1964 in the Vietnam War
← 1963 1965 →
A map of South Vietnam showing provincial boundaries and names and military zones: I, II, III, and IV Corps.
Location Indochina
Belligerents
Anti-Communist forces:  South Vietnam  United States Kingdom of Laos	Communist forces:  North Vietnam Viet Cong Pathet Lao Soviet Union
Strength
US: 23,310 (31 Dec 1964) South Vietnam: 514,000 (includes militia)[1]: 24, 455	PAVN/VC:100,000[2]: 582
Casualties and losses
US: 216 killed[3] South Vietnam: 7,457 killed[4]: 275	PAVN/VC: 16,785 killed

South Vietnam was in political chaos during much of the year, as generals competed for power and Buddhists protested against the government. The Viet Cong (VC) communist guerrillas expanded their operations and defeated the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) in many battles. North Vietnam made a definitive judgement in January to assist the VC insurgency with men and material. In November, North Vietnam ordered the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) to infiltrate units into South Vietnam and undertake joint military operations with the VC.

The new President of the United States, Lyndon Johnson, and his civilian and military advisers wrestled with the problem of a failing government in South Vietnam and military gains by the VC. In August, an attack on United States Navy vessels caused Johnson to seek and gain U.S. congressional approval of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which authorized him to use military force if necessary to defend South Vietnam. Throughout the year, there were calls from many quarters—American, foreign, and South Vietnamese—for the United States to negotiate an agreement for the neutralization of South Vietnam, which they refused to consider.

Many of President Johnson's advisers advocated an air war against North Vietnam and the introduction of U.S. combat troops into South Vietnam. By year's end, the 23,000 U.S. military personnel in South Vietnam were still technically "advisers" (although they participated in many air and ground operations with the ARVN), but Johnson was contemplating U.S. ground troops.

January

2 January

United States Marine Corps (USMC) Major General Victor H. Krulak, along with a committee of experts asked to advise on the war, submitted a recommendation to President Johnson for a three phase series of covert actions against North Vietnam. Phase I, for February to May, called for propaganda dissemination and "20 destructive undertakings ... designed to result in substantial destruction, economic loss and harassment", and a second and third phase of increasing magnitude.^[5]

The ARVN captured a large arms cache in the Mekong Delta, including weapons manufactured in China. United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk said this proved that North Vietnam was supplying the VC.^[6]: 31

10 January

United States Ambassador to South Vietnam Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. reported to Washington that the new President of South Vietnam Dương Văn Minh told him that he opposed American soldiers going into villages and districts of rural Vietnam as they would be perceived as "more imperialistic than the French" and would give credence to communist propaganda that the Saigon government was a lackey of the United States.^[7]: 93

14 January

Theodore Sorensen, one of former President John F. Kennedy's most trusted aides, wrote President Johnson to oppose the neutralization of South Vietnam as proposed by French President Charles de Gaulle and others. Sorensoen said neutralization would result in a communist takeover of South Vietnam, weaken the U.S. position in Asia, and cause political problems for the Democratic Party. Johnson's principal advisers—Dean Rusk, Robert McNamara, McGeorge Bundy and Walter Rostow—echoed Sorensen's views. In December, Senator Mike Mansfield had proposed negotiation of a neutral South Vietnam.^{[7]: 92–93}

Lieutenant general William C. Westmoreland is appointed deputy commander of MACV.^[8]: 56

20 January

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam adopted Resolution 9. The secret resolution declared all-out war on South Vietnam to defeat the ARVN before the United States could introduce a large number of American soldiers into the war. The Resolution estimated that American soldiers participating in the war would not exceed 100,000. The Americans "clearly understand that if they get bogged down in a large-scale protracted war, then they will fall into an extremely defensive position internationally." Diplomacy would be expanded to gain "the sympathy of antiwar groups in the United States" and other people around the world. Finally, the Resolution called for a purge of party members in North Vietnam who had emphasized socialistic development in North Vietnam rather than North Vietnamese help for the "liberation" of the South.

