LBJ's Vietnam War: Key Terms & Definitions for History

The Great Society

President Johnson called his version of the Democratic reform program the Great Society. In 1965, Congress passed many Great Society measures, including Medicare, civil rights legislation, and federal aid to education.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

in August 1964, two US naval ships reported attacks by North Vietnamese torpedo boats off the North Vietnamese coasts

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

August, 1964 - After the U.S. Navy ship Maddux reportedly was fired on, the U.S. Congress passed this resolution which gave the president power to send troops to Vietnam to protect against further North Vietnamese aggression.

Pleiku

In February of 1965, 8 Americans were killed and 800 were wounded due to an attack on a US military base in Vietnam.

LBJ's justification for sending US troops to Vietnam

Operation Rolling Thunder

A bombing campaign began in 1965 and authorized by President Johnson. This tactical movement relentlessly bombed Viet Cong-occupied land, decimating the landscape of hundreds of miles of land. However, the intricate and enormously large network of tunnels the guerrilla soldiers had built were largely unharmed, and it failed to stop the Viet Cong from continuing to press on.

search-and-destroy missions

a U.S military raid on a south vietnamese village, intended to root out villagers with ties to the Vietcong but often resulting in the destruction of the village and the displacement of its inhabitants

free-fire zones

areas in which any and every Vietnamese person was considered hostile and was fired on by US troops.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

A network of paths used by North Vietnam to transport supplies to the Vietcong in South Vietnam

Tet Offensive

late Jan-Feb 1968; major escalation & big military campaign of vietnam war. Viet cong launched surprised attack against ARVN (SV army of Republic of Vietnam), US + allies

Khe Sanh

this is a military base in northwestern South Vietnam that was attacked by communist troops. There was an increased traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail right before the assault.

napalm

Highly flammable chemical dropped from US planes in firebombing attacks during the Vietnam War.

Agent Orange

a toxic leaf-killing chemical sprayed by U.S. planes in Vietnam to expose Vietcong hideouts & deforest areas

My Lai Massacre

March 1968; U.S. soldiers destroy a South Vietnam village and kill an estimated 450 innocent civilians

LBJ dropping out of the 1968 election

March 31, 1968; dropped out bc of his low popularity