Kennedy and Johnson Administrations and the Vietnam War Study Guide Vocabulary

Kennedy Administration

• John F. Kennedy

  • 35th President of the U.S.
  • Led during the Cold War
  • Assassinated in 1963

• Flexible Response

  • Military strategy introduced by Kennedy
  • Advocated for various military responses beyond just nuclear options

• Peace Corps

  • Program initiated by Kennedy
  • Aimed at sending American volunteers to aid developing countries

• Bay of Pigs Invasion

  • Failed U.S.-backed operation in 1961 to overthrow Fidel Castro
  • Resulted in a diplomatic setback for Kennedy

• Cuban Missile Crisis

  • 1962 confrontation between the U.S. and the USSR regarding Soviet missiles in Cuba
  • Nearly escalated into nuclear war; led to direct communication lines (Hot Line) between superpowers

• New Frontier

  • Kennedy's agenda focusing on economic growth, civil rights, and educational improvements

• Deficit Spending

  • Practice of spending more than government revenue

• Space Race

  • Competition between the U.S. and USSR for space exploration supremacy

• Warren Commission

  • Investigated JFK's assassination
  • Concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone

Johnson Administration

• Lyndon B. Johnson

  • 36th President of the U.S.
  • Known for his civil rights initiatives and escalating the Vietnam War

• War on Poverty

  • Johnson's program aimed at reducing poverty in America

• Great Society

  • Johnson's domestic program focused on health care, education, and civil rights reforms
  • Included Medicare (for seniors) and Medicaid (for low-income individuals)

• Warren Court

  • Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren
  • Notable for expanding civil rights jurisprudence

• Vietnam War Involvement

  • Johnson significantly escalated U.S. involvement following the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which allowed him to deploy military troops without a formal declaration of war
  • Major strategies included Operation Rolling Thunder, a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam
  • Use of Agent Orange to clear foliage, revealing enemy positions

• Domino Theory

  • Belief that the spread of communism in one nation could trigger the spread in neighboring nations

• Vietcong

  • South Vietnamese communists fighting against the U.S. and the South Vietnamese government

Vietnam War Developments

• Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

  • Authorized Johnson to take military action without a declaration of war

• Tet Offensive

  • Coordinated surprise attacks by North Vietnamese forces in 1968
  • Marked a turning point in public opinion against the Vietnam War

• Vietnamization

  • Nixon's strategy to withdraw U.S. troops while equipping and training South Vietnam to fight on its own

• My Lai Massacre

  • Killing of Vietnamese civilians by U.S. soldiers during the war, leading to significant outrage and anti-war sentiment

• Pentagon Papers

  • Classified documents revealing governmental misinformation regarding the Vietnam War

• Paris Peace Accords

  • 1973 agreement aimed at ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam

• War Powers Act

  • Legislation to prevent the president from engaging U.S. military forces without Congressional approval

• Detente

  • Period of easing Cold War tensions, illustrated through treaties such as the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) that limited nuclear weapons

• Henry Kissinger

  • Key advisor to Nixon, instrumental in foreign policy decisions, particularly ending U.S. involvement in Vietnam