Resolution 9 was the most important Communist party decision on action in South Vietnam since the Geneva Accords of 1954, which had provisionally separated North and South Vietnam pending national elections (never held, due to opposition by the government of South Vietnam).^{[9]: 164–169}

With the adoption of Resolution 9, party moderates such as Ho Chi Minh and Võ Nguyên Giáp were marginalized and those who supported the Soviet policy of peaceful coexistence were purged in what became known as the "Revisionist Anti-Party Affair." Militant leaders such as Lê Duẩn and Lê Đức Thọ who favored the Chinese Maoist approach of worldwide revolution took command of the Communist Party and North Vietnam.^{[9]: 170–173 [10]}

22 January

The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a classified memorandum to U.S. Secretary of Defense McNamara, urging an expansion of U.S. involvement in the war, advocating heavy bombing of North Vietnam, and deployment of troops in South Vietnam for an eventual invasion of the North.^[11]

24 January

Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) was established to conduct covert unconventional warfare operations in Vietnam.^[12]: 38

30 January

General Nguyễn Khánh led a successful coup ousting the military junta led by General Dương Văn Minh from the leadership of South Vietnam. It came less than three months after Minh's junta had come to power in a coup d'état which overthrew and killed then President Ngô Đình Diệm. The only casualty of the coup was the execution of Minh's aide, Major Nguyen Van Nhung, and lasted only a few hours.^[13] Khánh would allow Minh to resume the office of President nine days later and place himself in the role of prime minister.^[14] Minh's colleagues, Generals Tran Van Don, Le Van Kim and Ton That Dinh were placed under house arrest, accused of planning a neutralist takeover of South Vietnam.^{[15]: 289–291}

31 January

Journalist James Reston in The New York Times called for the U.S. to seek a negotiated settlement to the war in South Vietnam. Reston's view echoed that of French President de Gaulle who was advocating that negotiations begin to make South Vietnam a neutral country^[7]: 103

February

1 February

United States Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield told President Johnson that the overthrow of the Minh government was unlikely to result in "significant improvement in the situation" in South Vietnam. Mansfield said the coup was "likely to be only the second in a series as military leaders, released from all civilian restraint, jockey for control of the power which resides in United States aid."^[16]: 311

3 February

The new leader of South Vietnam, General Khánh, reversed an earlier decision by Minh by giving his approval to the assignment of additional American military and civilian advisers and authorizing U.S.-directed covert operations in North Vietnam under Operation 34A (OPLAN 34A).

The North Vietnamese Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) established its first jet fighter unit, the 921st Sao Dao Fighter Regiment. A few weeks later, the first VPAF jet pilots began their training in the Soviet Union.^[17]

4 February

The VC overran an ARVN battalion headquarters at Hau May killing 12 ARVN.^[8]: 58

9 February

A VC bombing attack on a softball game at Pershing Field killed two Americans and wounded 41, including four women and five children. A second bomb failed to explode.^[18]

16 February

The VPAF scored its first aerial victory against an American aircraft when a T-28 Trojan, whose pilot had defected to North Vietnam from the Royal Lao Air Force, shot down a C-123 Provider transport.^[19]: 9

A bomb in the Kinh Do movie theater on 16 April killed three Americans with a further 32 wounded, most of them U.S. dependents.^[18]

17 February

David Nes, the Deputy Chief of Mission of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, wrote a pessimistic memorandum to Ambassador Lodge and senior officials in Washington. Nes did not see much prospect for the improvement of South Vietnamese performance. He said that escalation of the U.S. military effort might be the only alternative to the neutralization of South Vietnam as proposed by de Gaulle and others.^[7]: 113

25 February

The VC bombed a train travelling from Saigon to Da Nang killing 11.^[8]: 60

26 February

In the Battle of Long Dinh the ARVN, despite overwhelming numbers and firepower, was not aggressive in its attack and the VC 514th Battalion escaped. The battle resulted in 40 VC and 16 ARVN killed.^[8]: 60

