The Vietnam War
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chrisummers416 on June 24, 2010
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83 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 U.S.S. Maddox | used as a surveillance against N. Vietnamese; "attacked" in the Gulf of Tonkin by NLF; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution comes from attack; attack was claimed to be unprovoked when it actually was |
| Oplan 34-A | called for increased covert operations against N. Vietnamese; planning actually began 3 months before "attacks" on U.S.S. Maddox |
| Gulf of Tonkin Resolution | The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution was a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in direct response to a minor naval engagement known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident. It is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of military force in Southeast Asia. |
| Duong Van Minh | led the S. Vietnamese army under Diem, but later became leader of S. Vietnam after Diem is assassinated |
| Nguyen Khanh | Launches the first coup in '64 to replace Duong Van Minh |
| Robert McNamara | The US Secretary of Defense during the battles in Vietnam; tells the US Senate that "Gulf of Tonkin was unprovoked"; helps LeMay with bombing plans; he was the architech for the Vietnam war and promptly resigned after the US lost badly |
| Maxwell Taylor | was sent to Saigon to become the Am. Ambassador in '64; says we need to elevate and take the war into N. Vietnam |
| McGeorge Bundy | helps create "Gulf of Tonkin Resolution"; was an avid supporter for more bombing in Vietnam |
| George Ball | assistant Sec. of State; challenges bombing plans; though bombing would erode Am. credibility (big vs. little) |
| Strategic Air Power | the idea that you could destroy its economic and military infrastructure; the goal was not to destroy N. Vietnam but to give support to the S.; bombing proved to not be accurate enough |
| General Curtis LeMay | chief of staff of Air Force; his team targeted 94 viable, strategically important targets hoping to slow the flow of weapons from N. to S. to boost morale |
| NSAM 273 | LBJ signs this memorandum and sought the independence of Vietnam; basically said that the US was going to support the S. Vietnamese |
| "The Concept" | the use of Am. firepower and technological advances (helicopters and armored vehicles); used the concept of "search-and-destroy" |
| Ia Drang | was a critical location of NLF and NVA; planned to use "the concept" to destroy them |
| General William C. Westmoreland | commands and has full authority of military forces in S. Vietnam; embraces "the concept"; decides that this needs to be a war of ATTRITION; would count bodies and constantly needed more troops; was declared "Man of the Year" by TIME |
| "search-and-destory" | a part of "the concept"; ground soldiers would land via helicopters, search for the enemy and destroy them and then leave; this was supposed to counter guerilla warfare |
| Honolulu Conference | Westmoreland, Ky, Thieu and LBJ meet in Hawii; LBJ speaks to the idea of "pacification" but no one else likes the idea |
| Ky | believes that the US is totally behind all of his decisions; became concerned about the northern generals turning on him; becomes Thieu's running mate in the '67 election |
| Thieu | becomes legitimate, democratic, freely elected leader of S. Vietnam w/ Ky after the '67 election; tries to delay negotiations in '68 in order to build his government; very resistant to the idea of 1 government for Vietnam; when US begins to back out he continues to talk **** because Nixon promised him support no matter what but Congress says no |
| Cedar Falls | "the concept" was used; surround area with Am. troops to stop exit; destroy interior with bombs so the NLF have no place to hide; send Am. soldiers to destroy remaining enemies |
| Iron Triangle | term used by political scientists to describe the policy-making relationship among the congressional committees, bureaucracy, and interest groups; basically a system of checks |
| Operation Junction City | airborne operation in hopes of clearing People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN and Vietcong) |
| Students for a Democratic Society | question the governments decisions; represented the "new left" |
| Speech at Riverside Baptist Church | MLK speaks out against the war for the first time; says that racism, economic rights and international policy are all still ****** |
| National Mobilization Committee | short-lived coalition of antiwar activists to organize large demonstrations in opposition to the Vietnam War |
| Senator John Stennis | chair of arms service committee; southern democrat; needed by LBJ to move forward w/ the Great Society; thought The Great Society should be put aside in order to win in Vietnam |
| Selective Service | men had to register within 30 days of turning 18 to become eligible for the draft |
| 1967 Election | attempt by LBJ to quell some of the protest that had emerged in S. Vietnam by having an election; Thieu and Ky on the ticket and only win 35% of the majority |
