Vietnam War Flashcards
Ho Chi Minh
Communist aggressor in vietnam
Formed Vietminh in north
Goal to win independence from France
Vietminh
Vietnamese revolutionaries in North led by Ho Chi Minh
What happened and what is dien bien phu?
It was a major French colonial village that was taken over by Vietminh in 1954
Domino theory
If one nation falls under communist rule, surrounding nations will too
What did Ngo dinh diem do
Refused to take part in country wide election of 1965. Ion charge of south.
Corrupt govt, suppressed opposition
Buddhist restrictions which results in protests
Vietcong
Communist opposition group in the south
NLF
Ho Chi Minh trail
Ho Chi Minh sent Vietcong supplies via network of paths
Borders Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam
Kennedy and Vietnam
Increased aid to diem
Financial and military aid
Strategic hamlet program
Goal: pacification of southerners
Fortified villages
Alienated people
How did diem die
Assassinated
U.S. Part of a coup to kill him (1963)
Against kennedys wishes
What was the Gulf of Tonkin Incident?
USS Maddox fired at Vietnam torpedo and inflicted heavy damage
Crew claimed they saw north firing at them
U.S. Had been leading secret raids
French colonialism in Vietnam?
French colonizes Vietnam
U.S. Provides money to help them fight off Ho Chi Minh and his followers
Gulf of Tonkin resolution
Granted Johnson broad military powers in vietnam
Robert McNamara
Secretary of defense under Johnson
At first dispatched soldiers to Vietnam but later showed doubts
Dean risk
Secretary of State
Worked close with Johnson
Dispatched soldiers
Hit and run ambush tactics
Network of elaborate tunnels
Able to withstand airs trikes and launch surprise attacks
Guerrilla forces
Who was the Vietcong made out of
Civilians in south
Napalm
Gasoline based bomb
Set fire to jungle
Agent orange
Leaf killing toxic chemical
Wounded civilians left villages and surroundings in ruin
Search and destroy missions
Uprooted suspected Vietcong members
Burned villages, killed livestock
Credibility gap
Gap between what johnsons admin was saying and what was happening
TET OFFENSIVE
Every city in south Vietnam attached on new year (tet, 1968)
Undermined us morale = nation divided
Operation rolling thunder
LBJ ordered air strikes against selected targets in north
Vietnam draft
Mostly poor m, uneducated, and black people drafted
Tactics to avoid draft
Sympathetic doctors gave medical exemptions, changed residence to stand before more lenient board, young men enrolled in university could put off service (rich)
The new left
Youth movement of the 1960s
Demanded changes in society
Ex dress codes curfews dorm regulations and mandatory reserves officer training corps (ROTC)
Students for democratic society
Charged that large corporations and large govt institutes had taken over America
Called for restoration of greater individual freedoms
Free speech movement (FSM) 1960
Clash between students and administrators over free speech on campus
Focused criticism on faceless and powerful businesses
Prominence at univ. of Cali
Mario savio leader
Hawks
Strongly supported America should release much of its military force
Doves
Strongly opposed war
Supported withdrawal
1968 election
Robert Kennedy
Eugene mc Carthy
Richard Nixon
Herbert Humphrey
Robert Kennedy
Supported Israel, shot
Eugene McCarty
Platform to end war
Weakened Johnson who withdrew
Herbert Humphrey
Upset anti war activists
Had johnsons support
Ex VP
Richard Nixon
Promise to restore law and order
Promised to end war
Helped my George Wallace (supported segregation won support of south)
Democratic convention riot
Decision for Humphrey to run angered many people
Goal to pressure democrats to end war
SDS staged protest, hoped to provoke violence
What were the results of the democratic convention riot
Police sprayed people with mace, beat them
McCarthy used hotel as medical centers
democrats= party of disorder
Broadcast on TV
Nixon and Henry Kissinger
Vietnamization (gradual pullout of U.S. troops)
My Lai massacre
William calley jr
Ordered to shoot everyone and anyone while searching for Vietcong Rebels
Invasion of Cambodia
Clear out North and Vietcong supply centers
Many people not happy
Appealed Tonkin gulf resolution (1970)
Kent state protest
Student protests led to burning of ROTC building
National guard opened fire bc students threw rocks
Pentagon papers
Showed govt was lying about its actions in Vietnam
Showed drawn up plans to enter before LBJ said he would
No plans to end war
Withdraw of US troops
Peace is at hand - Kissinger
Dropped insistence for north to withdraw troops
Kissinger met with LE DUC TO
What did the Aggreement on ending war and restoring peace say?
North troops remain in south but Nixon respond with full force to any violation of peace aggreement
The fall of Saigon
North launched full scale invasion of south (1975)
Thieu asked for help, sent economic aid
South surrendered
Civil war in Cambodia
Khmer Rouge (communist) attempted to transform Cambodia into peasant country Executed anyone with education of foreign ties
Who was leader of Khmer Rouge?
Pol pot
War powers act (1973)
Pres must inform congress within 48 hours of sending troops in hostile area without declaration of war
