60s Flashcards
French Indochina
Colonized France
- included Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia
Down Bien Phu
The place were the French are defeated during the fight of Vietnam independence
Ho Chi Minh
- Leader of the fight for Vietnam independence from France
* Led communist North
Viet Cong
- Communist supporters in the South Vietnam
- Part of NLF, tought for North
Gulf of Tonkin
- US destroys fired upon by North Vietnam
* Congress gave Johnson full authority to lead in military troops in Vietnam
Escalation
- Increase in troops and bombs
* Weapon increase
Operation Rolling Thunder
- Americans bombing raids in Vietnam
* 864,000 tons of bombs dropped in about 4 years
17th Parallel
Where Geneva conference decided to split communist and capitalist in Vietnam
Napalm and Agent Orange
- Chemical weapons
- Caused mass destruction in vietnam
- Flammable , killed back jungle
- Used by US
Counter-Culture
- Protest of the war
* Led by Hippies and Flower Children
Vietnamization
- Nixions secret plan to end the war
* Secretly carpet bombing Hanoi and invading Cambodia
Credibility Gap
“gap” between the reality of a situation + what politicians/government agencies say
• LBJ description of Vietnam + realities of Vietnam
Kent State Shootings
- Students protest war
* Shoots and kills 4 people
War Act Powers
- President send forces only with congress approval
- Unless emergency like; attack on US territory, possessions, armed forces
- Must notify congress 48 hours before attack. Attack must only last 60 days
How did the US involvement in Vietnam increase during the presidecene of Eisenhower , Kennedy , LBJ ?
- Eisenhower: worked with communist threat. Put Ngo Dinh Diem as democratic candidate for Vietnam
- Kennedy: overthrew Diem and stops election
- LBJ: escalates into war
Who were the Vietcong and how did they “hide in plain sight “ ?
• Vietcong : communist supporters in South
• Dug underground tunnels,
hid in them and popped out with guns for surprise attacks
How did the Media/TV impact Americans views on Vietnam War ?
- First TV war
- Americans saw brutality of war
- Music/ TV made people get behind the movement of anti war + belief we would never win
How did the Americans show opinions regarding the war ? Impact on war ?
- protest war by holding rallies to spread opinions
* grew homefront support and distrust of government
What was Nixions plan to win the war ? What did “Peace with Honor” mean ?
- plan to leave Vietnam without US declared a loser
* did this by slowly pulling out of Vietnam and increase in South Vietnam involvement
How did Vietnam war change Americas view of government?
Proved the government to be secretive, untrustworthy and defeatable
