October 9

This Day in History

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Lead Story
Che Guevara is executed, 1967
American Revolution
Lord Dartmouth orders British officers to North Carolina, 1775
Automotive
Meteorite crashes into Chevy Malibu, 1992
Civil War
Union cavalry defeat Rebels at the Battle of Tom's Brook, 1864
Cold War
Professional revolutionary "Che" Guevara is executed in Bolivia, 1967
Crime
A Chicago bootlegger escapes from prison, 1942
Disaster
Landslide kills thousands in Italy, 1963
General Interest
Rhode Island founder banished from Massachusetts, 1635
St. Paul's Cathedral bombed, 1940
Oskar Schindler dies, 1974
Sakharov wins Peace Prize, 1975
Hollywood
Footloose, Steel Magnolias director Herbert Ross dies, 2001
Literary
Miguel de Cervantes is baptized, 1547
Music
Disco/Classical hybrid "A Fifth Of Beethoven" is the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts, 1976
Old West
Hoover Dam begins transmitting electricity to Los Angeles, 1936
Presidential
President Grant announces death of former President Pierce, 1869
Sports
The Gashouse Gang wins the World Series, 1934
Vietnam War
The National Guard breaks up protests at home, 1969
Khmer Republic proclaimed in Cambodia., 1970
World War I
Belgrade falls to Austria-Hungary, 1915
World War II
Churchill and Stalin confer, 1944

Vietnam War

Oct 9, 1970:

Khmer Republic proclaimed in Cambodia.

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The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia. In March, a coup led by Cambodian General Lon Nol had overthrown the government of Prince Norodom Sihanouk in Phnom Penh. Between 1970 and 1975, Lon Nol and his army, the Forces Armees Nationale Khmer (FANK), with U.S. support and military aid, fought the Communist Khmer Rouge for control of Cambodia. During those five years of bitter fighting, approximately 10 percent of Cambodia's 7 million people died. When the U.S. forces departed South Vietnam in 1973, both the Cambodians and South Vietnamese found themselves fighting the Communists alone. Without U.S. support, Lon Nol's forces succumbed to the Khmer Rouge in April 1975. The Khmer Rouge promptly evacuated Phnom Penh and set about to reorder Cambodian society, which resulted in a killing spree and the notorious "killing fields." Under the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians were murdered or died from exhaustion, hunger, and disease.

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This Week in History, Oct 9 - Oct 15

Oct 09, 1969
The National Guard breaks up protests at home
Oct 09, 1970
Khmer Republic proclaimed in Cambodia.
Oct 10, 1965
1st Cavalry Division commences operations
Oct 10, 1969
U.S. Navy transfers vessels to South Vietnamese
Oct 11, 1954
Viet Minh take control in the north
Oct 11, 1961
Kennedy ponders the Vietnam situation
Oct 12, 1967
Dean Rusk criticizes Congress while fighting continues in South Vietnam
Oct 12, 1970
Nixon announces another round of troop withdrawals
Oct 12, 1972
Racial violence breaks out aboard U.S. Navy ships
Oct 13, 1966
McNamara claims that war is progressing satisfactorily
Oct 13, 1970
Sir Robert Thompson advises President Nixon
Oct 14, 1964
Khrushchev ousted as premier of Soviet Union
Oct 14, 1968
U.S. servicemen sent to Vietnam for second tours
Oct 15, 1965
First draft card burned
Oct 15, 1966
Operation Attleboro continues in Tay Ninh Province
Oct 15, 1969
National Moratorium demonstrations held across the United States

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