History test ch 22 study questions – Flashcards
Unlock all answers in this set
Unlock answersquestion
Why did the U. S. initially get involved in Vietnam after World War II? What country were we trying to help?
answer
To strength its ties with France and help fight the spread of communism. The country we were trying to help was France.
question
Who was Ho Chi Minh? What was his goal?
answer
Created the Indochinese communist part. His goal was to win Vietnam's independence from foregin rule.
question
What did the Geneva Accords do? What countries were involved in the creating the agreement?
answer
Temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel. France, Great Britain, Soviet Union, United States, China, Laos, Cambodia.
question
What 2 major positions made Ho Chi Minh so popular in North Vietnam?
answer
Broke up large estates and redistributed land to peasants.
question
Who was Ngo Dinh Diem? Why did the U.S. promise to help him with military aid and training? Identify 2 major positions he took that angered many Vietnamese citizens.
answer
President of South Vietnam. The United States felt like the election might lead Ho Chi Minh to win, so they supported canceling elections.The US military promised aid and training to Diem only if he would lead a stable reform government in the South. He led in a corrupt government and offered little land distribution to peasants. Also angered the Buddhist population by restricting Buddhist practices.
question
Why did LBJ escalate our involvement in Vietnam?
answer
Believed that the communist take over would be bad and he didn't want to it to spread a lot.
question
What was the Tonkin Gulf Resolution? What power did it give the president?
answer
Allowed President Johnson to take military action and gave him powers to take aggressive actions toward the North Vietnamese.
question
Why did the public elect Lyndon Johnson in 1964?
answer
his republican opponent, Barry Goldwater, was an anti-communist who might have pushed the u.s. into war with the soviet union.
question
Why did the American public overwhelmingly support the Vietnam War in 1965?
answer
Many saw that the President was confronting communism anywhere in the world.
question
Who was William Westmoreland? Why did he want more U.S. troops in Vietnam?
answer
American Commander in S. Vietnam. Wanted more U.S. troops because he wasn't impressed with the fighting ability of the S. Vietnam army.
question
What was the main advantage that the U.S. military had over the Vietcong?
answer
High-powered weaponry.
question
What 2 factors allowed the Vietcong to nullify that advantage and turn the war into a stalemate?
answer
Used hit-and-run and ambush tactics, as well as having knowledge of the jungle terrain.
question
Identify 3 different purposes of the tunnel system established by the Vietcong.
answer
Allowed them to: Withstand airstrikes, launch surprise attacks and disappear quickly, and also hid booby traps and land mines in there.
question
What were the 2 key U. S. military strategies in Vietnam? Were they effective in defeating the Vietcong? Explain your answer
answer
Destroy their morale through a war of attrition. They would slowly wear down the enemy by harassment. And also keep the Vietcong from winning support from S. Vietnam's rural population. No, they weren't effective, since the Vietcong had no intentions of quitting and the usage of the hazardous chemicals and weapons injured many innocent civilians.
question
Identify 3 factors that led to the low morale of U. S. troops by the late 1960s.
answer
1- frustrations of guerrilla warfare, 2- brutal jungle conditions, 3- failure to advance against the enemy.
question
What types of activities did some U.S. troops begin to engage in as their morale dropped?
answer
alcohol, marijuana, and other drugs.
question
Who was Nguyen Cao Ky? How did his situation complicate our involvement in Vietnam?
answer
Nguyen Cao Ky was a flamboyant air marshal that ignored U.S. pleas to retire, Mass demonstrations began, South Vietnam was fighting a civil war within a civil war, leaving U.S. officials confused and angry
question
What happened to the inflation rate in the U.S. during the 1960's?
answer
More than tripled
question
What did President Johnson ask for to help fund the war?
answer
A tax increase
question
How did the Vietnam War affect the Great Society programs?
answer
$6 billion reduction in funding for Great Society programs.
question
What was the "credibility gap"? How did television coverage contribute to this?
answer
The television images of Americans in body bags caused the growing of a credibility gap between what the Johnson administration reported and what was really happening
question
What was public opinion of the war by 1967? Where did most of the opposition come from?
answer
half were supporting and half were opposing the war. Most of the opposition came from the nation's youth.
question
How did the draft work during the Vietnam war? Who was eligible?
answer
males had to register with their local draft boards, and men between the ages of 18 and 26 would be called into military service.
question
Identify 3 ways that young men attempted to avoid being drafted during the Vietnam War.
