Key events, figures, and domestic impact of the Vietnam War and its era. Front: the term, event, or figure. Back: a one to two sentence explanation of its significance.
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- Gulf of Tonkin Incident
- Disputed naval events in August 1964 involving alleged North Vietnamese attacks on US destroyers that prompted Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, greatly expanding presidential war powers.
- Domino Theory
- Cold War belief that if one country fell to communism, neighboring countries would follow like dominoes, justifying US intervention in Vietnam to prevent regional communist expansion.
- Operation Rolling Thunder
- Sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam from 1965 to 1968 intended to weaken North Vietnam's military capacity and destroy its will to fight.
- Tet Offensive
- Major coordinated North Vietnamese and Viet Cong attack in January 1968 on South Vietnamese cities that, though militarily defeated, shocked Americans and turned public opinion decisively against the war.
- Lyndon B. Johnson
- US president from 1963 to 1969 who dramatically escalated American military involvement in Vietnam through Operation Rolling Thunder and major troop deployments, and chose not to seek reelection in 1968.
- Ho Chi Minh
- Communist leader of North Vietnam and nationalist figure who defeated French colonial forces and unified Vietnam under communist rule after the war ended in 1975.
- Pentagon Papers
- Classified Defense Department study leaked to the press in 1971 revealing that successive US administrations had systematically misled the public about Vietnam War progress and prospects.
- My Lai Massacre
- March 1968 incident where US troops killed hundreds of unarmed South Vietnamese civilians, shocking the American public and raising serious questions about war crimes and military conduct.
- Fall of Saigon
- April 1975 collapse of the South Vietnamese government when North Vietnamese forces entered the capital, ending the war and reunifying the country under communist control.
- Richard Nixon
- US president from 1969 to 1974 who campaigned on peace and implemented Vietnamization (gradual US troop withdrawal), while also secretly expanding the war into Cambodia and Laos.
- Walter Cronkite
- Trusted CBS Evening News anchor whose February 1968 broadcast declaring the Vietnam War unwinnable significantly influenced American public and political opinion against further escalation.
- Anti-war Movement
- Massive domestic protests by students, veterans, and activists opposing US involvement in Vietnam, including marches, teach-ins, and draft card burning that dominated American politics.
- Kent State Shootings
- May 1970 incident where Ohio National Guard fired on student protesters against the invasion of Cambodia, killing four students and galvanizing anti-war sentiment nationwide.
- War Powers Act
- 1973 law requiring the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of military action and limiting military engagement to 60 days without explicit congressional approval.
- Vietnamization
- Nixon administration strategy to gradually withdraw American troops while training and equipping South Vietnamese forces to fight their own war against North Vietnam.