March

4 March

President Johnson met with the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Maxwell Taylor recommended a "progressive and selective attack on targets in North Vietnam." Johnson, however, disagreed, saying that "he did not want to start a war before November" because of the impact an expanded war might have on the Presidential elections that month.^{[20]: 304–305}

14 March

The ARVN captured more than 500 suspected VC in a raid in Kien Phong Province.^[8]: 62

15 March

In what one historian would describe as "the earliest expression" of "antiwar feeling among American college students" in response to the war, students at Yale University concluded a three-day long conference on socialism that included members of the new Students for a Democratic Society and launched the "May 2nd Movement" (M2M), and adjourned with plans for an antiwar demonstration in New York City for May 2, 1964.^[21]: 250

16 March

Secretary of Defense McNamara wrote a memo to President Johnson after returning from his most recent visit to South Vietnam. McNamara said that up to 40 percent of South Vietnam was now controlled by the VC, the Khánh government was ineffective, the South Vietnamese apathetic and the Americans in South Vietnam frustrated. He recommended that the U.S. finance a 50,000 man increase in the size of the ARVN. He also recommended that the United States Air Force (USAF) be prepared to initiate bombing of North Vietnam. Johnson approved the plan and directed its implementation.^[16]: 318

17 March

What would become known as the "domino theory" became the basis for American policy on Vietnam, after President Johnson approved National Security Action Memorandum 288 and the recommendations made to him by Secretary of Defense McNamara. "We seek an independent non-Communist South Vietnam," McNamara wrote, adding that "unless we can achieve this objective ... almost all of Southeast Asia will probably fall under Communist dominance", starting with South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, followed by Burma and Malaysia. "Thailand might hold for a period with our help, but would be under grave pressure. Even the Philippines would become shaky and the threat to India to the west, Australia and New Zealand to the south and Taiwan, Korea, and Japan to the north and east would be greatly increased."^[22]

19 March

ARVN troops accompanied by U.S. Army advisers, mistakenly crossed the border into Cambodia and attacked the village of Chanthrea, killing 17 civilians.^[23]

26 March

Senator Wayne Morse was the only prominent American politician to publicly oppose American military involvement in South Vietnam. Morse strongly disagreed with McNamara's assessment of the situation in Vietnam. To refute McNamara's contention that the U.S. was fighting communism in South Vietnam, Morse said, "There are no Chinese soldiers in South Vietnam. There are no Russian soldiers in South Vietnam. The only foreign soldiers in South Vietnam are U.S. soldiers."^{[16]: 323–324}

U.S. Army Captain Floyd James Thompson was captured by the VC after he and his pilot, Richard L. Whitesides flying in an O-1 Bird Dog, were shot down over Quảng Trị Province. Whitesides was killed in the crash, while Thompson was sent to a prison camp in North Vietnam. Released on 16 March 1973, Thompson remains the longest serving American prisoner of war.^[24]

April

4 April

Former Vice President Richard Nixon said that President Johnson's plans to defeat the communists in South Vietnam "may be inadequate." He said that a visit to South Vietnam had persuaded him that "Johnson's Vietnam policy would not succeed."^[25]

8 April

The VC attacked an ARVN training camp at Phuoc Loi 15 miles (24 km) south of Saigon killing 26 ARVN and two civilians.^[26]

9 April

The ARVN captured a VC base on the Laotian border killing 75 VC.^[26]

12–20 April

In the Battle of Kien Long the VC captured Kiên Long district in Chương Thiện Province and were later evicted by the ARVN with U.S. air support. The battle resulted in 175 VC killed and 55 ARVN killed and 17 missing.^[27]: 365

19 April

At a meeting in Saigon, U.S. Ambassador Lodge proposed that the U.S. send a neutral interlocutor to Hanoi to present an ultimatum to North Vietnam to "call off" the VC. Canadian diplomat J. Blair Seaborn was later selected to undertake the mission after consultations between Canada and the United States.^{[7]: 155–156}

