Vietnam War

Geneva Conference

Geneva Conference

French wanted out of Vietnam , the agreement signed by Ho Chi Minh France divided Vietnam on the 17th parallel, confining Minh's government to the North. In the South, an independent government was headed by Diem

Ngo Dinh Diem

Leader of South Vietnam, 1954-1963; supported by United States, but not by Vietnamese Buddhist majority; assassinated in 1963

John F. Kennedy

President during part of the cold war and especially during the superpower rivalry and the Cuban missile crisis. he was the president who went on tv and told the public about the crisis and allowed the leader of the soviet Uinon to withdraw their missiles. other events, which were during his terms was the building of theBerlin wall, the space race, and early events of the Vietnamese war

Lyndon B. Johnson

Signed the civil rights act of 1964 into law and the voting rights act of 1965. he had a war on poverty in his agenda. in an attempt to win, he set a few goals, including the great society, the economic opportunity act, and other programs that provided food stamps and welfare to needy families. he also created a department of housing and urban development. his most important legislation was probably medicare and medicaid

My Lai Massacre

1968, in which American troops had brutally massacred innocent women and children in the village of My Lai, also led to more opposition to the war.

Domino Theory

The political theory that if one nation comes under Communist control then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control

McGeorge Bundy

was United States National Security Advisor to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson from 1961 through 1966. Known for role in involving U.S. in Vietnam War. was one of Kennedy's "wise men". He played a crucial role in all of the major foreign policy and defense decisions of the Kennedy and part of the Johnson administration. These included the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and, most controversially, the Vietnam War. From 1964 he was Chairman of the 303 Committee, responsible for coordinating government covert operations. Former dean of faculty at Harvard. Undergrad at Yale

Dwight D. Eisenhower

when elected President, he was the most popular American; "I like Ike!" button; elected to two consecutive terms in 1952 and 1956. Modern Republicanism---didn't undo the New Deal of the Democrats. Called "The Republican's Choice" along with his vice president Richard Nixon. He was the commander of the allied forces in Europe, the army chief-of-staff after the war, and the director of NATO for two years. Dwight displayed "grandfatherly good will". The night before the 1952 presidential elections, he declared that he would personally go to Korea and end the war. This helped to win the majority in 41 of the lower 48 states. Eisenhower reigned over a period of unstable peace and prosperity

Ho Chi Minh

1950s and 60s; communist leader of North Vietnam; used guerrilla warfare to fight anti-communist, American-funded attacks under the Truman Doctrine; brilliant strategy drew out war and made it un-winnable

Communism

a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.

Indochina Communist Party

made by Ho Chi Minh. This party was developed out of a nationalist movement in Indochina that was against France's colonization of the area

Viet Minh

organization whose goal was to win Vietnam's independence from foreign rule

Democratic Republic of Vietnam

The Ho Chi Minh-led Communist government of North Vietnam which was created after the 1954 Geneva Conference divided the country at the 17th parallel.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in direct response to a minor naval engagement known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia.

Operation Rolling Thunder

was the title of a gradual and sustained U.S. 2nd Air Division (later Seventh Air Force), U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) aerial bombardment campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from 2 March 1965 until 1 November 1968, during the Vietnam War.

George F. Kennan

an American adviser, diplomat, political scientist, and historian, best known as "the father of containment" and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War. He later wrote standard histories of the relations between Russia and the Western powers.

Henry Kissinger

Secretary of State, supported realpolitik, appointed by Nixon as his national Secretary advisor, engaged shuttle diplomacy

Richard Nixon

President of the United States from 1969 to 1974 who followed a foreign policy marked by détente with the Soviet Union and by the opening of diplomatic relations with China. In the face of likely impeachment for the Watergate scandal, he resigned.

Vietnamization

The effort to build up South Vietnamese troops while withdrawing American troops, it was an attempt to turn the war over to the Vietnamese.

Le Duc Tho

Vietnamese diplomat who negotiated with Henry Kissinger to end the war in Vietnam (1911-1990)

Robert S. McNamara

'63 Secretary of Defense, advised Johnson that he would have to increase the US military commitment to South Vietnam to prevent a communist victory

Tet Offensive

1968; National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many thousands of casualties; major defeat for communism, but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment

Pentagon Papers

1968; National Liberation Front and North Vietnamese forces launched a huge attack on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet), which was defeated after a month of fighting and many thousands of casualties; major defeat for communism, but Americans reacted sharply, with declining approval of LBJ and more anti-war sentiment

First Indochina War

1946-1954. was fought in French Indochina between French and Vietnamese. End result was division of Vietnam at Geneva Conference.

Credibility Gap

A lack of popular confidence in the truth of the claims or public statements made by the federal government, large corporations, politicians, etc.

17th Parallel

line of latitude that separated North and South Vietnam

War Powers Resolution

A law passed in 1973 in reaction to American fighting in Vietnam and Cambodia that requires presidents to consult with Congress whenever possible prior to using military force and to withdraw forces after 60 days unless Congress declares war or grants an extension. Presidents view the resolution as unconstitutional.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

This gave the president authority to take "all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States."

