Chronology

January

President-elect Richard M. Nixon appoints Henry Cabot Lodge as chief United States negotiator at the Paris peace talks, replacing W. Averell Harriman.

Operation Quyet Thang, a multidivision ARVN operation, begins. Operation Rice Farmer begins in the Mekong Delta. Operation Dewey Canyon begins in the Ashau Valley.

Henry Cabot Lodge calls for the restoration of a genuine demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam as a first step toward peace.

February

Communist forces launch a general offensive throughout South Vietnam.

Operation Quyet Thang 22, ARVN operation in Quang Ngai Province, is under way.

Operation Quang Nam, ARVN operation in Quang Nam Province, begins.

March

Operation Oklahoma Hills begins near Da Nang. Operation Wayne Grey begins in Kontum Province. Operation Quyet Thang 25 by ARVN begins in Quang Ngai Province.

At the Paris peace talks, North Vietnam asserts that the Vietcong offensive under way in South Vietnam is a reaction to "the intensification of the war by the Nixon Administration".

President Nixon warns that the U.S. "will not tolerate" continued enemy attacks on the South and he warns the North Vietnamese that the appropriate reactions should be expected.

The New York Times publishes a series of articles outlining the policy decisions made by the Johnson Administration beginning in March of 1968.

The Defense Department says United States forces in Vietnam total 541,500 the peak level of United States involvement in Vietnam.

President Nixon begins secret bombing of North Vietnamese bases in Cambodia.

Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird says that he is accelerating the program to prepare South Vietnamese troops to replace some American soldiers, adding he is not talking about pulling out United States troops at the present time [see Times03/20/69]. April Secretary of Defense Laird says secret talks on settling the Vietnam War are under way and are making progress. An official account of the Vietnam War, as sent to President Johnson by General Westmoreland and Admiral Sharp, is made public. The black-power issue and its tensions reach the United States troops in Vietnam. Operation Washington Green begins: a pacification program in the An Lao Valley of Binh Dinh Province. Operation Dan Thang 69, ARVN operation in Binh Dinh Province, is under way. Operation Lam Son 277, ARVN operation in Quang Tn Province, is under way. Operation Putnam Tiger, 4th Infantry Division operations in Kontum and Pleiku Provinces, is under way. Vietnamization takes a step forward when the 77th Field Artillery turns its equipment over to a South Vietnamese unit in the Mekong Delta. The Vietcong attack an allied base near the Cambodian border, but they are repulsed in a bloody battle. May Operation Virginia Ridge begins near the demilitarized zone in northern Quang Tn Province. Operation Dan Quyen 38-A, ARVN operation in Ben Het-Dak To area, begins. Operation Lamar Plain begins in Quang Tin Province. The Vietcong present a 10-point peace plan at the Paris peace talks. A South Vietnamese Army base and a United States artillery base, near Xuan Loc east of Saigon, are attacked by a large contingent of North Vietnamese. The Battle of Hamburger Hill: American paratroops and South Vietnamese forces drive the North Vietnamese from Apbia Mountain in their 11th attempt and pursue the enemy toward Laos, little more than a mile away.

President Nixon meets with South Vietnamese President Thieu on Midway Island. Mr. Nixon announces that 25,000 American troops will be withdrawn from South Vietnam by the end of August. Mr. Nixon terms the withdrawal a "significant step forward" toward a lasting peace in Vietnam. Premier Souvanna Phouma of Laos announces that the United States has been conducting bombing raids in Laos to destroy North Vietnamese infiltration routes and camps there. The United States command announces that the first troops to be withdrawn from Vietnam will be two Army brigades and a Marine unit. Hamburger Hill is abandoned by the United States on June 5. Communists retake the hill on June 17. July The first American combat unit, a battalion from the Ninth Infantry Division, leaves Vietnam. President Nixon enunciates the "Nixon doctrine," declaring that in the future the United States will avoid involvements like Vietnam by limiting its support to economic and military aid rather than active combat participation. President Nixon visits South Vietnam, meets with President Thieu and visits troops near Saigon. Operation Idaho Canyon begins in Quang Tn Province. August The first secret peace talks between Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho takes place (not disclosed until January 1972). The United States Army announces that Col Robert B. Rheault, the former commanding officer of all American Special Forces troops in Vietnam, and seven other former Green Berets have been charged with premeditated murder in the fatal shooting of a Vietnamese man. Tran Van Huong resigns as Premier of South Vietnam and is replaced by Gen. Tran Thien Khiem. Operations Lien Ket 414 and 513 begin. September Ho Chi Minh dies at age 79. United States military authorities in South Vietnam report that North Vietnamese infiltration has been increasing since the United States began withdrawing troops. President Nixon announces a second United States troop withdrawal, this time 35,000 men. The military is beginning a drive to reduce marijuana use by its soldiers. The North Vietnamese National Assembly elects President Ton Duc Thant to succeed Ho Chi Minh. President Nixon asks the United States public to give him the time and the support he needs to end the war in Vietnam honorably. Operation Quyet Thang 21/38 begins in An Xuyen Province. October Gains are reported in the pacification programs in South Vietnam. November Operation Dan Tien begins, an ARVN operation in Quang Duc Province. President Nixon makes a plea for domestic support as he persists in his effort to find peace in Vietnam and as he reveals what he says is a plan to bring home all United States ground combat forces on an orderly but secret timetable. Henry Cabot Lodge resigns as chief delegate to the Paris talks. The North Vietnamese step up their attacks in what is believed to be the beginning of their winter-spring offensive. 250,000 war protesters stage a peaceful rally in Washington,D.C. A group of South Vietnamese villagers reveal that a small American infantry unit killed 567 unarmed men, women and children as it swept through their hamlet on March 16, 1968. The Army announces that First Lieut. William L.i Galley Jr. will be court martialed on charges of murdering at least 109 men, women and children on or about March 16, 1968, in the village of Song My (the military designation is My Lai) in Quang Ngai Province in South Vietnam. December President Nixon announces a third withdrawal of troops, this time amounting to 50,000 men, by April 15, 1970. Operation Randolph Glen, a U.S./ARVN coordinated operation in Thua Thien Province, begins. Congress prohibits the use of current defense appropriations to introduce troops into Laos or Thailand. There are 475,000 troops in Vietnam at year's end. © 1940-1995 CBS, Inc. and The New York Times Company. All rights reserved. If you use this Chronology, give proper credit to The New York Times Company, and as I had to retype this text, give credit to this site too.