Download - War in Vietnam Review. France European country controlled Vietnam as a colony for over 60 years
Dien Bien Phu
• North Vietnam city where a French military outpost was overrun by the communist Vietminh
1956 Elections
• Established by the Geneva Conference
• The United States feared a communist victory
• Cancelled
Domino Theory
• Theory stating that if South Vietnam fell to communism, the other nations of Southeast Asia would fall
• Coined by Eisenhower
Buddhist monks
• Set themselves on fire in protestin 1963
• Convinced the Kennedy Administration that Ngo Dinh Diem was an unpopular leader and had to be replaced.
The Gulf of Tonkin Incident
• Congress granted wide-ranging war power to President Johnson and allowed him to widen the Vietnam conflict as a result of a supposed attack by North Vietnamese forces on US ships.
American involvementDesire to maintain
American credibility as having the resolve to halt communist aggression.
Part of Containment Policy
Operation Rolling Thunder
• The massive bombing campaign of North Vietnam.
• In response to VC attack at Pleiku
The Ho Chi Minh Trail
• Extended from North Vietnam through “neutral” countries into South Vietnam to supply the Vietcong.
The Vietcong Strategy
Preferred to use guerilla warfare tactics
Hit and run and ambush
Knew they needed to out last the U.S.
Tet Offensive• Viewed as a military failure,
but political success for the Communist Forces
• More Americans began to doubt the war
Tet Offensive
• Media portrayal led to an erosion of support from the American public for the war in Vietnam.
Hubert Humphrey
• Johnson’s VP
• LBJ attempted to help his presidential campaign by halting bombing of North Vietnam.
War Opposition
Some Americans-
• Burned their draft cards
• Refused to register
• Claimed to be conscientious objectors
The My Lai Massacre
• The military attempted to cover up the atrocity
• Shocked many Americans into believing the U.S. needed to withdraw from Vietnam.
The SDS
• A U.S. group that radically opposed the Vietnam War
• Responsible for burning the ROTC building at Kent State
Vietnamization
Policy of having the South Vietnamese troops taking over more of the fighting
Bought time for the Nixon administration to seek a negotiated peace.
Richard Nixon
• Wanted to end the war with “Peace with Honor”.
• Ordered the secret bombings of Laos and Cambodia.
Kent State Demonstrations
• Resulted from the discovery of Nixon’s secret bombings and invasion of Cambodia.
The Paris Peace Talks
• The successful negotiations between Henry Kissinger (U.S.) and Le Duc Tho (North Vietnam)
Silent Majority
• Term Richard Nixon, called Americans who supported the War in Vietnam but tended to be less vocal than anti-war activists
Agent Orange
The U.S.
sprayed on the thick triple canopy jungle of Vietnam so bombers and troops could see the enemy
Ho Chi Minh Trail
A network of dirty roads & muddy trails used to supply the enemies of the U.S. in South Vietnam
Lyndon B. Johnson
Used the Gulf of Tonkin Incident as a reason to deepen US involvement in the Vietnam War.