August 2, 1964. - American involvement in Vietnam escalated when North Vietnam launched an attack against the C. Turner Joy and the U.S.S. Maddox, two American ships on call in the Gulf of Tonkin, on August 2, 1964. In the U.S. Congress, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was passed, allowing for an expanded war effort. Despite hopes for a limited, "controlled" war, the conflict would drag itself out for another decade.
In early 1965, U.S. President Lyndon Johnson ordered the first of many sustained bombing missions over North Vietnam , which would be known as Operation Rolling Thunder. In March of the same year, the first U.S. combat troops were sent to Vietnam. Despite superior U.S. firepower and technology, t
he North Vietnamese forces were successful in fighting a protracted, guerilla-style conflict. American fortunes changed for the worse with the Tet Offensive in 1968, in which major South Vietnam cities were attacked. Historians disagree on the literal success of the offensive, but it proved to be a
huge boost for North Vietnamese morale, and had the opposite effect on the South Vietnamese and U.S. forces. January 31, 1968 - The turning point of the war occurs as 84,000 Viet Cong guerrillas aided by NVA troops launch the Tet Offensive attacking a hundred cities and towns throughout South Vietn
am. June 24, 1970 - The U.S. Senate repeals the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. In early January 1973, the Nixon administration, the Paris Peace Agreement ended open hostilities between the U.S. and North Vietnam. However, the South Vietnamese continued to battle the Communists from March 1973 unt
il the fall of Saigon and the capture of the South Vietnamese presidential palace on April 30, 1975, which brought the war to a close. April 29, 1975 - U.S. Marines and Air Force helicopters, flying from carriers off-shore, begin a massive airlift. In 18 hours, over 1,000 American civilians and alm
ost 7,000 South Vietnamese refugees are flown out of Saigon. April 30, 1975 - At 4:03 a.m., two U.S. Marines are killed in a rocket attack at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport. They are the last Americans to die in the Vietnam War. At dawn, the last Marines of the force guarding the U.S. embassy lift of
f. Only hours later, looters ransack the embassy, and North Vietnamese tanks role into Saigon, ending the war.

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