Key Terms and Definitions on Social Movements During the Vietnam War

Betty Friedan

Co-founded the National Organization for Women. She broke barriers by exploring roles for women that weren't traditional.

The Feminine Mystique

A book written by Betty Friedan that sparked the conversation for women in the United States and their role in society.

National Organization for Women (N.O.W.)

Organization to action to bring women into full participation in the mainstream of American society now, exercising all privileges and responsibilities in equal partnership with men.

Equal Rights Amendment:

an amendment ratified by 22 states that created more job opportunities for women and equal education for women. The ERA also granted the right to abortion for accidental pregnancies, maternity leave for pregnant women, and paid childcare services.

Roe vs. Wade

The court decision deemed states that banned abortion as unconstitutional states. This decision forced many other states to legalize the right to abortion for women and questioned the liberty of women's decisions in the U.S

American Indian Movement

This program was founded to help American Indians living in ghettos who had been displaced when new government programs pushed them out of their reservations

Occupation of Alcatraz

a nine month protest to show the unfair treatment of Native Americans, Alcatraz was similar to conditions of Native American reserves

Wounded Knee

The wounded knee massacre occurred in February of 1973 near Wounded Knee Creek and Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reserve. It was the unfair killing of Native Americans and at this time, Aim planned a protest against the administration of Pine Ridge and sieged it for many months.

Cesar Chavez

co-founded National Farm Workers Association to help migrant farm workers organize, conducted strikes,

Dolores Huerta

co-founder of NFWA, worked with Chavez in order to help farm workers protest and gain equal economic rights

Grape Strike

labor strike against grape growers in California, used non-violent resistance to improve pay, working, and labor conditions

MAYO

founded by Jose Angel Gutierrez, goal was to achieve economic independence, control over education of Hispanic children, and power through the creation of political parties; organized school walkouts and demonstrations to protest school discrimination

La Raza Unida Party

formed by Jose Angel Gutierrez; campaigned for bilingual education, improved public services, education for children of migrant workers, and end job discrimination; registered 10000 new voters and ran candidates for several state offices

The Brown Berets

Chicano militant organization created by Chicano youth, similar to Black Panther; fought for bilingual education, better school conditions, Chicano studies, and more Chicano teachers; protected children during school walkouts; supported recovery of New Mexico lands and United Farm Workers' campaigns

Harvey Milk

the first ever openly gay person to be elected into public office. He fought against laws that discriminate against homosexuals and raised hope in the LGBT community.

Stonewall Riots

The catalyst that sparked the revival of the LGBTQ rights movement. Police had taken action against trans and gay people at the Stonewall Inn and for the first time ever they fought back.

LGBTQ

LGBTQ stands for "Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transexual and Queer" it is a term to describe people of different sexualities and genders this movement was to bring equality to all

Free Speech Movement

movement in UC Berkeley in which students protested the administration's' decision to ban campus political activities

Mario Savio

An influential student activist who stood up to protect his freedom of speech in UC Berkeley, when they tried to limit their ability to discuss their political views

Summer of Love

the summer of love was the height of the hippie movement in 1967 - the world was at war in Vietnam and the hippies (counter culture) professed love, harmony and peace.

Emmett Till

A fourteen year old black boy who was lynched by a Mississippi mob for leering at a woman - catalyst for the movement when the "world saw what they had done"

Bobby Seale and Huey Newton

Founders of the Black Panther Party

Yuji Ichioka

Historian and civil rights activist best known for his work in ethnic studies and his participation in the Asian American movement - coined the term Asian American

Asian American Political Alliance

Organization that encouraged Asian-Americans to claim their own cultural identity and, in racial solidarity with their "Asian brothers and sisters," to protest against the U.S. war in Vietnam.

Third World Liberation Front

Umbrella term for a number of different movements that aimed to combat oppression and inequalities in society

Ho Chi Minh

Communist leader of North Vietnam

Viet Minh (Vietminh)

Communist supporters of Ho Chi Minh whose intention was to get foreigners out of Vietnam

Indochina

French colony made up of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam

Dien Bien Phu

The place that the final battle took place that forced the French out of Vietnam

Geneva Accords

A 1954 peace agreement that divided Vietnam into Communist-controlled North Vietnam and non-Communist South Vietnam until unification elections could be held in 1956

17th Parallel

Line of latitude that separated North and South Vietnam

"Military advisors"/Vietnam

Eisenhower and Kennedy's troops who were installed in this country to support the shaky regime of the Diem government.

