History study guide ch 17

Which of the following presidents did NOT contribute to the American involvement in Vietnam through his adherence to containment policy?

Richard Nixon

What can you infer from the map about the nature of the Tet Offensive?

It was a coordinated series of attacks on American military outposts.

The term "Third World" was originally coined to refer to countries that

were aligned with neither the U.S. or the Soviet Union.

The chart shows responses to the question: "Do you think the United States made a mistake sending troops to fight in Vietnam?" What is the best summary of the information on the chart?

In March 1966 a majority of Americans polled approved of the war. By April 1968, Americans were more evenly split, with the number of people who disapproved of the war somewhat higher than the number who approved.

What impact did George Wallace's third-party candidacy have on the 1968 presidential election?

It siphoned votes from Humphrey's candidacy, allowing Nixon to win.

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization(SEATO)

-defensive alliance aimed at preventing communist aggression in Asia

Hot Line

-direct telephone line between the White House and the Kremlin set up after the Cuban Missile Crisis

Berlin Wall

-dividing wall built by East Germany in 1961 to isolate West Berlin from communist-controlled East Berlin

Bay of Pigs invasion

-failed 1961 invasion of Cuba by a CIA-led force of Cuban exiles

Napalm

-jellied gasoline dropped in canisters that explode on impact and cover large areas in flame; dropped by U.S. planes during the Vietnam War

Doves

-person who opposed U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War

Hawks

-person who supported U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War

My Lai

-village in South Vietnam where in 1968 American forces opened fire on unarmed civilians; U.S. soldiers killed between 400 and 500 Vietnamese

Ho Chi Minh

-was one of the most influential anticolonial leaders in Asia. Ho led North Vietnam's fight to reunify North and South Vietnam, serving as president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from 1945 to 1969.

William Westmoreland

-was the commander of U.S. forces in the Vietnam War. Westmorland had previously served in World War II and the Korean War.

What is the best summary of this statement by Martin Luther King, Jr. about the Vietnam War?

African Americans are dying in disproportionate numbers to whites and, although blacks and whites die together in war, blacks are still discriminated against at home.

How did the War Powers Act of 1973 affect the President's ability to conduct military operations?

It forced him to consult with Congress before ordering any military strikes.

Why was the Selective Service System criticized as another example of social injustice?

It resulted in recruitment of people from poor or working-class backgrounds.

What best describes the statement this cartoon is making about the war in Vietnam?

It suggests that the Vietnam War is destroying President Johnson's presidency.

What can you infer about the Berlin Wall from this photo of an East German soldier leaping over to the western side of the Wall?

It was mainly intended to keep East Germans from escaping to the West.

Why did the United States ultimately decide to support the French rather than Ho Chi Minh's forces in the Indochina War?

The U.S. wanted to stop the spread of communism in Asia.

In what way was the United States' decision to support the French in Indochina a departure from its usual foreign policy?

The U.S. was generally in favor of decolonization.

How did the President's ability to conduct military operations change following the end of war in Vietnam?

The War Powers Act forced the President to consult with Congress before all military actions.

The Great Society program became Johnson's agenda for Congress in January 1965: aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control and prevention of crime and delinquency, removal of obstacles to the right to vote. Congress, at times augmenting or amending, rapidly enacted Johnson's recommendations. Millions of elderly people found succor through the 1965 Medicare amendment to the Social Security Act. Nevertheless, two overriding crises had been gaining momentum since 1965. Despite the beginning of new antipoverty and anti-discrimination programs, unrest and rioting in black ghettos troubled the Nation. President Johnson steadily exerted his influence against segregation and on behalf of law and order, but there was no early solution.The other crisis arose from Viet Nam. Despite Johnson's efforts to end Communist aggression and achieve a settlement, fighting continued. Controversy over the war had become acute by the end of March 1968, when he limited the bombing of North Viet Nam in order to initiate negotiations. At the same time, he startled the world by withdrawing as a candidate for re-election so that he might devote his full efforts, unimpeded by politics, to the quest for peace. Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek re-election in 1968 underscored what fact about his presidency?

The war in Vietnam had jeopardized his reelection chances.

What strategy did President Johnson's advisors Robert McNamara and General Westmoreland insist was necessary to winning the war in Vietnam?

committing more troops and taking a more active role in combat activities

Based on the figures from the chart, the income tax rate was most likely raised 10% to account for

costs associated with the war effort.

Fulbright's hearings on Vietnam showed how

television was shaping public opinion.

