1960s Timeline

July 21, 1963 - South Vietnamese Government forces inflicted heavy casualties on a well-armed Viet Cong unit in a fierce battle in the...

July 20, 1963 - Apparently mistaking each other for Communist guerrillas, U.S. soldiers exchanged fire in darkness at an airstrip 65...

July 19, 1963 - One of the leaders of the Communist Viet Cong warned the United States today that the guerrilla fighting in South Vietnam...

July 18, 1963 - Three American Special Forces men were slain in a Communist ambush on “Bloody Route 13” this morning, bringing to 89 the...

July 17, 1963 - President Ngo Dinh Diem’s government cracked down hard today on Buddhist street demonstrations in a church-state struggle...

July 17, 1963 - United States Air Force Captain Condon H. Terry’s widow, Audrey, is proud of what he fought and died for. Terry, 30, was...

July 9, 1963 - Ambassador Frederick Nolting Jr. (right) headed back to Saigon today, reportedly carrying assurances of President...

July 8, 1963 - President Kennedy conferred today with Ambassador Frederick Nolting Jr. about difficulties besetting the Government of...

July 8, 1963 - Nguyen Tuong Tam (pictured), one of South Vietnam’s most celebrated writers, committed suicide today by taking poison. Mr....

July 7, 1963 - About 20 South Vietnamese policemen attacked a group of nine Western reporters and photographers today who were covering...

July 4, 1963 - A fantastic labyrinth of tunnels, still manned by Communist Viet Cong guerrillas, has been found by chance only 25 miles...

July 3, 1963 - A U.S. Air Force spokesman said today that nearly 9,000 Communist guerrillas had been killed in South Vietnam in the last...

July 2, 1963 - Some U.S. officials in South Vietnam who two months ago were praising President Ngo Dinh Diem (pictured with Vice...

June 27, 1963 - Henry Cabot Lodge (pictured with President Kennedy in December 1961), the Republican candidate for Vice President in...

June 24, 1963 - A new Army jungle boot, with a stainless-steel insert in the sole, is being rushed to South Vietnam this summer to...

June 22, 1963 - The AR-15 rifle (pictured) may ultimately replace the M-14 as the standard Army rifle before the M-14 itself ever becomes...

June 17, 1963 - In an era of modern weapons, U.S. forces in South Vietnam are finding primitive weapons a source of constant, dangerous...

June 15, 1963 - Angry youths in a Buddhist mob clashed with the police for 45 minutes in Saigon today before tear gas routed the rioters....

June 13, 1963 - The United States has warned President Ngo Dinh Diem (pictured) of South Vietnam that it will publicly condemn his...

June 11, 1963 - An elderly Buddhist monk calmly put a match to his gasoline-drenched yellow robes at a main street intersection in Saigon...