Sunday, May 11, 1975. Celebrating a peace that wasn't.

A photograph of doves and an Asian woman for the celebration.  In reality, the PAVN and Cambodians were already fighting.  The Khmer Rouge was murdering people and sending the entire population into the countryside, and the Pathet Lao were getting ready to murder the Hmong.

A celebration organized by anti war figure and songwriter Phil Ochs marked the end of the Vietnam War, which of course by necessary implication marked the South Vietnamese defeat.  The event in Central park included performances by Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Paul Simon.

The ironies are thick, as the poster above portrays. Rather than smiling Vietnamese women, there were thousands of South Vietnamese going into an uncertain future that included "reeducation", although this time the Communists in Vietnam did not commit mass murders.  The Khmer Rouge and Pathet Lao, however, were about to.

A partial solar eclipse was visible in Greenland, Europe, north Africa and north Asia.

Last edition:

Saturday, May 10, 1975. Cambodian aggression.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Cambodia, Cambodian–Vietnamese War, North Vietnamese Army, Peoples Army of Vietnam, Vietnam War

Saturday, May 10, 1975. Cambodian aggression.

The Khmer Rouge captured the Thổ Chu Islands, where they evacuated and later executed 500 Vietnamese civilians. 

The PAVN (NVA) launched a counterattack from Phú Quốc and Thổ Chu and attacked Cambodia's Poulo Wai island.

Peace certainly had not come to the region.

The Federal Government announced it would not cover $1.5B in New York expenditures which had been asked for by the city.  I can recall this really being a topic of conversation.

Sony introduced the Betamax home videotaping system.  It costs $2,488 in 1975 dollars, which would be well over $10,000 now.

Last edition:

Friday, May 9, 1975. The Hmong Genocide.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Communism, Hmong Genocide, Hmong People, Insurgency in Laos, Laos, Laotian Civil War, Pathet Lao

Sunday, May 4, 1975. 1,000,000 runs.

The one millionth run in Major League Baseball history was scored by Bob Watson of the Houston Astros.

The Khmer Rouge seized control of South Vietnam's Phú Quốc Island.

Last edition:

Saturday, May 3, 1975. End of the Cultural Revolution.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Arab Israeli Conflict, Army of the Republic of Vietnam, China, Cultural Revolution, Gang of Four, Israel, Mao Zedong, People's Republic of China, Vietnam

Thứ Năm, ngày 1 tháng 5 năm 1975. Chiến tranh Việt Nam kết thúc.* Thursday, May 1, 1975. The conclusion of the Vietnam War. Jeudi 1er mai 1975. Fin de la guerre du Vietnam.

ARVN troops in Cần Thơ  surrendered to the VC following the suicide of Gen. Nguyễn Khoa Nam, age 48, Major General of IV Corps in Cần Thơ.  This effectively brought organized resistance to the VC and NVA almost to an end after twenty years of combat.  The country remains, of course, under the regime that won the war.

Quân VNCH ở Cần Thơ đầu hàng VC sau cái chết của Tướng Nguyễn Khoa Nam, 48 tuổi, Thiếu tướng Quân đoàn IV ở Cần Thơ.  Điều này đã khiến cho sự kháng cự có tổ chức chống lại VC và Bắc Việt gần như chấm dứt một cách hiệu quả sau hai mươi năm chiến đấu.  Tất nhiên, đất nước vẫn nằm dưới chế độ đã thắng trong chiến tranh.

Les troupes de l'ARVN à Cần Thơ se sont rendues au VC suite au suicide du général Nguyễn Khoa Nam, 48 ans, major général du IVe Corps à Cần Thơ.  Cela a effectivement mis fin à la résistance organisée au VC et à la NVA après vingt ans de combat.  Le pays reste bien entendu sous le régime qui a gagné la guerre.

By this point, I'd quit tracking the war on my National Geographic map of Vietnam.  There came to be no point.

Khmer Rouge forces landed on Phú Quốc which was claimed by Cambodia but controlled by South Vietnam.  It was also the location of a large South Vietnamese POW camp.

Hank Aaron broke the career record for RBIs.

Thursday, May 1, 2025

May 1, 1975: Hank Aaron Becomes the All-Time RBI Leader

The New York Stock Exchange dropped the requirement of a fixed commission for stock transactions following pressure to do so from the SEC. 

Footnotes:

*Google Translate text.  I don't speak Vietnamese.

Last edition:

Wednesday, April 30, 1975. The Fall of Saigon.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, Army of the Republic of Vietnam, Bùi Văn Tùng, Dương Văn Minh, North Vietnamese Army, Operation Frequent Wind, Personalities, Saigon Vietnam, The Fall of Saigon, Viet Cong, Vietnam War

Thursday, April 17, 1975. The fall of Phnom Penh.

Khmer Rouge cadres marched into Phnom Penh, forced all residents out of their homes, marched them into the countryside, and began mass murders.

Around 2,000,000 Cambodians would die during the Cambodian genocide which only ended when the Vietnamese Army conquered Cambodia during the Cambodian Vietnamese War.

A CIA spy inside the North Vietnamese government inner circle informed the US Embassy in Saigon that the North would not negotiated, which was pretty obvious by this point anyway.

The last flight of the RAAF out of Vietnam took place, thereby taking a total of 270 Vietnamese civilians to Thailand.

Last edition:

Wednesday, April 16, 1975. Ford denounces Congress.

Labels: 1970s, 1975, 94th Congress, Egypt, Gerald Ford, USSR, Vietnam, Vietnam War