Video: 'Vietnam: A Television History - America's Enemy [5/11]' (Alvarez at 15:07)
(Wednesday, August 5, 1964; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — U.S. Navy pilot Everett Alvarez Jr. became the first American flier to be shot down and captured by North Vietnam today; he was held prisoner until February 1973.
Video: 'Vietnam: A Television History - LBJ Goes to War [3/11]' (Gulf of Tonkin incident, Aug. 4, 1964, at 12:35)
(Tuesday, August 4, 1964, 10:30 p.m. North Vietnamese time; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — The Defense Department announced tonight that North Vietnamese PT boats made a “deliberate attack” today on two United States destroyers patrolling international waters in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. Continue reading Communist PT boats allegedly renew raids at Gulf of Tonkin 50 years ago this hour (Aug 4 1964)
Video: 'Vietnam a Television History Episode 1' (July 21, 1954, at 55:03)
(Wednesday, July 21, 1954; during the First Indochina War, part of the Cold War) — France and the three associated states of Indochina signed armistice agreements with the Communists today that extended the Iron Curtain around North Vietnam, a land of 13 million.
The United States warned it would view “with grave concern” any revival of aggression violating the agreements.
Video: 'Vietnam a Television History Episode 2' (July 7, 1954, at 4:18)
(Wednesday, July 7, 1954; during the First Indochina War, part of the Cold War) — Two months after the French surrendered to the Viet Minh at Dien Bien Phu, Emperor Bao Dai appointed Ngo Dinh Diem today as prime minister of what would become South Vietnam, hoping he would be able to attract American aid.
Image: U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (L) joins President Richard Nixon and Russian leaders in a toast after the signing of agreements at the Kremlin on July 3, 1974 following a seven-day summit.
(Wednesday, July 3, 1974; during the Cold War) — U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a treaty today in Moscow limiting the size of underground nuclear weapons tests. Nixon then flew back to the U.S., landing at a small air force base in Maine and gave the nation a report on his foreign travels (click here for video at 2:35:53).
Video: '1974: Mikhail Baryshnikov defects from the Soviet Union'
(Saturday, June 29, 1974; during the Cold War) — Mikhail Baryshnikov, considered one of the world’s greatest dancers, ran three blocks today to a waiting car in Toronto and effectively defected from the Soviet Union.
(Thursday, June 27, 1974; during the Watergate scandal) — U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev vowed to seek lasting world peace as their week of summit talks began today in Moscow in an atmosphere of flag-waving, laughing conviviality.
It was Nixon’s second visit to Moscow as president (the first, in May 1972, was a first for a sitting U.S. president) (click here for video at 2:35:53).
Video: 'Vietnam a Television History Episode 1' (June 18, 1954, at 53:30)
(Friday, June 18, 1954; during the First Indochina War, part of the Cold War) — The French cabinet fell and a new prime minister took over today, Pierre Mendès France, a critic of the Indochina War.
Video: 'Vietnam a Television History Episode 1' (June 4, 1954, at 51:29)
(Friday, June 4, 1954; during the First Indochina War, part of the Cold War) — U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles urged the Senate Foreign Relations Committee today to invest $3.5 billion in foreign aid during the next 12 months to help prevent “red domination” of the world.
Video: 'Agent Orange. American Chemical and Biological Warfare'
(Monday, May 7, 1984, 4:00 a.m. EDT) — A $180 million out-of-court settlement was reached today in the Agent Orange class-action suit brought by Vietnam veterans who charged they’d suffered injury from exposure to the defoliant.
