Vietnam War Era

The Vietnam War Era encompasses the period during and around the Vietnam War, which lasted 1955 to 1975. The war took place predominantly in Vietnam, but also in Laos and Cambodia, and was officially fought between North and South Vietnam. However, the involvement of other countries, such as the Soviet Union, China, and the United States, have led some to consider it a proxy war. The Vietnam Era also saw the rise of counterculture and political disaffection in the United States.

Explore the topics below to learn more about this period through newspaper articles and clippings.

1969 Woodstock

The Woodstock Music & Art Fair—informally, the Woodstock Festival or simply Woodstock—was a music festival in the United States in 1969 which attracted an audience of more than 400,000. Scheduled for August 15–17 on a dairy farm in the Catskill Mountains of southern New York State, northwest of New York City, it ran over to …Read More

Newspaper coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (Terre Haute Tribune, via Newspapers.com)

Assassination of John F. Kennedy

Background On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas. He was shot twice while riding in a motorcade on the way to give a speech. His alleged killer, Lee Harvey Oswald, was arrested that same day but was shot to death a few days later while in police custody. …Read More

Chappaquiddick Incident

On July 18, 1969, Senator Edward “Ted” Kennedy accidentally drove a car off a bridge on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts; he survived, but his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, died in the accident. On the night of the incident, Kennedy and Kopechne left a party on Chappaquiddick Island together after 11 p.m. in a car driven …Read More

Watergate Scandal

The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal that occurred in the United States during the early 1970s, following a break-in by five men at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. on June 17, 1972, and President Richard Nixon’s administration’s subsequent attempt to cover up its involvement. …Read More