Viet Cong (VC)

South Vietnam rebels who used guerilla warfare to try to topple US powers in Vietnam

Ngo Dinh Diem

American puppet in South Vietnam from 1954 to 1963; his repressive regime caused the Communist Viet Cong to thrive in the South and required increasing American military aid to stop a Communist takeover. he was killed in a coup in 1963.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

This gave the president authority to take "all neccessary measures to repel any armed attack against forces of the United States"- or wage war- without a formal declaration of war

ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam)

the southern Vietnamese soldiers with whom U.S. troops fought against communism and forces in the North during the Vietnam War

Ho Chi Minh Trail

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

Hawks and Doves

nicknames for the two opposing positions in American policy during the war in Vietnam. Hawks supported the escalation of the war and a "peace with honor." Doves argued that the US had wrongly intervened in a civil war and should withdraw its troops.

Operation Rolling Thunder

bombing campaign over North Vietnam, supposed to weaken enemy's ability and will to fight; did opposite and resulted in building support for Ho Chi Minh

escalation

policy of increasing military involvement in Vietnam

Americanization

increasingly making the war in Vietnam America's war to contain communism

NVA

North Vietnamese Army

Agent Orange

a toxic leaf-killing chemical sprayed by U.S. planes in Vietnam to expose Vietcong hideouts

Guerilla War

fighting marked by sabotage, ambushes, and other surprise attacks

General Westmoreland

General based in Vietnam that helped cause the credibility gap by telling the American people the war was almost over when 1000 of Americans were being killed.

War of Attrition

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

Search and Destroy

US troop tactic used to seek out secret Viet Cong hiding places and destroy the villages that they stayed in.

Pacification

program to win hearts and minds of South Vietnamese people, pacify opposition in countryside, involved construction projects, relocation of villagers, and burning of villages

Napalm

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

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; led to increasing war protests

Credibility Gap

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

Tinker v. Des Moines

Students have the right to symbolic speech at school as long as it is not disruptive (during Vietnam War when students wore armbands to protest war- their actions were declared Constitutionally protected)

26th Amendment

Lowered the voting age from 21 to 18

SDS (Students for a Democratic Society)

Part of the Free Speech Movement; considered radical; Demonstrated against the war.

Tet Offensive

a massive surprise attack by the Vietcong on South Vietnamese towns and cities in early 1968; turning point- Americans increasingly turned against war

Election of 1968: candidates, issues

Richard M. Nixon, Republican, won by a 1% margin against Hubert Humphrey, Democrat. The issues were the war in Vietnam and urban crisis of law and order.

Robert Kennedy assassinated, 1968

while running in Democratic primary in 1968 promoting civil rights and other equality based ideals he was assassinated. Nixon, a Republican, won presidency that year. Sirhan Sirhan, a 24-year-old Palestinian/Jordanian immigrant, was convicted of Kennedy's murder. He possibly could have been president.

Democratic Convention of 1968

1968, In Chicago in 1968; where Democratic delegates gathered to nominate Vice-president Hubert Humphrey. The hall was protected with barbed wire and police officers to keep the protesters away.

Richard Nixon

1968 and 1972; Republican; Vietnam: advocated "Vietnamization" (replace US troops with Vietnamese), but also bombed Cambodia/Laos, created a "credibility gap," Paris Peace Accords ended direct US involvement

Peace with Honor

A phrase U.S. President Richard M. Nixon used in a speech , to describe the Paris Peace Accord to end the Vietnam War.

Silent Majority

Term used by President Nixon to describe Americans who opposed the counterculture and supported American troops and efforts to contain communism in Vietnam

Cambodia

Nixon widened the Vietnam War by moving troops and bombing attacks into this country to try and remove enemy camps.

Madman Theory

Nixon's foreign policy technique in which other countries were led to believe that Nixon was insane and would do things unpredictably, such as press "the button" at any moment.

My Lai Massacre

In 1968 American troops massacred women and children in the Vietnamese village of My Lai; this deepened American people's disgust for the Vietnam War.

Antiwar Movement

the group of people who were opposed to the war and they led protest marches

Kent State Shootings

Incident in which National Guard troops fired at a group of students during an antiwar protest at Kent State University in Ohio, killing four people.

Pentagon Papers

Government documents that showed the public had been lied to about the status of the war in Vietnam

War Powers Act

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; result of Vietnam War and the failed Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Paris Peace Accords

1973 peace agreement between the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Vietcong that effectively ended the Vietnam War.

Khmer Rouge

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

boat people

After the Vietnam War, refugees who escaped from Vietnam