by Gerald Ford
1975
March – North Vietnamese Army forces launch invasion of South Vietnam
North Vietnam launches its Ho Chi Minh campaign until all are taken over
April – Battle of Xuan Loc is the last major battle of the Vietnam War
South Vietnam President Nguyen Van Thieu resigns and flees
The last Americans and thousands of South Vietnamese refugees are evacuated from Saigon
Saigon falls to communist forces, ending the Vietnam War
1977
January – President Jimmy Carter pardons the "draft dodgers" from Vietnam War