8.8 Flashcards
(43 cards)
French loses Vietnam
a large French army at Dien Bien Phu was trapped and forced to surrender. After this defeat, the French tried to convince Eisenhower to send in U.S. troops, but he refused.
Geneva Conference
(1954) - France agreed to give up Indochina, which was divided into the independent nations of Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. Vietnam was to be temporarily divided at the 17th parallel until a general election could be held (Didn’t happen because South (which was supported by US) feared North victory).
Vietnam Division
In North Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh established a Communist dictatorship. In South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem established a government supported by anti- Communist, Catholic, and urban Vietnamese (North escapees).
American Aid to South
the United States gave over $1 billion in economic and military aid to South Vietnam in an effort to build a stable anti-Communist state.
Domino Theory
Eisenhower used to justify supporting South Vietnam. If South Vietnam fell under Communist control, one nation after another in Southeast Asia would also fall, until Australia and New Zealand were in dire danger.
Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO)
(1954) - John Foster Dulles put together a regional defense pact where eight nations agreed to defend one another in case of an attack within the region. Included: the United States, Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Thailand, and Pakistan.
John Foster Dulles
US Secretary of State
Vietnam Under Kennedy
Kennedy followed the Domino Theory and increased the number of military “advisers,” who trained the South Vietnamese army, guarded weapons and facilities, and helped create “strategic hamlets” (fortified villages).
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Fires in South Vietnam
Buddhist monks set themselves on fire in the streets of Saigon to protest Diem’s policies.
Kennedy and Diem’s assasinations
1963 - Just two weeks before Kennedy himself was assassinated in Dallas, Diem was overthrown and killed by South Vietnamese generals. Historians later learned that the generals worked alongside the Kennedy administration.
Gulf of Tonkin
- Johnson gained Congress approval of intervention by forcing North Vietnam to attack US warships in South Vietnam territory making it seem like an aggressive act needing military response.
Tonkin Gulf Resolution
(1964) - gave the president, as commander-in-chief, a blank check to take “all necessary measures” to protect U.S. interests in Vietnam.
Operation Rolling Thunder
(1965) - After a Vietcong attack on the U.S. base at Pleiku, Johnson authorized a prolonged air attack using B-52 bombers against targets in North Vietnam.
Search-and-destroy tactics
Since there was no frontier, the US army measured daily success by killing enemies.
General William Westmoreland
commander of the U.S. forces in Vietnam. Assured the American public that he could see “light at the end of the tunnel” despite the deaths.
Credibility Gap
Misinformation from military and civilian leaders combined with Johnson’s reluctance to speak frankly to the American people about the scope and the costs of the war differing from what was shown in the news and shared by soldiers.
Robert McNamara
US Secretary of Defense who in his memoirs, years after the war, concluded that the leaders in Washington had failed to understand both the enemy and the nature of the war.
Hawks
Supporters of the war who believed that the war was an act of Soviet-backed Communist aggression against South Vietnam and that it was part of a master plan to conquer all of Southeast Asia.
Doves
Opponents of the war who viewed the conflict as a civil war fought by Vietnamese nationalists and some Communists who wanted to unite their country by overthrowing a corrupt Saigon government. Some opposed it because of costs in lives and money which could be used to help the poor in the US. College graduates feared being drafted.
Senator Eugene F. McCarthy
(1967) - A political leader for the antiwar movement. First to challenge Johnson for the 1968 Democratic presidential nomination.
Tet Offensive
(1968) - The Vietcong launched an all-out surprise attack on almost every provincial capital and American base in South Vietnam. U.S. military counterattacked, inflicted major losses on the Vietcong, and recovered the lost territory. The Americans who watched TV news footage of the destruction interpreted the attacks as a setback for Johnson’s Vietnam policy and demoralized them. More troops were requested but rejected.
Johnson’s announcement about Reelection and the War
March 31, 1968 - President Johnson went on television and told the American people that he would limit the bombing of North Vietnam and negotiate peace. And announced that he would not run for reelection.
Attempted Peace Talks
May 1968 - peace talks between North Vietnam, South Vietnam, and the United States started in Paris, but they were quickly deadlocked over minor issues. War continued.
Robert F. Kennedy
Ran for president in 1968 and was successful. However, was assassinated by an Arab that hated him for supporting Israel.