Silent majority

A phrase used to describe people, whatever their economic status, who uphold traditional values, especially against the counter culture of the 1960's.

Imperialism and Colonialism

The Vietnam War has roots in Vietnam's centuries of domination by imperial and colonial powers—first China, which ruled ancient Vietnam, and then France, which took control of Vietnam in the late 1800s and established French Indochina. In the early 1900s, nationalist movements emerged in Vietnam, demanding more self-governance and less French influence. The most prominent of these was led by Communist leader Ho Chi Minh, who founded a militant nationalist organization called the Viet Minh.

First Indochina War

During World War II, when France was occupied by Nazi Germany, it lost its foothold in Vietnam, and Japan took control of the country. The Viet Minh resisted these Japanese oppressors and extended its power base throughout Vietnam. When Japan surrendered at the end of World War II in 1945, Ho Chi Minh's forces took the capital of Hanoi and declared Vietnam to be an independent country, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

France refused to recognize Ho's declaration and returned to Vietnam, driving Ho's Communist forces into northern Vietnam. Ho appealed for aid from the United States, but because the United States was embroiled in the escalating Cold War with the Communist USSR, it distrusted Ho's Communist leanings and aided the French instead. Fighting between Ho's forces and the French continued in this First Indochina War until 1954, when a humiliating defeat at Dien Bien Phu prompted France to seek a peace settlement.

Divided Vietnam

The Geneva Accords of 1954 declared a cease-fire and divided Vietnam officially into North Vietnam (under Ho and his Communist forces) and South Vietnam (under a French-backed emperor). The dividing line was set at the 17th parallel and was surrounded by a demilitarized zone, or DMZ. The Geneva Accords stipulated that the divide was temporary and that Vietnam was to be reunified under free elections to be held in 1956.

The Cold War and Domino theory

At this point, the United States' Cold War foreign policy began to play a major part in Vietnam. U.S. policy at the time was dominated by the domino theory, which believed that the "fall" of North Vietnam to Communism might trigger all of Southeast Asia to fall, setting off a sort of Communist chain reaction. Within a year of the Geneva Accords, the United States therefore began to offer support to the anti-Communist politician Ngo Dinh Diem. With U.S. assistance, Diem took control of the South Vietnamese government in 1955, declared the Republic of Vietnam, and promptly canceled the elections that had been scheduled for 1956.

The Diem Regime

Diem's regime proved corrupt, oppressive, and extremely unpopular. Nonetheless, the United States continued to prop it up, fearful of the increasing Communist resistance activity it noted in South Vietnam. This resistance against Diem's regime was organized by the Ho Chi Minh-backed National Liberation Front, which became more commonly known as the Viet Cong.

In 1962, U.S. president John F. Kennedy sent American "military advisors" to Vietnam to help train the South Vietnamese army, the ARVN, but quickly realized that the Diem regime was unsalvageable. Therefore, in 1963, the United States backed a coup that overthrew Diem and installed a new leader. The new U.S.-backed leaders proved just as corrupt and ineffective.

Johnson and U.S. Escalation

Kennedy's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson, pledged to honor Kennedy's commitments but hoped to keep U.S. involvement in Vietnam to a minimum. After North Vietnamese forces allegedly attacked U.S. Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964, however, Johnson was given carte blanche in the form of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution and began to send U.S. troops to Vietnam. Bombing campaigns such as 1965's Operation Rolling Thunder ensued, and the conflict escalated. Johnson's "Americanization" of the war led to a presence of nearly 400,000 U.S. troops in Vietnam by the end of 1966.

Quagmire and attrition

As the United States became increasingly mired in Vietnam, it pursued a strategy of attrition, attempting to bury the Vietnamese Communist forces under an avalanche of casualties. However, the Viet Cong's guerrilla tactics frustrated and demoralized U.S. troops, while its dispersed, largely rural presence left American bomber planes with few targets. The United States therefore used unconventional weapons such as napalm and the herbicide defoliant Agent Orange but still managed to make little headway.

Tet offensive

In 1968, the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong launched a massive campaign called the Tet Offensive, attacking nearly thirty U.S. targets and dozens of other cities in South Vietnam at once. Although the United States pushed back the offensive and won a tactical victory, American media coverage characterized the conflict as a defeat, and U.S. public support for the war plummeted. Morale among U.S. troops also hit an all-time low, manifesting itself tragically in the 1968 My Lai Massacre, in which frustrated U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in a small village.

Antiwar Movement

Meanwhile, the antiwar movement within the United States gained momentum as student protesters, countercultural hippies, and even many mainstream Americans denounced the war. Protests against the war and the military draft grew increasingly violent, resulting in police brutality outside the Democratic National Convention in 1968 and the deaths of four students at Kent State University in 1970 when Ohio National Guardsmen fired on a crowd. Despite the protests, Johnson's successor, President Richard M. Nixon, declared that a "silent majority" of Americans still supported the war.

