FOREIGN OFFICE FILES: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Series One: USA - Politics & Diplomacy, 1960-1974
(Public Record Office Classes FO 371 and FCO 7: American Department - United States)

Part 2: The Lyndon B Johnson Years, 1964-1968
(PRO Class FO 371/174260-174346, 179557-179622 & 184995-185056 and PRO Class FCO 7/738-884)

Brief Chronology 1967-1968

1963

November

Assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas; Vice President Lyndon Johnson sworn in as his successor.

1964

January

24th Amendment signed protecting voting rights.

Coup in South Vietnam lead by General Nguyen Khanh.

Soviet Union makes first purchase of American wheat.

Senator Barry Goldwater announces his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.

US training plane shot down by Soviet fighters over East Germany.

February

Civil Rights Bill passed by House of Representatives.

British Prime Minister, Alec Douglas Home, visits USA.

US halts military aid to UK, France and Yugoslavia in retaliation for continued trade with Cuba.

$11.5 billion of tax cuts initiated.

Cassius Clay wins the world heavyweight boxing championship by defeating Sonny Liston in seven rounds at Miami Beach.

March

Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa convicted of tampering with a Federal jury.

Malcolm X leaves the Nation of Islam.

US RB-66 jet downed by Soviet fighters over East Germany.

Jack Ruby sentenced to death for the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald.

Civil rights marchers are attacked by police whilst leaving Selma, for Montgomery, the state capitol of Alabama.

April

UK, US and USSR agree to reduce output of production of fissionable materials for nuclear weapons.

Malcolm X makes Hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca and changes his name to El-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz.

June

El-Hajj Malik al-Shabazz (Malcolm X) forms the Organisation of Afro-American Unity (OAAU).

July

Civil Rights Bill passed banning discrimination in employment, housing, public facilities and voting right.

Arrival of General Maxwell Taylor of Saigon as new US Ambassador.

Senator Goldwater nominated as Republican candidate for the forthcoming Presidential election.

August

Discovery of the bodies of three murdered civil rights workers in Mississippi.

Tonkin Gulf ‘incident’ provides US justification for direct military involvement in Vietnam.

Economic Opportunity Act, part of Johnson’s anti-poverty programme is passed.

September

The Warren Report on President Kennedy’s assassination is published.

October

Dr Martin Luther King awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

China successfully detonates an atomic device.

Soviet leader Krushchev is replaced by Brezhnev.

November

Attack by Viet Cong/NLF forces upon US air base at Bienhoa, Vietnam.

Johnson wins Presidential elections with widest popular margin in American history.

1965

January

Lyndon Johnson sworn in as President.

President Johnson presents the ‘Great Society’ program as his agenda to Congress.

February

Beginning of Operation ‘Rolling Thunder’, sustained US bombing of North Vietnam.

Malcolm X is assassinated in New York.

March

US Marines land at Danang in South Vietnam, the first US combat troops to take an active role in the conflict.

Bombing of the US Embassy in Saigon.

April

British Prime Minister Harold Wilson arrives in US.

US troops invade the Domninican Republic to prevent communists seizing control.

North Vietnamese present their ‘Four Point’ peace plan.

Johnson signs the Elementary and Secondary Education Act designed to help disadvantaged children.

May

Cambodia breaks off diplomatic relations with the US.

Landing of US Airbourne Brigade of 3,500 men at Bienhoa Airbase in South Vietnam.

Us temporarily ceases bombing of North Vietnam.

June

Major Edward White becomes the first American to walk in space during flight of Gemini 4.

President Johnson authorises US troops to directly engage Viet Cong forces if requested to do so by the South Vietnamese.

Nguyen Cao Ky becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam.

British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jim Callaghan, visits Washington.

July

US Ambassador to South Vietnam, General Maxwell Taylor, resigns and is replaced by Henry Cabot Lodge.

Thurgood Marshall appointed Solicitor-General of the US.

President Johnson authorises increase in US troop levels for Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 men.

Medicare Amendment to the Social Security Act passed.

August

Voting Rights Act passed, providing federal help to ensure the voting rights of black Americans.

Housing Bill signed.

Serious race riots in the Watts area of Los Angeles.

September

Foreign Aid Bill signed.

Equal Employment Opportunity Act passed.

October

Immigration Reform Act signed, ending national origin quota.

November

US-Cuban agreement to repatriate Cuban refugees to US Southern Rhodesian ‘Unilateral Declaration of Independence’.

Higher Education Act signed.

December

British Prime Minister Harold Wilson visits US.

