Tonkin Gulf
On August 2, 1964, a North Vietnamese patrol boat fired a torpedo at an American destroyer, the USS Maddox, which was patrolling in the Gulf of Tonkin off the North Vietnamese coast. The torpedo missed its target, but the Maddox returned fire and inflicted heavy damage on the patrol boat. Two days later, the Maddox and another destroyer were again off the North Vietnamese coast. The alleged attack on the U.S. ships prompted President Johnson to launch bombing strikes on North Vietnam. Congress adopted the Tonkin Gulf Resolution on August 7th, which was not a declaration of war, it granted Johnson board military powers in Vietnam. In February on 1965, President Johnson used his newly granted powers. In response to a Vietcong attack that killed eight Americans, Johnson unleashed “Operation Rolling Thunder,” the first sustained bombing of North Vietnam. In March of that year the first American combat troops began arriving in South Vietnam. By June, more than 50,000 U.S. soldiers were battling the Vietcong. This photo was taken from USS Maddox during it's engagement with three North Vietnamese motor torpedo boats in the Gulf of Tonkin, 2 August 1964.
Dien Bin Phu
When President Eisenhower entered the White House in 1953, he continued the policy of supplying aid to the French war effort. By this time, the United States had settled for a stalemate with the communists in Korea, which only stiffened America’s resolve to halt the spread of communism elsewhere. Despite massive U.S. aid, however, the French could not retake Vietnam. They were forced to surrender in May of 1954, when the Vietnam overran the French outpost at Dien Bien Phu, in northwestern Vietnam. From May through July 1954, the countries of France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, the United States, China, Laos, and Cambodia met in Geneva, Switzerland, with the Vietminh and with South Vietnam’s anticommunist nationalists to hammer out a peace agreement.
Tet Offensive
January 30th was the Vietnamese equivalent of New Year’s Eve, the beginning of the lunar New Year festivities known in Vietnam as Tet. Throughout that day in 1968, villagers-taking advantage of week-long truce proclaimed for Tet-streamed into cities across South Vietnam to celebrate their new year. At the same time, many funerals were being held for war victims. Accompanying the funerals were the traditional firecrackers, flutes, and coffins. The coffins, however, contained weapons, and many of the villagers were Vietcong agents. That night the Vietcong launched an overwhelming attack on over 100 towns and cities in South Vietnam, as well as 12 U.S. air bases. The fighting was especially fierce in Saigon and the former capital of Hue. The Vietcong even attacked the U.S. embassy in Saigon, killing five Americans. The Tet offensive continued for about a month before the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces re-gained control of the cities.
Mai Lai Massacre
In November of 1969, New York Times correspondent Seymour Hersh reported that on March 16, 1968, a U.S. platoon under the command of Lieutenant William Calley, Jr., had massacred innocent civilians in the small village of Mai Lai in northern South Vietnam. Calley was searching for Vietcong rebels. Finding no sign of the enemy, the troops rounded up the villagers and shot more than 200 innocent Vietnamese-mostly women, children, and elderly men. The troops insisted that they were not responsible for the shootings because they were only following Lieutenant Calley’s orders. Twenty-five army officers were charged with some degree of responsibility, but only Calley was convicted and imprisoned.
By: Rachel E.