(Monday, March 12, 1973; during the Vietnam War, part of the Indochina Wars and the Cold War) — U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Robert L. Stirm, a freed prisoner of the Vietnam War, was joyously greeted today by his family on the tarmac at Travis Air Force Base in California in a scene captured in a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph by Slava Veder of The Associated Press.
Video: 'President Ronald Reagan - "Evil Empire" Speech'
(Tuesday, March 8, 1983) — In a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals convention today in Orlando, Florida, U.S. President Ronald Reagan referred to the Soviet Union as an “evil empire.”
Video: Thieu wedding interrupted (at 9:27)
(Friday, January 19, 1973; during the Vietnam War) — South Vietnamese President Thieu became angry today when Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker demanded to see him just as Thieu gave his daughter away in a wedding. Bunker wanted to communicate the latest letter from U.S. President Richard Nixon pressuring Thieu to agree to a peace agreement.
Video: Jan. 11, 1973 (6:03)
(Thursday, January 11, 1973; during the Vietnam War) — National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger cabled U.S. President Richard Nixon from Paris today that the agreement to end the Vietnam War was ready. The terms were almost identical to those laid down in October 1972.
Video: 'December 29, 1962 - President John F. Kennedy, Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami, Florida'
(Saturday, December 29, 1962) — U.S. President John F. Kennedy, after reviewing the brigade that tried to invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs in April 1961, told a highly emotional crowd of Cuban exiles today at Miami’s Orange bowl that the flag of the Bay of Pigs Brigade “will be returned” to a free Havana. Continue reading Kennedy addresses Cubans in Orange Bowl ceremony 50 years ago today (1962)
Video: Dec. 28, 1972 (5:58)
(Thursday, December 28, 1972; during Operation Linebacker II, part of the Vietnam War) — Hanoi’s Soviet MiG fighters are now taking the brunt of “The Christmas Bombings” battle over North Vietnam as ammunition is critically short. A thousand surface-to-air missiles have been used, but very few are now in evidence. By now, over 100,000 bombs have been dropped over Hanoi and Haiphong. But 33 U.S. air men are dead or missing.
Video: Dec. 26, 1972 (at 1:21)
(Tuesday, December 26, 1972; during Operation Linebacker II, part of the Vietnam War) — Following a pause for the Christmas holiday, 220 American aircraft struck targets in North Vietnam today over a fifteen minute period, destroying a missile assembly facility and crippling radar stations and airbases. Continue reading Massive ‘Christmas Bombings’ of North Vietnam resume 40 years ago today (1972)
Video: Bob Hope's last show in Vietnam (8:58)
(Sunday, December 24, 1972, Christmas Eve; during Operation Linebacker II, part of the Vietnam War) — Comedian Bob Hope, who has been visiting troops in Vietnam at Christmas since 1965 and entertaining American servicemen elsewhere overseas for 31 years, has performed his last show in Vietnam.
“This trip to Vietnam is my last,” he told troops attended a show today at the Tan Son Nhut airbase outside Saigon.
Video: Christmas bombing halt (9:14)
(Sunday, December 24, 1972, Christmas Eve; during Operation Linebacker II, part of the Vietnam War) — U.S. ‘Christmas Bombings’ of North Vietnam was temporarily halted today for 36 hours starting at 8:00 a.m. local time, although Radio Hanoi reported that raids had continued as late as 7:30 p.m. Continue reading ‘Christmas Bombings’ halted for holiday 40 years ago today (1972)
Video: Dec. 22, 1972 (6:47)
(Friday, December 22, 1972; during Operation Linebacker II, part of the Vietnam War) — The target area of “The Christmas Bombings” of North Vietnam today shifted away from Hanoi to the port city of Haiphong and its petroleum storage areas. Continue reading ‘Christmas Bombings’ shift to Haiphong, hospital near Hanoi hit 40 years ago today (1972)
