Julia Cunningham + Seth Lynn

In July 1954, the Geneva Agreements were signed. As part of the agreement, the French agreed to withdraw their troops from northern Vietnam. Vietnam would be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel, pending elections within two years to choose a president and reunite the country.
This was important because it was intended to settle outstanding issues resulting from the Korean War and the First Indochina War. There were many disputes and this was the place everything was taken care of.
https://www.britannica.com/event/Geneva-Accords
https://www.thoughtco.com/the-geneva-accords-1954-3310118

The murder of the president of South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem, and his powerful brother and adviser, on November 2, 1963, was a major turning point in the war in Vietnam. Up until the deaths of the Ngo brothers, the United States had been advising the government of South Vietnam in its war against the Viet Cong and their benefactors, the government of North Vietnam. At the time, the United States had 16,000 troops in South Vietnam training the ARVN forces and even going so far as to accompany them on helicopter-borne raids deep into enemy territory. American casualties were beginning to mount, and images of the dead were being broadcast on stateside network television.
In the wake of the assassinations, American policy toward the war in Vietnam changed dramatically. The murder of President John F. Kennedy almost three weeks later placed a new head of state in the White House. Lyndon B. Johnson carried on his predecessor’s Vietnam. The credibility gap came into light and it was a term that came into wide use with journalism, political and public discourse in the United States. At the time, it was most frequently used to describe public skepticism about the Lyndon B. Johnson administration's statements and policies on the Vietnam War.

https://www.historynet.com/the-assassination-of-ngo-dinh-diem.htm

The Gulf of Tonkin incident, also known as the USS Maddox incident, was an international confrontation that led to the United States engaging more directly in the Vietnam War. The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorized President Lyndon Johnson to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”
It was the beginning of the United States’ formal involvement in the Vietnam War, with the stated goal of stopping the spread of communism in the region.Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution at the insistence of President Lyndon B. Johnson.
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/gulf-of-tonkin-resolution-1
https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2008/february/truth-about-tonkin

The Battle of Ia Drang was fought November 14-18, 1965, during the Vietnam War and was the first major engagement between the US Army and the People's Army of Vietnam.
The battle was extremely important because it was the first significant contact between U.S. troops and North Vietnamese forces. The action demonstrated that the North Vietnamese were prepared to stand and fight major battles even though they might take serious casualties.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/major-battle-erupts-in-the-ia-drang-valley
https://www.historynet.com/ia-drang-where-battlefield-losses-convinced-ho-giap-and-mcnamara-the-u-s-could-never-win.htm

Johnson approved limited bombing raids on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of pathways that connected North Vietnam and South Vietnam by way of neighboring Laos and Cambodia. It was named after Ho Chi Minh the activist who established the Communist-ruled Democratic Republic of Vietnam.The president’s goal was to disrupt the flow of manpower and supplies from North Vietnam to its Viet Cong allies. (An individual army made of parts of South Vietnam)
The Operation Rolling Thunder bombing campaign began on March 2, 1965, partly in response to a Viet Cong attack on a U.S. air base at Pleiku. The Johnson administration cited a number of reasons for shifting U.S. strategy to include systematic aerial assaults on North Vietnam.
Operation Rolling Thunder was a demonstration of America's near total air supremacy during the Vietnam War. It was started in an effort to demoralize the North Vietnamese people and to undermine the capacity of the government in North Vietnam to govern. Operation Rolling Thunder failed on both accounts.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ho-Chi-Minh
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Viet-Cong

The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of North Vietnamese attacks on more than 100 cities and outposts in South Vietnam. It was one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968, by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces, and their allies.

The offensive was an attempt to foment rebellion among the South Vietnamese population and encourage the United States to scale back its involvement in the Vietnam War. The campaign was full of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam.
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/tet-offensive
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1961-1968/tet

The My Lai massacre was one of the most horrific incidents of violence committed against unarmed civilians during the Vietnam War. A company of American soldiers brutally killed most of the people—women, children and old men—in the village of My Lai on March 16, 1968. Over 300 people dead.
Also during the Vietnam War, the Khe Sanh Combat Base was located to the north of the city. The Battle of Khe Sanh happened too. So many killings in such little time. This was out of hate and the only purpose was revenge.
https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/my-lai-massacre-1
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/opinion/the-truth-behind-my-lai.html

The 1968 Democratic National Convention was held during a year of violence, political turbulence, and civil unrest, particularly riots in more than 100 cities following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4. The convention also followed the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
The purpose of this was to solve many problems with all the killings that have been going on. The different massacres and The Battle of Hue were also brought up. Hue was one of the largest and bloodiest battles.
https://www.history.com/topics/1960s/1968-democratic-convention
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/1968-democratic-convention-931079/

The Kent State shootings were the shootings of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, during a mass protest against the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. This was in response to the bombing of Cambodia by the United States.

The significance of the event is that it really showed the divide in the nation about the Vietnam War. This also was very contorversial with the doves vs. hawks. They were different groups for and agaist the war. Here is an acrunum to help.
Desire for non-violence;
Opposition to military action;
Voice in the wilderness;
Eyes set on peace.

Horror of community control;
Answered the call of duty;
War is the answer;
Knights of democracy
https://apushvietnam.weebly.com/hawks-vs-doves.html

Vietnamization was a policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. He took out more than 100,000 troupes. That was in 1970. The Paris Peace Accords, officially titled the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam, was a peace treaty signed on January 27, 1973, to establish peace in Vietnam and end the Vietnam War.
https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20935/volume-935-I-13295-English.pdf