Vietnamization and U.S. Withdraw

Nonetheless, Nixon promoted a policy of Vietnamization of the war, promising to withdraw U.S. troops gradually and hand over management of the war effort to the South Vietnamese. Although Nixon made good on his promise, he also illegally expanded the geographic scope of the war by authorizing the bombing of Viet Cong sites in the neutral nations of Cambodia and Laos, all without the knowledge or consent of the U.S. Congress. The revelation of these illegal actions, along with the publication of the secret Pentagon Papers in U.S. newspapers in 1971, caused an enormous scandal in the United States and forced Nixon to push for a peace settlement.

The cease-fire and fall of Saigon

After secret negotiations between U.S. emissary Henry A. Kissinger and North Vietnamese representative Le Duc Tho in 1972, Nixon engaged in diplomatic maneuvering with China and the USSR—and stepped up bombing of North Vietnam—to pressure the North Vietnamese into a settlement. This cease-fire was finally signed in January 1973, and the last U.S. military personnel left Vietnam in March 1973.

The U.S. government continued to fund the South Vietnamese army, but this funding quickly dwindled. Meanwhile, as President Nixon became embroiled in the Watergate scandal that led to his resignation in August 1974, North Vietnamese forces stepped up their attacks on the South and finally launched an all-out offensive in the spring of 1975. On April 30, 1975, the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to the North Vietnamese, who reunited the country under Communist rule as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, ending the Vietnam War.

Lyndon B. Johnson

The 36th U.S. president, who promised to honor his predecessor John F. Kennedy's limited U.S. commitments in Vietnam but ended up escalating the war drastically after the U.S. Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1964. Empowered by the resolution, Johnson authorized Operation Rolling Thunder in 1965 to bomb North Vietnam into submission. When this failed, he sent more than 500,000 U.S. troops to Vietnam and ultimately converted the conflict into a protracted and bitter war.

Richard M. Nixon

The 37th U.S. president, who orchestrated the U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam in the early 1970s. First elected in 1968, Nixon claimed amid the rising din of antiwar protests that a "silent majority" of Americans still supported the war. Nonetheless, he engaged in a policy of Vietnamization to withdraw U.S. troops from Vietnam and hand over military authority to the South Vietnamese. Meanwhile, Nixon covertly expanded the scope of the war by secretly authorizing illegal military actions in Cambodia and Laos. By 1972, he and his national security advisor, Henry A. Kissinger, were pursuing secret negotiations with North Vietnam and engaging in diplomacy with both China and the Soviet Union in order to pressure North Vietnam into a cease-fire. Although Nixon was reelected in a landslide in 1972, his administration became dogged with scandals ranging from Watergate to the Pentagon Papers to the public revelation of the U.S. military actions in Cambodia. Despite his skilled diplomacy and success at removing U.S. troops from Vietnam, he resigned in 1974 to avoid impeachment over the scandals.

Nixon doctrine

proclamation issued by President Richard M. Nixon in 1969 that the United States would no longer send troops to fight Communist revolutions abroad. The doctrine, issued along with his policy of Vietnamization, effectively reversed the policies of several post-World War II U.S. presidents.

NSC-68

A 1950 National Security Council memo that advocated an enormous increase in U.S. military spending to combat the perceived growing threat of Communism. NSC-68 contributed to the domino theory that was later used to justify U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

One of the major organizations of antiwar protesters in the United States during the 1960s. Founded in 1959, the quasi-socialist SDS began to organize widespread protests against the U.S. military draft by 1965.

26th amendment

A 1971 amendment to the U.S. Constitution that lowered the voting age from twenty-one to eighteen. The amendment was passed in response to protests that young U.S. soldiers fighting and dying in Vietnam lacked the legal right to vote for or against the politicians who were running the war. Although antiwar activists welcomed the amendment, they continued to protest.

Viet Cong (VC)

Akin to the American slang word "Commies," an originally mildly derisive term for Communist forces in South Vietnam who opposed the U.S.-backed government in Saigon. "Viet Cong" grew to lose its negative connotation and came into common use as the war progressed. By the time of U.S. involvement, the Viet Cong was a sizable guerrilla force hidden among South Vietnam's population, making its members extremely difficult to find or target

Watergate

A domestic scandal in the United States that began in the summer of 1972, when police arrested five men breaking into the Democratic Party headquarters at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. President Richard M. Nixon publicly denied having any prior knowledge of the incident and created a special investigative committee to look into the matter. Eventually, it was revealed that Nixon had authorized both the break-in and the cover-up that followed. As the scandal exploded, calls arose for Nixon's impeachment; Nixon ultimately resigned in 1974. Taking advantage of the confusion and distraction in the Nixon administration, North Vietnamese forces moved into South Vietnam, setting the stage for an offensive in the spring of 1975 that led to the fall of Saigon.