June 1st 1954: The Saigon Military Mission, a covert operation to conduct psychological warfare and paramilitary activities in South Vietnam, is launched under the command of U.S. Air Force Col. Edward Lansdale. This marks the beginning of the Vietnam war. Many of the mission’s ongoing efforts are directed at supporting the regime of South Vietnamese Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem.

July 21st 1954: The Geneva Accords effectively divide Vietnam in two at the 17th parallel. Although the Accords explicitly state that the 17th parallel “should not in any way be interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundary,’’ it is quickly afforded exactly that status. 

November 2, 1963: Ngo Dinh Diem is assassinated by his own generals as part of a coup d’etat that is carried out with the tacit support of U.S. officials. Ngos' autocratic and violent excesses when dealing with South Vietnam’s majority Buddhist population led the U.S to withdraw its patronage of him. At this point approximately 16,000 U.S military personnel are in Vietnam, and 200 have been killed.

August 5th 1964: After commanders reported a North Vietnamese torpedo boat attack on the U.S. destroyers Maddox and Turner Joy in the Gulf of Tonkin, U.S. Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson submits the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution to congress. The resolution authorizes the president to ‘’take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States.’’ Although the captain of the Maddox urged caution, suggesting that the August 4 attack had been conjured from the imaginations of overeager or inexperienced sonar operators (an assessment that will ultimately prove correct), Congress overwhelmingly passes the resolution. Approximately 23,000 U.S. troops are in Vietnam, and roughly 400 have been killed.  

Stem the rise of rival political and economic ideologies.