Although the U.S. command refuses to confirm publicly the location of targets, U.S. B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam for the first time since November 1967. The bombers struck in the vicinity of Vinh, 145 miles north of the Demilitarized Zone. It was later acknowledged publicly that target priority during these attacks had been […]
Continue ReadingChaplin Receives Oscar
As part of his first visit to the United States in 20 years, British film pioneer Charlie Chaplin accepts an honorary Academy Award for his “incalculable” contribution to the art of filmmaking. Chaplin, once America’s most successful movie star and director, had left the country under a storm of controversy in 1952. Born in London, […]
Continue ReadingNorth Vietnamese Forces Open A Third Front
North Vietnamese 2nd Division troops drive out of Laos and Cambodia to open a third front of their offensive in the Central Highlands, attacking at Kontum and Pleiku in attempt to cut South Vietnam in two. If successful, this would give North Vietnam control of the northern half of South Vietnam. The three-front attack was […]
Continue ReadingU.S. Forces Respond To North Vietnamese Offensive
Clear weather for the first time in three days allows U.S. planes and Navy warships to begin the sustained air strikes and naval bombardments ordered by President Nixon in response to the massive North Vietnamese offensive launched on March 30. The Nguyen Hue Offensive (later known as the “Easter Offensive”) was a massive invasion by […]
Continue ReadingNorth Vietnamese Launch Second Front Of Nguyen Hue Offensive
Moving out of eastern Cambodia, North Vietnamese troops open the second front of their offensive with a drive into Binh Long Province, attacking Loc Ninh, a border town 75 miles north of Saigon on Highway 13. At the same time, additional North Vietnamese cut the highway between An Loc, the provincial capital, and Saigon to […]
Continue ReadingNixon Orders Response To North Vietnamese Invasion
The United States prepares hundreds of B-52s and fighter-bombers for possible air strikes to blunt the recently launched North Vietnamese invasion. The aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk was sent from the Philippines to join the carriers already off the coast of Vietnam and provide additional air support. This attack was the opening move of the North […]
Continue ReadingNorth Vietnamese Troops Capture Part Of Quang Tri
Soldiers of Hanoi’s 304th Division, supported by Soviet-made tanks and heavy artillery, take the northern half of the Quang Tri province. This left only Quang Tri City (the combat base on the outskirts of the city) and Dong Ha in South Vietnamese hands. South Vietnam’s 3rd Division commander Brig. Gen. Vu Van Giai moved his […]
Continue ReadingCharlie Chaplin Prepares For Return To United States After Two Decades
On this day in 1972, the great silent film actor and filmmaker Charlie Chaplin prepares for his first voyage to the United States since 1952, when he was denied a re-entry visa amid questions about his leftist politics. Born in Britain in 1889, Chaplin first became famous as the “Little Tramp” in Mack Sennett’s Keystone […]
Continue ReadingFrancis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather Opens
On this day in 1972, The Godfather–a three-hour epic chronicling the lives of the Corleones, an Italian-American crime family led by the powerful Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando)–is released in theaters. The Godfather was adapted from the best-selling book of the same name by Mario Puzo, a novelist who grew up in New York City’s Hell’s […]
Continue ReadingPioneer 10 Launched To Jupiter
Pioneer 10, the world’s first outer-planetary probe, is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on a mission to Jupiter, the solar system’s largest planet. In December 1973, after successfully negotiating the asteroid belt and a distance of 620 million miles, Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter and sent back to Earth the first close-up images of the spectacular […]
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