Vietnam War

William Westmoreland

American General who commanded American military operations in the Vietnam War at its peak from 1964 to 1968

Student strikes

Strikes that occurred across college campuses. Two most notable Kent State and Jackson State

Ho Chi Minh Trail

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

French Indochina

Area of southeast Asia controlled by France during Imperialism. Includes Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.

Operation Rolling thunder

bombing campaign over North Vietnam, supposed to weaken enemy's ability and will to fight

War Powers Act

1973. A resolution of Congress that stated the President can only send troops into action abroad by authorization of Congress or if America is already under attack or serious threat.

Students For A Democratic society

Founded in 1962, the SDS was a popular college student organization that protested shortcomings in American life, notably racial injustice and the Vietnam War. It led thousands of campus protests before it split apart at the end of the 1960s.

Tet Offensive

a massive surprise attack by the Vietcong on South Vietnamese towns and cities in early 1968. Considered win for U.S. however U.S. citizens did not see it that way.

Body Counts (Vietnam War)

A Tally of how many vietcong were killed each day.

Election candidates 1968

Richard Nixon, Robert Kennedy, Eugene Mccarthy, Hubert Humphrey, LBJ, George Wallace

Vietnamization

President Richard Nixons strategy for ending U.S involvement in the vietnam war, involving a gradual withdrawal of American troops and replacement of them with South Vietnamese forces

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

1964 Congressional resolution authorizing President Johnson to take military action in Vietnam

Pentagon Papers

A 7,000-page top-secret United States government report on the history of the internal planning and policy-making process within the government itself concerning the Vietnam War.

Domino Theory

A theory that if one nation comes under Communist control, then neighboring nations will also come under Communist control.

ARVN

Army of the Republic of South Vietnam

Dien Bien Phu

A town of northwest Vietnam near the Laos border. The French military base here fell to Vietminh troops on May 7, 1954, after a 56-day siege, leading to the end of France's involvement in Indochina.

Geneva Accords

Temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel

Fulbright Hearings

Senator Fulbright conducted a series of televised committee hearings in which he asked members of the Johnson administration to defend their vietnam policies; intended to win support for the war; afterwards, Fulbright anounced he was now opposed to the war.

Credibility gap

American public's growing distrust of statements made by the government during the Vietnam War

New Left

Coalition of younger members of the Democratic party and radical student groups. Believed in participatory democracy, free speech, civil rights and racial brotherhood, and opposed the war in Vietnam.

Robert Mcnamara

The US Secretary of Defense during the battles in Vietnam. He was the architech for the Vietnam war and promptly resigned after the US lost badly

Clark Clifford

replace Robert McNamara as LBJ's Sec. of Defense in 1968 as McNamara becomes opposed to Vietnam War

Silent Majority

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

My Lai incident

a village in northern South Vietnam where more than 200 unarmed civilians, including women and children, were massacred by U.S. troops in May 1968

Henry Kissinger

The main negotiator of the peace treaty with the North Vietnamese; secretary of state during Nixon's presidency (1970s).

Khmer Rouge

A group of Communist rebels who seized power in Cambodia in 1975.

Ways to escape the vietnam draft

Conscientious objectors, flee to canada, Joined other branches of the military, college deferment

Vietminh

An organization of Vietnamese Communists and other nationalist groups that between 1946 and 1954 fought for Vietnamese independence from the French. (North Vietnam)

Vietcong

A group of Communist guerrillas who, with the help of North Vietnam, fought against the South Vietnamese government in the Vietnam War.

Who occupied french indochina during ww2

Japan

South Vietnam Leader

Ngo Dinh Diem

North Vietnamese Leader

Ho Chi Minh (communist)

Self Immolation

the offering of oneself as a sacrifice, especially by burning; suicidal action in the name of a cause or strongly held belief

Jfk sent what to vietnam

Advisors

Strategic Hamlet program

isolate peasants from Vietcong (southern rebels), put them in compounds, alienated villagers, meant to avoid killing our allies

Capital or north and south vietnam

Hanoi-North Saigon-South

In 1956 what was supposed to happen?

