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25 December 1965 - 30 June 1966
25 Dec 65
The second unilateral pause in the bombing of North Vietnam occurs. It lasts for 37 days while the U.S. attempts to pressure North Vietnam into a negotiated peace. However, the North Vietnamese denounce the bombing halt as a "trick" and continue Viet Cong terrorist activities in the South.
26 Dec 65
A Mostly Silent Night As Truce Calms Viet 1st Time in 5 Years
26 Dec 65
Yule in Vietnam - Will The VC Hit?    
26 Dec 65
2,000 Hear Cardinal in Silent War Zone    
31 Dec 65
U.S. troop levels in Vietnam reached 184,300. An estimated 90,000 South Vietnamese soldiers deserted in 1965, while an estimated 35,000 soldiers from North Vietnam infiltrated the South via the Ho Chi Minh trail. Up to 50 percent of the countryside in South Vietnam is now under some degree of Viet Cong control.
31 Dec 65
General William Westmoreland is chosen as Time Magazine's 1965's 'Man of the Year.'
12 Jan 66
During his State of the Union address before Congress, President Johnson comments that the war in Vietnam is unlike America's previous wars, "Yet, finally, war is always the same. It is young men dying in the fullness of their promise. It is trying to kill a man that you do not even know well enough to hate...therefore, to know war is to know that there is still madness in this world."
22 Jan 66
Hanoi Avoids Peace in Hope U.S. Will Quit, Johnson Says
22 Jan 66
Calm Reigns in Battle-Torn Vietnam    
22 Jan 66
F-105 Rams Thai Village    
22 Jan 66
VC Shatter Truce    
23 Jan 66
Hotter Red Action End of Holiday Unlikely, Rusk Says
23 Jan 66
VC Bomb U.S. Billet, Killed NCO    
23 Jan 66
Firecrackers Spark 'Battle' in Saigon    
28 Jan 66
1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) begins Operation Masher on the Bong Son Plains, the first large search and destroy operation of the war. President Johnson orders the name of the 42-day operation changed to "White Wing" to avoid adverse U.S. public opinion. The operation lasts until 6 March 66.
31 Jan 66
Citing Hanoi's failure to respond to his peace overtures during the 37 day bombing pause, President Johnson announces bombing of North Vietnam will resume.
31 Jan 66
Senator Robert F. Kennedy criticizes President Johnson's decision to resume the bombing, stating that the U.S. may be headed "on a road from which there is no turning back, a road that leads to catastrophe for all mankind." His comments infuriate the President.
Feb 66
The largely antiwar Senate Foreign Relations Committee, chaired by Sen. J. William Fulbright, holds televised hearings examining America's policy in Vietnam.
2 Feb 66
U.S. Bombs North, Ends 37-Day Lull    
2 Feb 66
L.B.J. Calls on U.N. to Seek Peace    
2 Feb 66
Jelly Bean Bandit Hits    
2 Feb 66
Peronists Win in A Landslide    
3 Feb 66
Newspaper columnist Walter Lippmann lambastes President Johnson's strategy in Vietnam.
6-9 Feb 66
President Johnson and South Vietnam's Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky meet in Honolulu.
7 Feb 66
Fresh Troops Pour in - Allies in Largest Push to Date
7 Feb 66
Warships Collide Off Viet    
7 Feb 66
Luna-9's Signals Hint Moon Blast-Off Try    
1 Mar 66
Sen. Wayne Morse moves to repeal the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, but fails in the U.S. Senate by a vote of 92 to 5.
4 Mar 66
U.S. Hiking Viet Troops By 20,000    
4 Mar 66
N-Bombs 'Burst', U.S. Says    
6 Mar 66
The 1st Cav's Operation Masher (White Wing) ends with 1,342 confirmed enemy dead. U.S. losses are 228 KIA and 788 WIA.
9 Mar 66
The U.S. reveals that 20,000 acres of food crops have been destroyed in suspected Viet Cong villages. The admission generates harsh criticism from the American academic community.
10 Mar 66
South Vietnamese Buddhists begin a campaign to oust Prime Minister Ky following his dismissal of a top Buddhist general. This marks the beginning of extreme unrest in Saigon, Danang and Hue as political squabbling spills out into the streets and interferes with U.S. military operations.
11 Mar 66
Lone Survivor Radios - Reds Overrun 312-Man Camp
11 Mar 66
Paris Snubs Any Reform of N.A.T.O.    
22 May 66
Ky Planes Hit Danang Rebels; Police Battle Mobs in Saigon
22 May 66
2d Heart-Implant Patient Dies    
22 May 66
Israel to Buy U.S. Planes  
26 Mar 66
Anti-war protests are held in New York, Washington, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston and San Francisco.
28 Mar 66
Marines in 1st Delta Assault to Protect Shipping    
28 Mar 66
Anti-Viet Marchers Heckled    
28 Mar 66
Crippled Vet Must Return $78    
1 Apr 66
Koufax And Drysdale End Holdout    
1 Apr 66
Cav. Unit Mauled; Five Copters Downed    
1 Apr 66
Chutist Dragged 7 Minutes    
7 Apr 66
Danang Clash Averted; U.S. Pulls Out Advisers
7 Apr 66
No Show at Latin Quarter - Chorus Girl Strike Shakes Up Broadway
12 Apr 66
The U.S. uses B-52 bombers for the first time against North Vietnam. Each B-52 carried up to 100 bombs at an altitude of about six miles. Target selections, closely supervised by the White House, fall into six target categories; power facilities, war support facilities, transportation lines, military complexes, fuel storage, and air defense installations.
13 Apr 66
Viet Cong attack Tan Son Nhut airport in Saigon causing 140 casualties while destroying 12 U.S. helicopters and nine aircraft.
14 Apr 66
VC Hit Saigon A.B., 7 Killed 155 Hurt    
14 Apr 66
1st Infantry Division Unit Hit Hard By Viet Cong Near Saigon
14 Apr 66
Voiceprint Admitted As Evidence in N.Y.    
2 May 66
Secretary of Defense McNamara privately reports the North Vietnamese are infiltrating 4500 men per month into the South
14 May 66
Political unrest intensifies as South Vietnamese troops loyal to Prime Minister Ky overrun renegade South Vietnamese Buddhist troops in Danang. Ky's troops then move on to Hue to oust renegades there. Ky's actions result in a new series of immolations by Buddhist monks and nuns as an act of protest against his Saigon regime and its American backers. Buddhist leader Tri Quang blames President Johnson personally for the situation. Johnson responds by labeling the immolations as "tragic and unnecessary."
4 Jun 66
6,400 teachers and professors sign a three-page anti-war advertisement in the New York Times.
25 Jun 66
Political unrest in South Vietnam abates following the crackdown on Buddhist rebels by Prime Minister Ky, including the arrest of Buddhist leader Tri Quang. Ky now appeals for calm.
29 Jun 66
Citing increased infiltration of Communist guerrillas from North Vietnam into the South, the U.S. bombs oil depots around Hanoi and Haiphong, ending a self-imposed moratorium. The U.S. avoids targeting Hanoi itself over concerns for the reactions of North Vietnam's military allies, China and the Soviet Union. This concern also prevents any U.S. ground invasion of North Vietnam, despite such recommendations by a few military planners in Washington.
 
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