Comparative Timeline: Elvis and Vietnam
Neil Freeman, 2005
timeline with hyperlinks
1935
- Elvis Aaron Presley born in Tupelo, Mississippi.
1945
- Ho Chi Minh declares the Independence of Vietnam, creates provisional government. First American dies in Vietnam.
1947
- Elvis gets his first guitar.
1950
- US sends $15 million in military to aid France in Indochina Wars.
1953
- Elvis makes first recordings at Sun Studio, Memphis, Tennessee.
1954
- Elvis's first singles are released by Sun. He begins to shake his hips during concerts.
- Battle of Dien Bien Phu. Vietnam partitioned.
1955
- Elvis makes his TV debut on Louisiana Hayride. He signs with RCA late in the year.
- Ngo Dinh Diem declares the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) independent.
1956
- Elvis tops charts with Heartbreak Hotel. Stars in Love Me Tender.
- French leave Vietnam.
1957
- Elvis buys Graceland Mansion in Memphis, Tennessee.
- Communist insurgency into South Vietnam begins.
1958
- Elvis drafted into US Army.
1960
- Elvis is discharged from the Army and appears in GI Blues.
- Vietcong formed.
1961
- Elvis performs at Pearl Harbor to raise money for the USS Arizona memorial.
- Kennedy sends Green Berets into Vietnam.
1963
- Priscilla Beaulieu moves to Graceland
- President Diem of South Vietnam overthown and assassinated.
1964
- Viva Las Vegas released.
- Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin resolution.
1965
- Elvis meets Beatles.
- Operation Rolling Thunder begins. US troop level: 62,500 and rising.
1967
- Elvis marries Priscilla Beaulieu.
- Troop level: 463,000.
1968
- Lisa Marie Presley born. Elvis stars in Las Vegas Comeback TV special.
- Tet Offensive, My Lai massacre, Paris peace talks begin. Troop level: 495,000.
1969
- Elvis appears in his last film, Change of Habit. His four-week engagement at the International Hotel in Las Vegas is wildly successful.
- Nixon begins bombing Cambodia, Vietnamization announced. Troop level peaks at 543,400.
1970
- Elvis appointed a Federal Narcotics Agent by Nixon.
- The US invades Cambodia. Troop level: 280,000
1971
- Elvis named "One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation" by the United States Junior Chamber of Commerce (Jaycees).
- South Vietnam and the US invade Laos to disrupt the Ho Chi Minh trail.
1972
- Elvis & Priscilla divorce.
- Christmas bombing of North Vietnam. Troop level down to 69,000.
1973
- Elvis hospitalized in Memphis for pnuemonia, pleurisy, an enlarged colon and hepetitis.
- Cease-fire signed in Paris, American troops exit Vietnam, Henry Kissinger & Le Duc Tho awarded Nobel peace prize. Last US troops withdraw.
1975
- Elvis takes his first flight on his jet Lisa Marie.
- Saigon falls to North Vietnam.
1977
- Elvis dies on August 16.