mid and end of cold war

Vietnam War

A long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States.

Containment

The U.S. policy of preventing the spread of communism, which was the primary justification for involvement in the Vietnam War.

Ho Chi Minh

The communist leader of North Vietnam who led the struggle to unify the country under a communist government.

Vietcong

A political organization and army in South Vietnam and Cambodia that fought the United States and South Vietnamese governments during the Vietnam War.

Lyndon B. Johnson & escalation

The U.S. President who significantly increased the number of American troops and intensity of combat operations in Vietnam.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

A 1964 congressional resolution that authorized President Lyndon B. Johnson to take any measures he believed were necessary to retaliate and promote the maintenance of international peace and security in southeast Asia.

Napalm and agent orange

Chemical weapons and defoliants used by the U.S. military during the Vietnam War to destroy the jungle cover and crops of the enemy.

Kent State

The site of a 1970 protest where the Ohio National Guard fired on students, killing four, during a demonstration against the Vietnam War.

26th Amendment

A constitutional amendment that lowered the legal voting age from 21 to 18, partly in response to young men being drafted to fight in Vietnam.

Pentagon Papers

A classified government study on the history of U.S. involvement in Vietnam, which was leaked to the press in 1971 and undermined public trust in government.

Draft resistance

The opposition or refusal to comply with the military draft for the Vietnam War.

Vietnamization

A policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War by transferring all military responsibilities to South Vietnam.

War Powers Act

A federal law intended to check the U.S. President's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress.

Détente

The easing of hostility or strained relations, especially between countries, particularly the period of improved relations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

SALT treaty

Strategic Arms Limitation Talks; negotiations between the U.S. and the Soviet Union aimed at limiting the number of nuclear weapons.

Jimmy Carter

The 39th U.S. President known for brokering the Camp David Accords and dealing with the Iran Hostage Crisis.

Camp David Accords

A peace treaty facilitated by Jimmy Carter in 1978 between Egypt and Israel.

Iran Hostage Crisis

A diplomatic standoff in which 52 American diplomats and citizens were held hostage for 444 days in Iran.

OPEC & America’s petroleum dependence

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries; their oil embargo in the 1970s highlighted U.S. vulnerability to foreign oil dependence.

Stagflation

A period of persistent high inflation combined with high unemployment and stagnant demand in a country's economy.

Ronald Reagan

The 40th U.S. President whose policies (Reaganomics) and "peace through strength" approach defined the late Cold War.

SDI ('star wars')

Strategic Defense Initiative; a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons.

Mikhail Gorbachev

The final leader of the Soviet Union, whose policies of glasnost and perestroika led to the end of the Cold War.

Glasnost & perestroika

Policies of "openness" and "restructuring" introduced in the Soviet Union to reform the political and economic systems.

George H.W. Bush

The 41st U.S. President who oversaw the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Fall of Berlin Wall

The 1989 event that symbolized the end of the Cold War and the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe.

When?

1991