1954 in the Vietnam War 5 April The National Security Council met again to consider U.S. intervention at Điện Biên Phủ. The Army, including Army Chief of Staff General Matthew Ridgway, was negative, stating that U.S. intervention would require 7 army divisions and heavy air support. 7 April President Eisenhower used the phrase "falling dominoes" in a press conference. This was the origin of the domino theory which postulated that if Vietnam became communist the other nearby states would soon follow. The domino theory was a prominent justification for the Vietnam War in the United States during the 1960s. 14 April Secretary of State John
The War That Came Early less prepared for war than in real history. This timeline can be considered to have been created by the (fictional) Czech nationalist Jaroslav Stribny, who assassinated Henlein. He is never seen onstage and the reader is given no access to his thoughts and reasoning. Posterity in this timeline would link his name with that of Gavrilo Princip, whose act of assassination had set off the earlier First World War. "The War That Came Early: Hitler's War", published in 2009, is the first book in the series. Like many of his other series, Turtledove uses multiple viewpoint characters, mostly young soldiers