In Laos, the coalition government of Prince Souvanna Phouma was deposed by a right-wing military group, led by Brigadier General Kouprasith Abhay.^[28] Souvanna and other cabinet members were placed under house arrest and the Geneva Accords that had kept an uneasy peace with the left-wing Pathet Lao were on the verge of collapsing while U.S. Ambassador to Laos Leonard S. Unger was out of town. Unger rushed back to the Laotian capital of Vientiane and rushed to Souvanna's residence where, as one historian would later note, a "'Romeo and Juliet' scene took place, as Souvanna Phouma stood at a balcony on the second floor and expressed his desire to discontinue premiership, while Ambassador Unger stood on the ground begging him to continue to head the government."^[29] Assured of U.S. support for his government, Souvanna resumed his duties as Prime Minister and would remain Prime Minister in office until 1975.^[30]: 107

27 April

Operation Quyet Thang 202, an ARVN operation carried out with US support, began. The one-month-long operation claimed heavy damage to the Do Xa sanctuary which linked the VC's supply lines between Laos and Vietnam's Central Highlands.

30 April

Former President Kennedy's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, said in an oral interview for the Kennedy Library that President Kennedy had "a strong, overwhelming reason for being in Vietnam and that we should win the war in Vietnam." Kennedy denied that any consideration had been given by the President to withdrawing from Vietnam. He equivocated on the introduction of U.S. ground troops into Vietnam, saying that "we'd face that when we came to it."^[31]

May

2 May

VC commandos eluded detection and placed an explosive on the USNS Card. The ship, moored in the Saigon River, sunk and five American sailors were killed. The USNS Card was later raised and repaired.^[32]

About 1,000 students participated in the first major student demonstration against the Vietnam War, marching in New York City as part of the "May 2nd Movement" that had been organized by students at Yale University.^[21]: 250 Marches also occurred in San Francisco, Boston, Seattle, and Madison, Wisconsin.

5 May

A U.S. Army CV-2 Caribou crashed shortly after takeoff from Tân Hiệp killing all 15 onboard including ten Americans.^[33]

8–9 May

Cambodian forces destroy an ARVN armored personnel carrier that crossed the border in pursuit of VC. The next day Cambodian and ARVN troops clash resulting in seven Cambodians killed.^[8]: 68

9 May

Former President Diem's brother, Ngo Dinh Can was executed by order of General Khanh. U.S. Ambassador Lodge asked that Can's life be spared, but Khanh chose to placate the militant Buddhist movement in South Vietnam.^[34] Earlier in the day, Phan Quang Dong, the former chief of Can's secret police force, was executed at the municipal stadium in Huế before a crowd of 40,000 people.^[35]

A plot to assassinate Secretary of Defense McNamara was foiled, three days before his visit to South Vietnam, with the arrest of VC agent Nguyễn Văn Trỗi. Trỗi had planned to detonate a bomb as McNamara was being driven across the Cong Ly Bridge in Saigon on 12 May.^[36]

12 May

American Ambassador Lodge said in a secret meeting that Buddhist leader Thich Tri Quang is "ambitious, anti-Christian, full of hatreds, and agitating against Khanh. He said that "some communist infiltration of Buddhists exists."^[34]: 756

14 May

The VC ambushed a 200 man ARVN Ranger force moving to relieve a strategic hamlet 20 miles (32 km) north of Saigon, 43 Rangers were killed and 21 missing.^[37]

16 May

Twelve men in New York City publicly burned their draft cards to protest against the war.^[38] The demonstration, with about 50 people in Union Square, was organized by the War Resisters League.^[39]

19 May

The U.S. began "Operation Yankee Team", low-level and medium-level reconnaissance flights from South Vietnam over PAVN/VC strongholds in neighboring Laos, at the request of the Royal Laotian Armed Forces. Two days after flights began over southern Laos in the area that was part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, U.S. Navy planes would conduct sorties over northern Laos.^{[40]: 1356 [41]: 107–118}

