Vocabulary

Ho Minh Chi Trail- a network of paths used by North Vietnam to transporrt supplies

Dien Bien Phu- first indochina war

GenevaAccords- peace agreement that divided Vietnam into North and South Vietnam

War Powers Act- a law made in 1973 that limited the presidents right to send troops into battle

Ngo Dinh Diem- Prime minister of the state of vietnam

Agent orange- a toxic leaf killing chemical sprayed by the US planes in vietnam

Credibility Gap- a public distrust of statements made by the government

Vietnamiztion- President NIxons strategy for ending the US involvement in the Vietnam War

Kent State- Ohio univesity where National Guardsmen opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War on May 4 1970.

Napalm- a gasoline based substance used in bombs that US planes dropped in VIetnam

Ho Chi Minh- Vietnamese communist Revolutionary Leader

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution- an international confrontation that led to the US engaging more directly in the Vietnam War

Vietcong- South Vietnamese Communists with North Vietnamese fought against the govt of SV

Silent Majority- a name given by president Nixon to the moderate, mainstream Americans who quietly supported his vietnam war policies

My Lai Massacre- a village in northern SOuth vietnam where more than 200 civilians were massacred by US troops

Pentagon Papers- a 7000 page document about the US not being honest about their intentions of the VIetnam War

Early Years of Vietnam

Robert McNamara was an American business executive and the 8th secretary of defense under JFK

US got involved in the Vietnam War to prevent a communist takeover in South Vietnam

The Gulf of tonkin gave president Johnson the power to take any measures to retaliate .

The draft- They were chosen at random which meant the most skillful workers and ones with medical issues had to go.

The war wasnt for territory. The US was trying to destroy an insurgency

The Tet Offensive weakened the US public support for the war of Vietnam

The Tet Offensive

January 30 1968-September 23 1968

Tge general offensive and uprising of Tet Mau Than 1968 by North Vietnam and the NLF was one of the largest military campaigns of the VIetman War

Bobby Kennedy

June 5 1968

Bobby was shot by Sirhan Sirhan after midnight PTD at the AMbassador Hotel in los Angeles. He has just won the California presidential primaries in the 1968 election

Walter Cronkite

February 27 1968

Walter spoke his opinion about everything on that subject for the final 3 minutes of the broadcast. he was known as the most trusted man in America.

Nixon's Strategy

Vietnamization was a policy of the RIchard Nixon adminitration to end US involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to expand, equip and train South Vietnamese forces.

My Lai Massacre

One of the more disheartening events of the VIetnam War occured on march 16, 1968. The military brutally executed hundreds of alleged members and supporters of the 48th Battalion of the NFL

Kent State

On May 4 1970 four Kent state students were killed and 9 injured when members of the Ohio Natonal Guard opened fire during their protest.

How soldiers were treated when arrived home?

Perhaps the cruelest aspect of the war was the treatment of the returning soldiers. Unlike the hero status given to the soldiers from WW2, the soldiers that served were portrayed as baby killers, drug addicts, and psychos.

Hippie

A person of unconventional appeareance, typically with long hair, associate with a subculture involving a rejection of convential values and taking drugs

Casualties

America paid a teribble price for the involvemet of the Vietnam War

Nearly 60000 killed in action, 150000 wounded, and 1500 missing

200000-250000 vietmanese soldiers died