US History II Chapter 30 Vocab – Flashcards
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French Indochina War
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France's attempt to reestablish its rule in Vietnam after WWII
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Ho Chi Minh
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led Vietnamese revolutionaries who fled to China - helped create the Indochinese Communist Party - continued to orchestrate Vietnam's growing independence movement
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Vietminh
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organization whose goal it was to win Vietnam's independence from foreign rule
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Domino Theory
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Eisenhower likened the countries on the brink of communism to a row of dominoes waiting to fall one after the other
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Dien Bien Phu
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French outpost where the French were forced to surrender in May of 1954 in northwest Vietnam
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Geneva Accords
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temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel - tried to come to peace agreement
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Ngo Dinh Diem
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South Vietnam's president, a strong anti-communist who refused to take part in the countrywide election of 1956
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Vietcong
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Communist opposition group in the south - began attacks on the Diem government, assassinating thousands of South Vietnamese government officials - later called National Liberation Front (NLF)
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Ho Chi Minh Trail
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network of paths along the borders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia which Ho Chi Minh began supplying arms to the Vietcong through
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Tonkin Gulf Resolution
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Johnson requested necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US to prevent further aggression - approved not a declaration of war but granted president broad military powers (in Vietnam)
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"Operation Rolling Thunder"
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in response to Vietcong attack that killed 8 Americans - Johnson unleashed this the first sustained bombing of North Vietnam
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Robert McNamara
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Secretary of State who worked with Johnson and Dean Rusk - began to dispatch tens of thousands of US soldiers to fight in Vietnam
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Dean Rusk
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Secretary of State who helped president and McNamara
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William Westmoreland
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General American commander in South Vietnam continued to request more troops - less than impressed with South Vietnamese Army
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Guerilla Warfare
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type of fighting in which soldiers use swift hit-and-run attacks against the enemy - disoriented already disoriented American soldiers in the jungle
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War of Attrition
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gradual wearing down of the enemy
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Napalm
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gasoline-based bomb to set fire to the jungle - can't be controlled wounded civilians, left villages in ruins
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Agent Orange
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leaf killing toxic chemical, blamed for cancers in Vietnamese civilians and American Veterans wounded civilians, left villages in ruins
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Search-and-Destroy Missions
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conducted by US soldiers to uproot civilians with suspected ties to Vietcong, killing their livestock and burning down their villages
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Living-Room War
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Vietnam was highly televised and combat footage appeared nightly in the news giving a false view of how things were actually going
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Credibility Gap
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critics believed the reality of the war and what the Johnson administration reported were two very different things - caused suspicion in the government
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"Manipulatable" Draft
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calls all males to register with local draft boards when the turned 18 - some joined National Guard or Coast Guard to avoid, college deferment, family reasons - anything
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Draft Lottery System of 1969
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set up by Defense Department to correct that imbalance of colored troops deaths vs. white troops deaths
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New Left
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growing youth movement of the 1960s - did not preach socialism but demanded sweeping changes in American Society
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Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
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New Left organization founded in 1960 by Tom Hayden and Al Haber - charged that corporation and large government institutions had taken over US - called for resotoration of "participatory democracy" and greater individual freedom
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Free Speech Movement
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gained prominence at University of California at Berkeley - grew out of a clash between students and administrators over free speech Mario Savio - called government the American "machine"
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Doves
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strongly opposed the war and believed the US should withdraw
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Hawks
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US should unleash much of its greater military force to win the war
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Tet Offensive
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Vietcong launched overwhelming attack on over 100 towns and cities in South Vietnam as well as 12 US air bases - continued fora bout a month before US and South Vietnamese forces regained control of the cities
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Clark Clifford
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friend and supporter of presidents Vietnam policy - filled defense secretary position left open by McNamara
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Robert Kennedy
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JFKs brother and New York senator - decided not to run (claiming party loyalty) but then declared candidacy for president later on
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Eugene McCarthy
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Minnesota Senator declared he would run against Johnson on platform to end the war in Vietnam
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Hubert Humphrey
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Johnson's vice president - loyal to Johnson - nomination predetermined - upset many antiwar activists
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Richard J. Daley
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Chicago mayor mobilized 12,000 Chicago police officers and 5,000 National Guard to restore order of protesters
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George Wallace
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Democratic Alabama Governor who ran on Independent Party - helped Nixon's candidacy
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Richard Nixon
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campaigned on a promise to restore law and order and to end the war
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Henry Kissinger
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National Security Advisor planned with Nixon to end US involvement in Vietnam
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Vietnamization
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gradual withdrawal of US troops in order for the South Vietnamese to take on a more active combat role in war
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"Peace with Honor"
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part of Vietnamization intended to maintain US dignity in the face of its withdrawal from war and to preserve US's clout at negotiation table
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My Lai Massacre
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16 March 1968 Us platoon under William Calley Jr had massacred innocent civilians in Southern Vietnam
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Invasion of Cambodia
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clear out North Vietnamese and Vietcong supply centers - major backlash on Nixon
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Kent State University
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massive student protest led to burning of the ROTC building
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Pentagon Papers
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7,000 page document written for McNamara revealed that the government had drawn up plans to enter the war even as Johnson had promised no US troops would be sent to war, also said there was never a plan to end the war unless the North was defeated
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"Christmas Bombings"
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US planes dropped 100,000 bombs on North Vietnam - final straw for US in the war
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Saigon
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full scale invasion of North Vietnam on South Vietnam, Saigon captured, South surrendered to North
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War Powers Act
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stipulated that a president must inform Congress within 48 hours of sending forces into a hostile area without declaration of war