20 May to mid-September

The USMC Signal Engineering Survey Unit, a radio detachment consisting of three officers and 27 enlisted men drawn from the 1st Radio Company, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific and from Headquarters Marine Corps supported by a 76-man infantry detachment from Company G, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, commanded by Major Alfred M. Gray, Jr. deployed to Danang Air Base. The unit established communication facilities at Khe Sanh, Tiger Tooth Mountain (Dong Voi Mẹp) (16°46′05″N 106°42′47″E / 16.768°N 106.713°E / 16.768; 106.713), Monkey Mountain and Bạch Mã. The unit left South Vietnam in mid-September.^{[42]: 139–141}

21 May

Pathet Lao antiaircraft artillery damaged a U.S. Navy RF-8A Crusader that was flying a photographic reconnaissance mission. The RF-8A, flown by U.S. Navy Lieutenant Charles Klusmann, burned for 20 minutes in the air but Klusmann was able to return for a safe landing aboard the USS Kitty Hawk.^[43]

23 May

Western sources estimated the PAVN to number 16 divisions totaling 280,000 men, plus militias with 180,000 men, and a border force of 20,000 men. A reserve militia force numbered 400,000. North Vietnam had not yet infiltrated any elements of the PAVN into South Vietnam.^{[9]: 175–181}

24 May

Senator Barry Goldwater, who would become the Republican Party candidate for President of the United States later in 1964, discussed the use of nuclear bombs against North Vietnam to interrupt supply lines for the VC in South Vietnam. In the face of widespread criticism of his remarks, Goldwater said he was only "repeating a suggestion made by competent military people." Democrats used Goldwater's statements about the use of nuclear weapons to portray him as an extremist in the election campaign.^[44]

27 May

President Johnson revealed the depth of his uncertainty about South Vietnam in a conversation with Senator Richard Russell. Johnson said his advisers were telling him to "show some power and some force", but he didn't believe the American people were behind the war. Russell agreed and expressed doubt that bombing North Vietnam would win the war. Johnson said he didn't know how to get out of the Vietnam War, adding that he would be impeached if he were to withdraw from the war. "I don't know how in the hell you're gonna get out unless they tell you to get out." After the talk with Russell, Johnson telephoned his adviser McGeorge Bundy and said, "I don't think it is worth fighting for and I don't think we can get out. It's just the biggest damn mess I ever saw."^{[16]: 328–330}

28 May

Khánh presided over a trial of the generals he toppled and accused of neutralism,^[15] in light of US pressure on him to give his opponents a hearing.^{[45]: 244–245} Minh was accused of misusing a small amount of money, before being allowed to serve as an advisor on the trial panel.^{[45][46]: 355} Generals Don, Kim and Dinh were secretly interrogated, mostly about details of their coup against Diệm, rather than the original charge of promoting neutralism. When the court reconvened for the verdict on 29 May,^[47] Khánh stated, "We ask that once you begin to serve again in the army, you do not take revenge on anybody".^{[15]: 289–291} The tribunal then "congratulated" the generals, but found that they were of "lax morality" and unqualified to command due to a "lack of a clear political concept".^[15] They were chastised for being "inadequately aware of their heavy responsibility" and of letting "their subordinates take advantage of their positions".^[45][47] The four imprisoned generals were allowed to remain in Da Lat under surveillance with their families.^[15][45] However, there were reports that the trial ended in a festive manner akin to a party, as the officers shook hands and made up with one another.^[47] All four generals were barred from commanding troops for a period; Kim was banned for six years, and Đôn 18 months. Offices were prepared for the quartet so that they could participate in "research and planning".^[15] When Khánh was himself deposed in 1965, he handed over dossiers proving that the four generals were innocent;^[15]: 347 the original documents that Khánh claimed proved his accusations of neutralism were neither presented to nor found by anyone.