Suspension of US bombing of North Vietnam and launch of peace initiative.

Number of troops in Vietnam reaches 200,000.

1966

January

In his State of the Union message, President Johnson pledges that the US will remain in Vietnam “until aggression has stopped”.

The first black Cabinet member, Robert C. Weaver, is appointed by President Johnson.

British Foreign Secretary, Michael Stewart, and Minister of Defence, Denis Healey, arrive in Washington to discuss the Defence Review.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee under Senator Fulbright begins hearings on Vietnam.

Resumption of US bombing of North Vietnam after 37 days suspension.

February

Meeting between President Johnson and South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Cao Ky.

Coup in Ghana topples President Nkrumah.

March

General de Gaulle informs President Johnson of French intention to withdraw from the integrated military structure of NATO and requests removal of all US and NATO installations from France.

April

Senator Fulbright, in a speech at Johns Hopkins University, warns that America is “succumbing to the arrogance of power”.

June

Senator Robert Kennedy begins tour of African states.

Shooting of James Meredith, the first black student to study at the University of Mississippi.

Richard Helms succeeds Admiral Raborn as Director of the CIA.

US begins withdrawal from military bases in France.

Vietnamese city of Hue is captured by US and ARVN forces.

July

Medicare program comes into effect.

National Convention of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in Baltimore endorses the concept of ‘Black Power’ as expressed by SNICK Chairman, Stokely Carmichael.

British Prime Minister Harold Wilson arrives in the US for talks with President Johnson.

US steps up bombing of North Vietnam.

September

US bombers carry out raids on military targets in the ‘Demilitarized Zone’ between North and South Vietnam.

October

Black Panther Party founded in Oakland, California.

President Johnson pays a surprise visit to South Vietnam.

November

Mid-term US elections see the Republican Party gain 47 seats in Congress.

December

US troop numbers in Vietnam reach 400,000.

1967

February

25th Amendment passed concerning the role of Vice-President in event of the death of the President.

April

The WBA and WBC strip Muhammad Ali of his world heavyweight boxing title following his refusal to be inducted into the army.

June

Thurgood Marshall, the first black Supreme Court Justice is appointed.

Ali is convicted of draft evasion, fined $10,000 and sentenced to five years in prison.

Arab-Israeli War.

July

Rioting breaks out in a number of US inner city areas.

October

100,000 anti-war protestors gather in Washington to protest against US policy in Vietnam.

December

North Vietnamese Army units attack US Marine base at Khe San.

US troops in Vietnam number 500,000.

1968

January

USS Pueblo is seized by North Korea.

Tet Offensive: North Vietnamese and VC/NLF forces launch offensive during the Tet lunar new year holiday truce; Hue and other strategic centres are overrun.

February

Hue re-captured by US and ARVN forces.

Stokely Carmichael elected ‘Prime Minister’ of the Black Panther Party.

Robert McNamara leaves the Department of Defence to become President of the World Bank.

March

Johnson limits the bombing of North Vietnam in an effort to try to initiate peace talks.

Robert Kennedy announces his intention to stand as Democratic candidate for President.

Johnson announces unilateral ‘de-escalation’ of Vietnam war, and his intention not to stand for re-election in forthcoming Presidential elections.

April

Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis.

Fair Housing Act passed.

Vice-President Humphrey announces his intention to be a candidate for the Presidency.

May

VC/NLF launch a major offensive in the Saigon area.

Johnson arranges for US representatives to attend Paris Peace talks to end war in Vietnam.

June

Assassination of Robert Kennedy in Los Angeles.

July

Introduction of a direct airline service between New York and Moscow.

Phil Hutchings replaces Rap Brown as head of SNCC.

August

Warsaw Pact forces invade Czechoslovakia and re-impose Soviet orthodoxy in political affairs.

August

Vice President Humphrey receives the Democratic Party’s nomination to become their presidential candidate at the troubled Democratic Convention in Chicago; the Republican Party nominates Richard Milhous Nixon.

September

Black Panther Party founder member Huey Newton is convicted of the manslaughter of an Oakland police officer.

October

President Johnson halts bombing of North Vietnam to aid peace negotiations.

November

Republican Richard M Nixon wins Presidential election.

December

North Korea releases the crew of USS Pueblo.

American astronauts return to Earth after successfully orbiting the moon in Apollo 8.

US troops in Vietnam number 540,000 by the year’s end.

1969

January

Lyndon Johnson leaves office; Richard M Nixon is inaugurated as the 37th President of the United States of America.

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