FOREIGN AFFAIRS unit 4

What actions by Fidel Castro forced an economic embargo by the United States?

Fulgencio Batista - mob & United fruit run Cuba

1959 - Batista fled and Fidel Castro takes control
Castro didn't ally w/ Soviets immediately.
Seized property belonging to US corporations. US & Allie's stopped buying Cuban sugar. Cuba sells to Soviets.

Identify why the Bay of Pigs invasion failed.

No popular support for an uprising, anyone who rose up against Castro was in jail or dead. Kennedy refused to give any further US military support

What events were part of the Cuban Missile Crisis?

Kennedy sends Us navy to blockade cuba to prevent deliveries of any more missiles 

What were the results?

Soviets removed their missiles from Cuba, the US removed its missiles from Turkey, US promised not to invade cuba. Direct phone link is between the white house and the kremlin Out law nuclear above ground nuclear testing

How did the Viet Minh help the US during WWII?

French empire conquered by Japanese during WW2 Viet Minh fought the Japanese, supplied by the US, rescued American pilots shot down over china.

How did the Communist victory in China and the Korean War affect US thinking on containment in the rest of Asia?

Containment would be applied to Southeast Asia

Identify the Eisenhower administration's options to help the French at Dien Bien Phu.

Eisenhower helped the french: 1. Ground troops, 2. Conventional bombing, 3. Nuclear weapons. May 7th, 1954, French surrender Dien Bien phu

Identify the provisions of the Geneva Accords.

The peace talks with North Vietnam in May of 1954, which included the US, Russia, French, China, Vietnam. Outcome: was the temporary division between north and South Vietnam, on the 17th parallel, with elections supposed to be held (they were never held because Ho Chi Minh would have won anyway). Ho Chi Minh had power in the North while Ngo Dinh Diem took power in the South.

What were the recommendations made in the Taylor-Rostow report?

• 1. US air power should be used against vietnam 

• 2. mOre military advisers should be sent to vietnam to train south vietnamese army

Identify the problems that led to Ngo Dinh Diem’s removal from president of South Vietnam.

Diem failed to help the people of South Vietnam and was also executing Buddhists, so protests began in which Buddhists would set them self on fire in the streets. The situation got so bad the Diems' own men approached the US with the idea of a coup. Kennedy gave approval of the coup and Diem was removed on November 1 1963, however he was murdered. (Not approved by Kennedy)

Why did Lyndon Johnson push the US into a large-scale intervention in South Vietnam?

Lyndon Johnson's decision to escalate U.S. intervention in Vietnam was a result of Cold War ideology, a perceived threat of communist expansion in Southeast Asia, a desire to maintain American credibility, and a political opportunity presented by the Gulf of Tonkin Incident

How did the NVA and VC even the odds against the US and South Vietnam forces?

Switch from a conventional war to an insurgency, After an area was seized and cleared they would just return, preventing troops from covering more ground, and they eventually began irregular warfare: didn't wear uniforms (cant tell friend v. foe) booby traps and hidden attacks.

Why was the Department of State bereft of Vietnam experts?

Back in the Mccarthy period, all the vietnam experts had been purged from state

Identify the claims made by General Westmoreland in his PR tour of November 1967.

• PR tour, believed based on body count that victory was in sight. 

• -that the US was nearing victory in the war against Vietnam

• -based on the false body count report

What was the Tet offensive?  Why is the offensive so significant in the war?

• Jan 1968, attack by ViaCONG and Viet army, there were over a hundred coordinated attacks 

• hundreds of surprise attacks launched in major cities such as Saigon and the US embassy on January 30th, 1968

Operation 34A

CIA & Navy, involved offshore bombardment of north vietnamese radar and communication installations

Gulf of Tonkin Incident

North vietnamese attacked american boats. Alleged attack of US ships by North Vietnamese torpedoes in the Tonkin Gulf on August 4, 1964. Prompted the escalation of the War in Vietnam.

Operation Rolling Thunder

Massive aerial bombardment of north vietnam that continued till 1968.

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam, led the fight against the French and then the Americans to reunify the country