June

1–2 June

Senior U.S. military and Administration officials conducted a strategy conference at CINCPAC in Hawaii in which they discuss bombing North Vietnam.^[8]: 71

2 June

President Johnson called a White House press conference without advance notice and told reporters that the United States was "bound by solemn commitments" to defend South Vietnam against Communist encroachment, and cited a 25 October 1954 letter from U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem pledging an American promise to protect the Vietnamese government.^[48]

4 June

United Nations Security Council Resolution 189, adopted unanimously, deplored an incident caused by the penetration of military units of South Vietnam into Cambodia and requested compensation for the Cambodians. The resolution also requested that all States and authorities recognize and respect Cambodia's neutrality and territorial integrity, and sent representatives from Brazil, Ivory Coast and Morocco to the sites of the most recent incidents and to report back to the council in 45 days with recommendations.^[49]

5 June

Ambassador Lodge sent a cable to President Johnson recommending that the United States not send more ground troops into South Vietnam to fight the VC. Such a step, he cautioned, would be a "venture of unlimited possibilities which could put us onto a slope along which we slide into a bottomless pit."^[50]

6–7 June

The Pathet Lao shot down a U.S. Navy RF-8A Crusader reconnaissance jet over Laos. President Johnson authorized an air strike against a Pathet Lao anti-aircraft battery.^[16]: 314 The RF-8A pilot, Lieutenant Charles Klusmann was captured by the Pathet Lao and escaped from captivity three months later.^[51]

8 June

Australia's Minister for Defence announced that the Australian Army Training Team Vietnam would be increased to 83 advisers and their role expanded.^[52]

18 June

Canadian diplomat Blair Seaborn met with North Vietnamese prime minister Phạm Văn Đồng to deliver a U.S. message. The U.S., he said, would choose escalation of the conflict rather than withdrawal and considered the war to be a confrontation with communism and thus of international importance. Đồng responded that any peaceful settlement in South Vietnam had to result in the withdrawal of the United States, the neutralization of South Vietnam and the eventual reunification of South and North Vietnam. Seaborn's conclusion was that North Vietnam's leaders were "completely convinced that military action at any level is not, repeat not, going to bring success for the US and government forces in South Vietnam." The North Vietnamese emphasized their "quiet determination to go on struggling as long as necessary to achieve objectives which they said they were bound to achieve in the long run."^{[7]: 162–163}

The New York Times published the remarks of a U.S. military adviser in South Vietnam, later identified as Colonel Wilbur Wilson. Wilson said that the VC were stronger and better armed than they had been three years earlier and that more than 90 percent of their weapons were of U.S. origin, captured from the ARVN. Wilson advocated a massive increase in the U.S. military commitment to South Vietnam.^{[7]: 166–167, 463–464}

20 June

General William Westmoreland replaced General Paul D. Harkins as the commander of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV)^[7]: 164 General Maxwell Taylor engineered the appointment of Westmoreland, over the objections of some of his military colleagues.^[53]: 111

26 June

The ARVN attacked a VC training camp in Quảng Ngãi Province killing over 50 recruits.^[8]: 75

An ARVN armored force attacked a VC force at Bau Cot killing over 100 VC.^[54]

27 June

ARVN Rangers attacked a VC force at Long Hoi south of Saigon killing at least 43 VC from the Cuu Long Battalion. Two Americans and one South Vietnamese were killed when their helicopter was shot down and a T-28 was also shot down by the VC.^[54]

28 June

French Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville speaking from a studio in Paris to the New York moderators on the NBC show Meet the Press, cautioned that United States could not win the war if it increased its involvement. "This is not an ordinary war," he said. "That means a war you can just settle by victory or defeat. It is not that simple ... the problem cannot be settled by military means but should be settled by political means."^[55]

29 June

The Republican members of the United States House of Representatives, released a statement saying, "A victory in South Vietnam over the military and subversive threats of Communism is urgently required." Republican Congressman Gerald Ford said that the U.S. should "take command of the forces in Vietnam and not simply remain advisers."^[16]: 340

New Zealand began its first military involvement in the war when a 25-man New Zealand Army engineering detachment arrived at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. The detachment would be based at Thủ Dầu Một, the capital of Bình Dương Province alongside a U.S. advisory team.^{[56]: 50–55}

July

1 July

General Maxwell Taylor was appointed as the U.S. Ambassador to South Vietnam, replacing Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

