A top-secret study, commissioned by presidential assistant Henry Kissinger, is completed by the office of the Chief of Naval Operations. Code-named Duck Hook, the study proposed measures for military escalation against North Vietnam. The military options included a massive bombing of Hanoi, Haiphong, and other key areas of North Vietnam; a ground invasion of North Vietnam; the mining of harbors and rivers; and a bombing campaign designed to sever the main railroad links to China. A total of 29 major targets in North Vietnam were pinpointed for destruction in a series of air attacks planned to last four days and to be renewed until Hanoi capitulated. This plan represented a drastic escalation of the war and was never ordered by President Richard Nixon. However, Nixon did order certain elements of the proposal, such as the intensified bombing of Hanoi and Haiphong and the mining of North Vietnamese harbors, in response to the 1972 North Vietnamese Easter Offensive.
Also on This Day
- Lead Story
- Armstrong walks on moon, 1969
- American Revolution
- Mad Anthony Wayne loses to Loyalists in New Jersey, 1780
- Automotive
- U.S. government study disputes Nader's charges against Corvair, 1972
- Civil War
- Confederates attack at the Battle of Peachtree Creek, 1864
- Cold War
- Truman issues peacetime draft, 1948
- Crime
- A serial-killing couple is apprehended, 1984
- Disaster
- Second great flood hits Johnstown, 1977
- General Interest
- Sitting Bull surrenders, 1881
- King of Jordan assassinated, 1951
- Viking 1 lands on Mars, 1976
- Hollywood
- Bruce Lee dies at age 32, 1973
- Literary
- Acclaimed author Cormac McCarthy is born, 1933
- Music
- Jan and Dean's "Surf City" hits #1, 1963
- Old West
- Homesteaders murdered by Wyoming ranchers, 1889
- Presidential
- Nixon watches first lunar landing, 1969
- Sports
- Sir Edmund Hillary born, 1919
- Vietnam War
- Viet Cong troops overrun town, 1964
- Duck Hook plan completed, 1969
- World War I
- Caillaux trial begins in Paris, 1914
- World War II
- Assassination plot against Hitler fails, 1944
Duck Hook plan completed
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This Week in History, Jul 20 - Jul 26
- Jul 20, 1964
- Viet Cong troops overrun town
- Jul 20, 1969
- Duck Hook plan completed
- Jul 21, 1965
- Johnson considers the options
- Jul 22, 1967
- Taylor and Clifford begin tour of the Pacific region
- Jul 22, 1968
- North Vietnamese condemn Honolulu Conference
- Jul 23, 1964
- Taylor and Khanh have "heated" discussions in Saigon
- Jul 23, 1965
- Johnson urged to declare a state of national emergency
- Jul 24, 1965
- North Vietnam increases air defense capabilities
- Jul 25, 1964
- Joint Chiefs propose air strikes
- Jul 25, 1969
- Nixon announces new doctrine
- Jul 26, 1968
- South Vietnamese opposition leader tried and sentenced
- Jul 26, 1972
- South Vietnamese troops raise flag over Quang Tri
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