answer
-medical exemptions -changed residences to a more lenient draft board. -Joined the National Guard or Coast Guard.
question
Why were most of the American soldiers serving in Vietnam minorities and lower-class whites?
answer
Because university students were mainly white and were wealthier than most others.
question
What role did women play in the Vietnam War?
answer
nurses
question
What were the names of the 2 "New Left" organizations that emerged during the early 1960s?
answer
-Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and free Speech Movement (FSM).
question
How did Lyndon Johnson change deferments for college students in February of 1966? What was the response by leaders of SDS?
answer
Required students to be in good academic standing in order to be granted a deferment. . SDS called for civil disobedience at Selective Service Centers and openly counseled students to flee to Canada or Sweden.
question
Identify 3 reasons that young people opposed the war.
answer
-Believed that the conflict in Vietnam was a civil war and the U.S.had no business there. - oppressive South Vietnamese regime was no better than the Communist regime it was fighting. - the United States could not police the entire globe and that war was draining American strength in other important parts of the world.
question
How many people were accused of draft related offenses? Were a large number of those people imprisoned? What was the typical prison sentence like? What did many do to avoid prison?
answer
200,000 men accused of draft offenses. imprisoned nearly 4,000 draft resisters. 6 to 12 months many fled to Canada.
question
How did the positions of the "doves" and the "hawks" differ?
answer
Those who strongly opposed the war- doves Those who strongly supported the war- hawks.
question
How did most of the American public feel about anti-war demonstrations and protests in 1967?
answer
war protests were "acts of disloyalty.
question
What is Tet?
answer
Beginning of the lunar new year festivities known in Vietnam as tet.
question
Which side had more troops killed during the Tet offensive?
answer
vietcong
question
How did U.S. public opinion about the Vietnam War change after the Tet Offensive? How did the media play a role in doing this?
answer
After Tet, both sides, doves and hawks, tallied 40 percent. The mainstream media now openly criticized the war.
question
What happened to Lyndon Johnson's popularity after the Tet offensive?
answer
Johnson's popularity plummeted
question
What 2 major announcements did Lyndon Johnson make in a nationally televised address at the end of March?
answer
Johnson announced the United States would seek negotiations to end the war. Also, he stepped down from national politics.
question
Which 2 famous people were assassinated around 2 months apart in 1968?
answer
MLK RFK
question
Who were the 2 Democrat candidates that had a chance at winning the nomination of their party in August of 1968? Explain what occurred inside and outside of the convention. Who eventually won the nomination?
answer
Eugene McCarthy against Hubert Humphrey. images of the Democrats became etched in the minds of millions of Americans as a party of disorder. Humphrey eventually won.
question
What 2 major issues did nixon, the Republican candidate base most of his campaign on in 1968?
answer
-promise to restore law and order -promised to end the war in Vietnam.
question
Who eventually was elected president in November of 1968?
answer
Nixon.
question
Why couldn't both sides agree to a peace treaty when Nixon entered the White House in January of 1969? Explain what each side wanted.
answer
United States and South Vietnam insisted that all North Vietnamese forces withdraw from the South, but The North Vietnamese and Vietcong demanded that U.S. troops withdraw from South Vietnam.
question
What was the purpose of President Nixon's "Vietnamization" policy? How did this change the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam?
answer
The purpose was that U.S. troops gradually withdraw in order for the South Vietnamese to take on a more active combat role in the war, As U.S. troops begin slowly returning home from Vietnam, there were fewer troops in vietnam.
question
What did President Nixon mean by "peace with honor" in Vietnam? What did Nixon secretly order as part of his attempt to achieve this?
answer
Peace with honor intended to maintain U.S. dignity in the face of its withdrawal from war. Nixon secretly ordered a massive bombing campaign against supply routes and bases in North Vietnam.
question
Who made up what President Nixon called the "Silent Majority" in this country?
answer
moderate, mainstream Americans who quietly sup- ported the U.S. efforts in Vietnam.
question
Why did President Nixon send U. S. troops into Cambodia in 1970? How did college students around the country react?
answer
To clear out North Vietnamese and Vietcong supply centers. College students across the country burst out in protest.
question
.
answer
..
question
What 2 major details were revealed by the Pentagon Papers?
answer
- the government had drawn up plans for entering the war even though President Lyndon Johnson promised that he would not send American troops to Vietnam. -showed that there was never any plan to end the war as long as the North Vietnamese persisted.
question
What were the main provisions of the peace agreement between the U.S. and North Vietnamese?