2 July

The VC ambushed an ARVN convoy on the Mang Yang Pass in Bình Định Province killing 29 ARVN, destroying nine trucks and capturing more than 30 weapons.^[57]

3 July

MACV sent a request to Admiral U. S. Grant Sharp Jr., Commander-in-Chief, Pacific for authorization of a patrol of the Gulf of Tonkin to get information about North Vietnam's coastal defense. Admiral Sharp would dispatch the destroyer USS Maddox to the area.^[58]

4 July

The VC attacked Polei Krong Camp, in an action apparently timed to coincide with the American 4 July holiday, killing 41 Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG) troops and seizing a mortar, four machine guns and more than 100 small arms.^[59][57]

5–6 July

The Battle of Nam Dong was fought when the VC attacked the Nam Dong CIDG camp in an attempt to overrun it. The VC lost 62 killed, the ARVN 57 killed, the U.S. two killed and Australian Warrant Officer Class Two Kevin Conway was killed, the first Australian battle casualty of the war.^{[60][42]: 158}

8 July

U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations said at a press conference that "the only sensible solution" to the war in South Vietnam was to reconvene the Geneva Conference of 1954 to negotiate peace in Southeast Asia. The U.S. rejected his proposal. President Johnson later said, "We do not believe in conferences called to ratify terror."^{[7]: 185–189}

The U.S. Department of Defense announced that American casualties in South Vietnam had risen to 1387 "since American forces became fully involved in the jungle war in 1961", a number broken down as "152 killed in action, 96 deaths not related to combat, 971 wounded in action, 151 non-battle injuries and 17 missing in action."^[61]

11 July

The New York Times published a petition signed by more than 5,000 American academics urging that the U.S. government work toward the neutralization of South Vietnam. The spokesman for the group Hans J. Morgenthau said that escalation of the war was not the answer.^[7]: 167

12 July

A large VC force attacked a South Vietnamese outpost in Chương Thiện Province and then ambushed the relief column with at least 18 ARVN killed and 19 missing. A subsequent ARVN operation in the area claimed to have killed 68 VC and captured 73 suspects for the loss of nine ARVN and two U.S.^{[62][8]: 76}

13 July

The VC ambushed an ARVN Ranger convoy on Highway 13 in Bình Long Province 45 miles (72 km) north of Saigon as they moved to support another Ranger unit. More than 30 Rangers and three U.S. advisers were killed and 19 missing.^[8]: 76

16 July

The ARVN killed over 100 VC in Vĩnh Bình Province for the loss of 17 killed.^[8]: 77

19 July

At a rally in Saigon, Prime Minister Khánh called for expanding the war into North Vietnam. Before a crowd of 100,000 people, General Khanh led the rallying cry "Bac thien!" ("To the North!") and called on volunteers to not only defend South Vietnam, but to liberate North Vietnam.^[63]

20 July

The VC attack Cái Bè killing 11 Popular Force soldiers, ten women and 30 children.^[8]: 77

22 July

The VC ambushed an ARVN battalion size convoy in Chương Thiện Province as they moved through an area of paddy fields and mangrove swamps from Vi Thanh to the district capital, Gò Quao. At least 26 ARVN were killed and up to 135 missing.^{[64][8]: 77}

23 July

In a speech in the Senate, Senator Frank Church said he could not understand how "25,000 hardcore Viet Cong" could "thwart the American-backed South Vietnamese government." The VC were being supplied by men with packs on their back traversing jungle trails, while the U.S. was sending shiploads of equipment and hundreds of millions of dollars to South Vietnam every year. Church also opposed widening the war by bombing North Vietnam. "Expanding the war is not getting out ... It is getting further in." This was Church's first public declaration of concern about the trajectory of the war.^{[16]: 337–339}

24–29 July

Operation Triangle was conducted by the Royal Lao Army and Forces Armées Neutralistes to capture the intersection of Routes 7 and 13, trap a Pathet Lao force and gain access to the Plain of Jars. The operation was a partial success with large amounts of material captured, but the Pathet Lao successfully evacuated and still controlled access to the Plain.^{[30]: 110–114}

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