Operation Chopper marks early U.S.-supported helicopter assault

The National Liberation Front (NLF) brought together communist-led and other southern groups opposing the Diệm government. It had substantial local roots and also received direction and support from...

A U.S. aircraft sprayed herbicide near a military target in South Vietnam as part of the defoliation program later widely associated with Agent Orange. The campaign damaged forests and crops and...

National Security Action Memorandum 111 expanded U.S. assistance and advisory activity in South Vietnam. The United States increased its role while Diệm’s state faced armed opposition and deep rural...

The first U.S. Army helicopter units arrived at Saigon’s Tân Sơn Nhứt airfield as part of a major expansion of military assistance. Helicopters increased the mobility of U.S.-backed forces, bringing...

The U.S.-backed Diệm government accelerated a program to move rural residents into fortified hamlets, aiming to separate them from insurgents. In practice, coercive relocation, land and livelihood...

Washington created MACV to direct the expanding U.S. advisory effort in South Vietnam. Its establishment formalized a larger command structure before the mass deployment of U.S. ground combat...

South Vietnamese forces fought National Liberation Front units near Ấp Bắc in the Mekong Delta. Despite superior numbers, helicopters, and armor, government forces failed to destroy the opposing...

During Vesak, security forces fired on a Buddhist crowd in Huế after a dispute over flying religious flags. Nine people were reported killed in later diplomatic records. The incident triggered...

Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức set himself on fire in Saigon to protest discrimination and repression under Diệm’s government. The image circulated internationally and made the Buddhist crisis a global...

Special forces attacked Buddhist pagodas across South Vietnam, including Xá Lợi in Saigon, and arrested monks and activists. The raids intensified public opposition and fractured the Diệm government’s...