September 12

This Day in History

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Lead Story
Lascaux cave paintings discovered, 1940
American Revolution
Congress receives news of defeat at Brandywine, 1777
Automotive
New floating bridge opens in Seattle; I-90 stretches from coast to coast, 1993
Civil War
The First Battle of Lexington, Missouri, begins, 1861
Cold War
German occupation rights are relinquished, 1990
Crime
Tyco execs indicted, 2002
Disaster
Hurricane Gilbert slams Jamaica, 1988
General Interest
Khrushchev elected Soviet leader, 1953
JFK marries Jacqueline Bouvier, 1953
Violence in Boston over racial busing, 1974
Steven Biko dies, 1977
Hollywood
Season One of Entourage--a TV show about life in Hollywood--comes to an end, 2004
Literary
Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elope, 1846
Music
Barry White is born, 1944
Old West
Hopalong Cassidy rides off into his last sunset, 1972
Presidential
John F. Kennedy marries Jacqueline Bouvier in Newport, Rhode Island, 1953
Sports
Sugar Ray Robinson wins back belt, 1951
Vietnam War
Situation deteriorates in South Vietnam, 1959
U.S. intelligence agencies report 100,000 troops in the South, 1972
World War I
U.S. launches Saint-Mihiel offensive , 1918
World War II
The Laconia is sunk, 1942

Vietnam War

Sep 12, 1959:

Situation deteriorates in South Vietnam

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North Vietnamese Premier Pham Van Dong tells the French Consul: "You must remember we will be in Saigon tomorrow." In November, he would tell the Canadian Commissioner: "We will drive the Americans into the sea." The U.S. Embassy in Saigon eventually passed these remarks along to Washington as evidence of the deteriorating situation in South Vietnam. The United States had taken over from the French in the effort to stem the tide of communism in Southeast Asia. When President John F. Kennedy took office in 1961, he was faced with a dilemma in Laos and Vietnam. He decided that the line against communism had to be drawn in Vietnam and therefore he increased the number of military advisers to President Ngo Dinh Diem's government in Saigon. By the time of his assassination in November 1963, there would be more than 16,000 U.S. advisers in South Vietnam. Under his successor, Lyndon Johnson, there would be a steady escalation of the war that ultimately resulted in the commitment of more than half a million U.S. troops in South Vietnam.

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This Week in History, Sep 12 - Sep 18

Sep 12, 1959
Situation deteriorates in South Vietnam
Sep 12, 1972
U.S. intelligence agencies report 100,000 troops in the South
Sep 13, 1945
British troops arrive to disarm the Japanese
Sep 13, 1964
Attempted coup against Khanh government fails
Sep 13, 1968
Large operation begins in the DMZ
Sep 14, 1965
South Vietnamese forces and U.S. advisers conduct parachute assault
Sep 14, 1966
Operation Attleboro is launched in War Zone C
Sep 15, 1964
NLF calls for general military offensive
Sep 15, 1972
South Vietnamese forces retake Quang Tri City
Sep 16, 1960
U.S. Ambassador in Saigon warns that situation is worsening
Sep 16, 1969
Nixon announces the withdrawal of a further 35,000 troops from Vietnam
Sep 17, 1970
PRG presents a new peace plan
Sep 17, 1972
Hanoi releases three POWs
Sep 18, 1964
North Vietnamese Army begins infiltration
Sep 18, 1969
"March Against Death" to be held in Washington

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