The Vietnam War and the Nixon Era

Vocabulary flashcards covering the key individuals, events, and strategies of the Vietnam War and its aftermath as described in the lecture notes.

George Kennan

A strong advocate for the containment doctrine who characterized the Vietnam conflict as “the most disastrous of all America’s undertakings over the whole $200$ years of its history.”

Ngo Dinh Diem

The aristocratic Catholic leader of South Vietnam who was supported by the United States after the $1954$ Geneva accords but was later assassinated in a $1963$ coup.

National Liberation Front (NLF)

An organization of southern communists, also known as the Viet Cong, that was allied with North Vietnam and sought to unify the country under communist rule.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

A $1964$ congressional act passed by a vote of $416$ to $0$ in the House and $88$ to $2$ in the Senate that authorized the president to “take all necessary measures” to protect American forces in Southeast Asia.

Strategy of Attrition

A military policy premised on the belief that the United States could inflict more damage on the enemy than they could absorb, measured using the “body count” of enemy dead.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

The main supply route through neutral Laos and Cambodia used by North Vietnamese forces to deliver soldiers and supplies into South Vietnam.

My Lai Massacre

The $1968$ event where American soldiers deliberately murdered at least $500$ unarmed South Vietnamese civilians believed to be harboring the Viet Cong.

Pacification Program

A strategy designed to push the Viet Cong from specific regions and win the “hearts and minds” of the local South Vietnamese people.

Relocation Strategy

A military policy where American troops uprooted villagers and moved them to refugee camps, creating more than $3\text{ million}$ refugees by $1967$, before destroying the vacated villages.

Folk Music Revival

A $1960\text{s}$ musical movement that reflected political ideas of the New Left and search for “authenticity” during the antiwar movement.

J. William Fulbright

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee who turned against the war and held televised congressional hearings to air criticisms of administration policy.

Vietnamization

A policy introduced by the Nixon administration to train and equip the South Vietnamese military to assume the burden of combat as American forces were withdrawn.

Henry Kissinger

A Harvard professor who served as Richard Nixon’s special assistant for national security affairs and became the dominant figure in the conduct of Vietnam diplomacy.

Kent State University

The location where four college students were killed and nine injured in May $1970$ when members of the National Guard opened fire on antiwar demonstrators.

Pentagon Papers

A secret Defense Department study leaked by Daniel Ellsberg in $1971$ that provided evidence the government was dishonest about the war’s progress and motives.

Paris Peace Accord

The $1973$ agreement ending the war that included an immediate cease-fire, the release of American prisoners of war, and the survival of the Thieu regime.

Christmas Bombing

The heaviest and most destructive air raids of the war, ordered by President Nixon in December $1972$ against targets in Hanoi and Haiphong.

Nguyen Van Thieu

The President of South Vietnam who resisted the original $1972$ cease-fire terms and eventually fled the country when Saigon fell to communist forces in $1975$.

Khmer Rouge

The murderous regime in Cambodia that took power in $1975$ and whose policies led to the death of more than $\text{a third}$ of the country’s population.

Saigon

The capital of South Vietnam that was captured by communist forces in April $1975$ and subsequently renamed Ho Chi Minh City.