<Li> Following the outbreak of the Korean War, Truman announces "acceleration in the furnishing of military assistance to the forces of France and the Associated States in Indochina ...". and sends 123 non-combat troops to help with supplies to fight against the communist Viet Minh . </Li> <Li> 1951--Truman authorizes $150 million in French support . </Li> <Ul> <Li> 1953--By November, French commander in Indochina, General Navarre, asked U.S. General McArthur to loan twelve Fairchild C - 119 aircraft, to be flown by French crews, to facilitate Operation Castor at Dien Bien Phu . </Li> <Li> 1954--In January, Navarre's Deputy asked for additional transport aircraft . Negotiations ended on March 3 with 24 CIA pilots (CAT) to operate 12 U.S. Air Force C - 119s, flying undercover using French insignia, but maintained by the USAF . </Li> <Li> 1954--General Paul Ely, the French Chief of Staff, proposed an American operation to rescue French forces . Operation Vulture was hastily planned but President Eisenhower, convinced that the political risks outweighed the possible benefits, decided against the intervention . </Li> <Li> 1954--The Viet Minh defeat the French at the battle of Dien Bien Phu . The defeat, along with the end of the Korean War the previous year, causes the French to seek a negotiated settlement to the war . </Li> <Li> 1954--The Geneva Conference (1954), called to determine the post-French future of Indochina, proposes a temporary division of Vietnam, to be followed by nationwide elections to unify the country in 1956 . </Li> <Li> 1954--Two months after the Geneva conference, North Vietnam forms Group 100 with headquarters at Ban Namèo . Its purpose is to direct, organize, train and supply the Pathet Lao to gain control of Laos, which along with Cambodia and Vietnam formed French Indochina . </Li> <Li> 1955--North Vietnam launches an' anti-landlord' campaign, during which counter-revolutionaries are imprisoned or killed . The numbers killed or imprisoned are disputed, with historian Stanley Karnow estimating about 6,000 while others (see the book "Fire in the Lake") estimate only 800 . Rudolph Rummel puts the figure as high as 200,000 . </Li> <Li> November 1, 1955--President Eisenhower deploys the Military Assistance Advisory Group to train the Army of the Republic of Vietnam . This marks the official beginning of American involvement in the war as recognized by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial . </Li> <Li> April 1956--The last French troops leave Vietnam . </Li> <Li> 1954--1956--450,000 Vietnamese civilians flee the Viet Minh administration in North Vietnam and relocate in South Vietnam as part of the US government's Operation Passage to Freedom . Approximately 52,000 move in the opposite direction . Dr. Thomas Dooley works with the CIA to produce his influential disinformation book about the refugees Deliver Us from Evil . </Li> <Li> 1956--National unification elections do not occur . </Li> <Li> December 1958--North Vietnam invades Laos and occupies parts of the country </Li> <Li> July 8, 1959--Charles Ovnand and Dale R. Buis become the first two American Advisers to die in Vietnam . </Li> <Li> September 1959--North Vietnam forms Group 959, which assumes command of the Pathet Lao forces in Laos . </Li> <Li> November 1960--Coup attempt by paratroopers is foiled after Diệm falsely promises reform, allowing loyalists to crush the rebels . </Li> <Li> December 20, 1960--The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF) is founded . </Li> </Ul> <Li> 1953--By November, French commander in Indochina, General Navarre, asked U.S. General McArthur to loan twelve Fairchild C - 119 aircraft, to be flown by French crews, to facilitate Operation Castor at Dien Bien Phu . </Li>

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