answer
North Vietnamese troops would remain in South Vietnam.Nixon promised to respond "with full force" to any violation of the peace agreement.
question
What was the ultimate fate of South Vietnam in 1975?
answer
The North Vietnamese launched a full-scale invasion against the South.
question
How many Americans were killed during the war? How many Vietnamese were killed?
answer
Americans: 58,000 Vietnamese: 2 million
question
How were Vietnam veterans treated by the American public as they returned home?
answer
Returning Vietnam veterans were extended a cold-hand by the nation.
question
What happened to the South Vietnamese when the war was over?
answer
Communists imprisoned more than many South Vietnamese in harsh labor camps.
question
What were the provisions of the War Powers Act?
answer
Demanded that a president must inform Congress within 48 hours of sending forces into a hostile area without a declaration of war.
question
Gave johnson military power in vietnam
answer
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
question
Theory of how communism spreads
answer
domino theory
question
most active protesters in 1960's
answer
students
question
ruled vietnam from late 1800s
answer
France
question
communist group in south vietnam
answer
veitcong
question
village us soldiers massacred in 1969
answer
My Lai
question
president of south Vietnam
answer
ngo dinh diem
question
presidential candidate killed in1968
answer
robert kennedy
question
nixon's top negotiator in vietnam
answer
Henry Kissinger
question
a rise in prices
answer
inflation
question
Common military post for women in vietnam
answer
nurse
question
Wanted continuation of war
answer
Hawks
question
Nixon ordered a U.S. Invasion in 1970 in
answer
Cambodia
question
Agreement that divided vietnam
answer
Geneva accords
question
Diem persecuted this religious group
answer
Buddhists
question
President Johnson's secretary of defense
answer
Robert McNamara
question
Indochinese Communist part leader
answer
Ho Chi Minh
question
National guard fired on protesters in
answer
Kent state university
question
youth activist movement to change society
answer
new left
question
capital of N. Vietnam
answer
Hanoi
question
American Commander in Vietnam
answer
Westmoreland
question
Gasoline-based bomb dropped in jungle
answer
Napalm
question
Capital of S. Vietnam
answer
Saigon
question
elected president in 1968
answer
nixon
question
wanted withdrawal from war
answer
doves
question
site of volatile anti-war protest
answer
chicago
question
communists who seized in cambodia
answer
Khmer rouge
question
initially, U.S. involvement in Vietnam was popular because
answer
Nixon's plan of Vietnamization secretly included
question
The resolve of the Vietcong is similar to that displayed by
answer
Japanese kamikaze
question
The Tet offensive altered public opinion of the war because the
answer
war seemed unwinnable
question
Nixon's plan of Vietnamization secretly included
answer
bombing Laos and Cambodia
question
Treaty temporarily dividing Vietnam
answer
geneva accords
question
postponement of military service
answer
deferment
question
Class status of most U.S. soldiers sent to Vietnam
answer
working
question
Resolution giving Johnson military powers
answer
tonkin gulf
question
Diem's regime was toppled by a
answer
coup
question
Advocate of winning war and using all-out force
answer
hawk
question
Advocate of peace, not war
answer
dove
question
Gasoline-based toxic chemical
answer
napalm
question
Advocated "Peace with honor" president who was shamed
answer
nixon
question
Toxic leaf-killing chemical sprayed over Vietnam
answer
agent orange
question
Gap between White House statements and true events
answer
credibility gap
question
The majority of Vietnamese practice this religion
answer
Buddhism
question
What Ho Chi Minh used to transport supplies
answer
ho chi minh trail
question
Act curbing presidential military muscle
answer
war powers act
question
Type of troop withdrawal per Vietnamization
answer
gradual
question
The___ Indochina War was waged to regain Vietnam
answer
French
question
Selective Service System
answer
draft
question
organization led by ho chi minh, whose goal is to win Vietnam's independence from foreign rule
answer
vietminh
question
southern vietnamese soldiers fought against communism and forces in north
answer
ARVN
question
National army of vietnam
answer
NVA
question
type of fighting in which soldiers use swift hit-and-run attacks against the enemy
answer
guerilla warfare
question
increase in intensity
answer
escalation
question
massive surprise attack by vietcong on south vietnamese towns and cities
answer
Tet offensive
question
a warrant granting release from punishment for an offense
answer
amnesty
question
moderate mainstream Americans who quietly supported us efforts in vietnam
answer
silent majority