A unifying election, but did not happen because of the fear Diem would lose

First Sustained bombing of Vietnam?

Operation Rolling Thunder

LBJ secretary of state

Dean Rusk

Johnson's secretary of defense

Robert McNamara

Napalm

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

Agent Orange

a herbicide used in the Vietnam War to defoliate forest areas

Conscientious objectors

Person who refuses to enter the military or bear arms due to moral or religious reasons

Hawks

Americans who supported the Vietnam War.

Doves

Americans who opposed the Vietnam War.

Yippies

Youth International Party; anarchist party headed by Abbie Hoffman that opposed the Vietnam War & conformity; poured bags of dollars onto the New York Stock Exchange and carried pictures of LBJ upside down

Republican candidate in 1968

Richard Nixon

Democratic candidates in 1968

Mccarthy, Kennedy, LBj, Humphrey

American Independent Party candidate 1968

Governor George C. Wallace

What did George Wallace run on

Re segregating schools.

Kent State Incident

a student anti-war protest at Kent State University that turned deadly when they Ohio National Guard opened fire on protesters; 4 students died, several other were injured

Hardhats

Construction workers and other blue collar Americans who supported the US government's war policies

Who did the Pentagon Papers blame for the war in Vietnam

LBJ

Westmorelands strategy in Vietnam

War of attrition

War of Attrition

A war based on wearing the other side down by constant attacks and heavy losses

"Living Room War"

For the first time, Americans could sit in their living rooms and see the devastating effects of the war (body bags) on their televisions

Selective Service

Law passed by Congress in 1917 that required all men from ages 21 to 30 to register for the military draft

Gerald Ford

1974-1977, Republican, first non elected president and VP, he pardoned Nixon

What tactics did Vietcong use?

Guerilla tactics, hit & run, ambush & jungle knowledge

Americans dealt with many problems in the jungle such as

booby traps, leeches and the heat

This war pushed aside LBJ'S

Great Society.

More __ were troops compared to % of whites going to war

African Americans

Tom Hayden and Al Haber

founders of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)

Doves were calling the war in Vietnam a

civil war

Barry Mcguire

wrote and sang "Eve of Destruction"

Walter Cronkite

A newscaster who was known for his objectivity and trustworthiness, who said that the war in Vietnam would end in stalemate. Johnson knew that if even Cronkite didn't support him, nobody in Middle America supported him.

MLK and RFK were assassinated in

1968

Who assassinated RFK

Sirhan Sirhan

Democrats Primary in 1968 between

Humphrey and Mccarthy

Democratics convention took place in

Chicago

What did the protestors chant outside the covention

THE WORLD IS WATCHING

This Convention proved the Democrats were in

chaos

As soon as Nixon enters the war he

withdraws troops from SV and orders more bombings on NV.

The Pentagon papers would lead to the idea of

Nixon's biggest scandal, WATERGATE

Who Leaked the Pentagon Papers?

Daniel Ellsberg

Who announced peace was at hand?

Kissinger

What made NV surrender to the peace treaty

The Christmas Bombings.

Ford refused to send troops because

it was a war that was already finished

Vietnam Veterans had a

15% PTSD rate

Pol Pot

Leader of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, who terrorized the people of Cambodia throughout the 1970's

Over 1 million killed in Cambodia in the

killing fields

Changes after the war

end of the draft
War Powers Act 1973
--president must inform Congress within 48 hours of sending forces to a
hostile area w/o a declaration of war
troops can stay for no more than 90 days without the approval of Congress
3. Vietnam Syndrome
possible intervention in foreign affairs
weighed against how it would affect
the US
4. Americans very suspicious of and cynical toward govt

South Vietnamese were sent to

reeducation camps