| The "Wise Men" | LBJ assembles this group in hopes of putting a positive spin on the war; Westmoreland is asked to come back to speak out about the success; assembled again in '68 and tell LBJ to deescalate in Vietnam |
| Henry Kissinger | a part of Nixon's foreign policy team (just him and Nixon); came up with "linkage" with Nixon (improve relationships with China and SU); rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for coming up with the Paris Agreement w/ Tho |
| The McNamara Line | line between N. and S. that included heavy surveillance and bombing; used chemical defoliants to destroy cover and identify base camps; created with the help of Westmoreland |
| Tet Offensive | Giap makes plans for a series of attacks, everywhere, at the same moment, same day, widespread across S. Vietnam; would prove to be a huge psychological victory for N. Vietnamese; US retaliation is a success but can't hold their ground (forces LBJ to reconsider Am.'s position in Vietnam |
| Khe Sanh | on the border of Laos; will acquire national attention because there will be a battle there; Westmoreland built up US presence; Giap tries to make the US think they are preparing for battle there when really they are preparing for the Tet Offensive |
| Averill Harriman | LBJ appoints to start negotiations w/ N. Vietnam; sent to Paris '68; his leverage is that the bombing has only been partially halted |
| Cyrus Vance | appointed by LBJ to start negotiations w/ N. Vietnam; lawyer who serves as a US delagate; believed that constant and steady negotiations was best; did not like the use of military mite to solve conflicts |
| Hubert Humphrey | present during the S. Vietnamese formal inauguration of Ky and Thieu; returns to Washington and asks why why are even involved in Vietnam; wants bombing halted completely |
| Provisional Revolutionary Government | created in '71 by N. Vietnamese to fill the void of President Thieu; would be the political power in the S. (would wait until Thieu is gone) |
| Eugene McCarthy | advocating for bombing to halt and is the peace candidate for the democratic nomination |
| General Creighton Adams | assumes leadership of US forces once Westmoreland leaves and says that US is going to halt some of its bombing; takes a more assertive stance after the Tet Offensive |
| Anna Chennault | sent by Nixon to go to the S. Vietnamese Ambassador to try and et him to delay the negotiation process |
| Richard Nixon | takes office '69; was told that it would take 8 more years to end the war; says he appeals to the "silent majority"; sees that the US is losing this battle so he scales back the number of troops and moves to a lottery instead of a draft |
| Operation Menu | covert air bombing of Cambodia ('69); attacked PAVN and NLF bases (killed over 600,000 but was still not effective) |
| Pol Pot | overthrows the government of Nol; not willing to align himself with the communist movement of Vietnam; wants to distance himself from the Vietnamese (kills millions of Cambodians); attacks Vietnam during the aftermath of the Vietnam War; he will be overthrown in '79; is supported by China because Vietnam has strengthened its relations with SU (China wants to see Vietnam defeated, so does Pol Pot) |
| General Lon Nol | general of Cambodia; says he will support the US and fight the NLF |
| Nixon Doctrine | said that the S. Vietnamese will have to do their own fighting but they will be financially backed by the US |
| Linkage | Nixon and Kissinger think the best way to end Vietnamese conflict is to improve relationships with China and SU; these countries could put pressure on Vietnam because they supported them |
| Silent Majority | the people who didn't attend the demonstrations; Nixon calls them out as being on his side; these people were shadowed by the media |
| National Moratorium | organized by the antiwar movement in Oct. '69; stops activity once a month; basically a national sit-in |
| Pentagon Papers | a published history of top secret documents of the US's political-military involvement in Vietnam; published in the New York Times |
| The White House Special Investigations Unit | its task was to stop leaking top secret classified information to the news |
| Lam Son 719 | sends ARVN forces into Laos (badly defeated); sent to destroy N. Vietnamese supply build up in Laos; Am. helicopter pilots were used to transport ARVN troops |
| Le Duc Tho | talks with Kissinger in Paris about a peace agreement; Thieu is not a part of these discussions; was rewarded with the Nobel Peace Prize but does not accept it |
| Easter Offensive | ('72) N. Vietnamese decide that they will launch the offensive that they have ben planning before the relations with China and US are solidified; largest offensive, capture territory below the 17th parallel in an attempt to beat ARVN; Nixon responds with Operation Linebacker |
| Christmas Bombing | was the nickname for Operation Linebacker II; a continuation of Op. LB but was done over Christmas and with B-52's instead of precision air strikes |
| 1973 Paris Peace Agreement | supposed to bring an end to the war; US, N. Vietnam, Republic of Vietnam and Provisional Revolutionary Government (represent the indigenous S. Vietnamese revolutionaries) all sign and agree; calls for a cease fire; provided for the final draw down of Am. forces from S. Vietnam; all participants recognized that Vietnam was a single country; total withdraw of US forces upon return of POW's |
| National Council of Reconciliation and Concord | entities would decide on the political process of reunification; the political process will be resolved down the road |
| "Third Indochina War" | it was believed that the 3rd Indochina war would erupt after the Paris Peace Agreement was signed; more war would occur between the N. and S. |
| POW/MIA | as a part of the Paris Peace Agreement, all POW's must be returned before Am. soldiers would leave Vietnam |
| The War Powers Act | passed by Congress, says that once the Pres. commits troops to combat, he would have 60 days and then he would have to go back to Congress to declare war |
| Liberated Zones | as a part of the Paris Peace Agreement, provided temporary partition of S. Vietnamese between the "liberated zones" and the parts held by Pres. Thieu |
| The "Ho Chi Minh Campaign" | the final offensive of the N. Vietnamese aimed at capturing the city of Saigon; Saigon is under siege; Theiu calls the US traitors and adamantly states that he would not enter into a coalition; final US evac '75 (Theiu flees the country to Taiwan); N. Vietnamese crash through S. Vietnamese gates to bring and end to the war |
| Socialist Republic of Vietnam | in early '76, the country is reunified; previously known as the DRV |
| Chinese Expulsion | China wants to destroy Vietnam (mainly because they are now associated with SU); Vietnamese gov. expel thousands of Chinese because Vietnam sees them as a threat; China retaliates after seeing this |
| Sino-Vietnam Border Dispute | China launches a series of clashes into N. Vietnam; Chinese forces are sent across the Vietnam border |
| New Economic Areas | S. Vietnam primarily used for agriculture; N. Vietnam would be industrial production; Vietnam becomes very isolated internationally (every bridge was destroyed) |
| Khmer Rouge | name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea (Cambodia); led by Pol Pot |
| Democratic People's Republic of Kampuchea | Pol Pot's general and commander flee to the western region of Cambodia and try to wage war against the DPRK who are pro-Vietnamese; comes about after Pol Pot is defeated |
| Jimmy Carter | elected in '76 to bring greater morality to US policies; though that the US should start to give more respect to other countries (giving the Panama Canal to Panama); becomes inner turmoil of Iran (US needs the oil); cannot save the US hostages in Iran Crisis (rendered as ineffective by Am. public) |
| Zbigniew Brzezinski | NSC advisor (thinks that SU is a threat); Carter will lean towards agreeing w/ him |
| Carter Doctrine | said the US had a national interest in the Persian Gulf and would defend and protect its interest in the region by Am. military force |
| "Freedom Fighters" | represented the counter revolutionary perspective and the US wanted to support them |
| Iran-Iraq War | US supports Iraq because the US is enemies with Iran; the US interest was purely economical; after the war, Iraq is in bad need of economical assitance |
| Operation Desert Shield | Iraq invades Kuwait and we send US troops and build up a coalition to take saddam hussein out and restore kuwait back to power. |
| Operation Desert Storm | Operation Desert Storm was the code name given to the first U.S.-led war against Iraq in the Persian Gulf on January 17, 1991. |
| Mikhail Gorbachev | saw and understood that Soviet expansion into Afghanistan threatened the US (eventually withdraws from Afghan and ends the Cold War) |
| UN Resolution 678 | Bush approached the UN and got this to build a coalition (Desert Storm) to prevent Iraqi's from invading Kuwait |
| "Axis of Evil" | term used by Bush for a government's involvement in helping terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction |
| Bush Doctrine | attacks on Afghan to destroy sanctuaries of Taliban were unsuccessful; these attacks allowed the Bush administration to rethink their foreign policy and redefine how the US will use its power |
| Iraq Liberation Act (1998) | used in '02 to argue for the authorization of military force against the Iraqi government |
| US Resolution 1441 | basically the last chance for Hussein to quit being an idiot |
| Importance of History | all events are connected to a larger trajectory (you need to understand the history of the situation) |
| Arrogance of Power | the idea that the US has the solution and that its power can be used to reach the outcomes that the US wants; believed that if they exerted its massive fire power, they could create a state in Vietnam |
| Clear, Well-Defined Goals | in order to create a world that the US wants sacrifices need to be made; in order to truly reach stability and levels of peace in the world, willingness to compromise has to be a part of those efforts |
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