Roy P. Benavidez

was born in Cuero Texas, but grew up in el campo where he was raised by his aunt and uncle after his parents died. he joined the army at 19 and went to Vietnam in 1968. He was awarded the medal of honor

The violence that erupted outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in 1968 and the confusion inside gave the impression that

the nation was in disorder and the Democrats had lost control.

Cuban missile crisis

-1962 conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union resulting from the Soviet installation of nuclear missiles in Cuba

Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

-1963 nuclear-weapons agreement that banned aboveground nuclear tests

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

-1964 congressional resolution that authorized President Johnson to commit U.S. troops to South Vietnam to fight a war against North Vietnam

Paris Peace Accords

-1973 Peace agreement between the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Vietcong that effectively ended the Vietnam War

Peace Corps

-American government organization that sends volunteers to provide technical, educational, and medical services to developing countries

"credibility gap"

-American public's growing distrust of statements made by the government during the Vietnam War

Alliance for Progress

-President Kennedy's program that gave economic aid to Latin America

Vietnamization

-President Nixon's plan for gradual withdrawal of U.S. forces as South Vietnamese troops assumed more combat duties

Vietcong

-South Vietnamese communist rebels who waged a guerrilla war against the government of South Vietnam throughout the Vietnam War

Nikita Khrushchev

-a Communist Party leader who served as premier of the Soviet Union from 1958 to 1964. Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during the Cuban Missile Crisis, but lost power soon afterwards.

Eugene McCarthy

-antiwar candidate for the 1968 Democratic Party presidential nomination

Robert Kennedy

-assassinated antiwar candidate for the 1968 Democratic Party presidential nomination

Pentagon Papers

-classified U.S. government study that revealed American leaders involved the United States in Vietnam without fully informing the American people; leaked to the New York Times in 1971

Tet Offensive

-communist assault on a large number of South Vietnamese cities in early 1968

Flexible response

-defense policy allowing for the appropriate action in any type of conflict

war powers act

1973 law passed by congress restricting the presidents war-making powers; the law requires the president to consult with congress before committing american forces to a foreign conflict.

Critics of the Selective Service System argued that the draft was not fair. The system gave local draft boards considerable influence in selecting men for service, and it also granted deferments to college students and men who worked in certain designated occupations. Most of the 2.5 million men who served in Vietnam came from working-class and poor backgrounds. What measure did the Selective Service System take to address these criticisms of the draft in 1969?

A "lottery" system was implemented, in which recruits were picked at random.

Why did South Vietnam fall to the communists after the Paris Peace accords?

American forces withdrew but fighting continued until Saigon fell to the communists.

The 26th Amendment In the turmoil surrounding the unpopular Vietnam War, lowering the national voting age became a controversial topic. Responding to arguments that those old enough to be drafted for military service, should be able to exercise the right to vote, Congress lowered the voting age as part of the Voting Rights Act of 1970. The Supreme Court upheld the legislation in a 5 to 4 vote in applying the lowered voting age to federal elections only. A constitutional amendment was required to uniformly reduce the age to 18. Endorsed by Speaker Carl Albert of Oklahoma, the amendment passed the House 400 to 19 on March 23, 1971. On June 30, 1971, Ohio became the 39th state to ratify the amendment; however the official ratification did not take effect until July 1 when the Government Services Administration opened for the day. With the 1972 elections looming, the 26th Amendment was ratified in record time. President Richard M. Nixon officially certified it on July 5. Why did it take some time before the provision lowering the voting age would apply nationwide?

An amendment requires ratification by individual states.

How did Clark Clifford's Vietnam policy differ from that of his predecessor Robert McNamara?

Clifford believed the war was unwinnable and sought to reach a peace agreement.

The Missile Gap was in essence a growing perception in the West, especially in the USA, that the Soviet Union was quickly developing an intercontinental range ballistic missile (ICBM) capability earlier, in greater numbers, and with far more capability than that of the United States. Even as that perception was disproved, it became evident that the Soviets were placing their major effort toward developing strategic missiles against which, once launched, there was no defense. The perceived missile gap that ensued was based on a comparison between US ICBM strength as then programmed, and reasonable, although erroneous estimates of prospective Soviet ICBM strength that were generally accepted. —Central Intelligence Agency Library What was President Kennedy's response to the perceived "missile gap" between the U.S. and Soviet Union?

He adopted a "flexible response" policy to prepare the military for any type of conflict.

Ho Chi Minh's military doctrine hinged on fighting only when victory was assured, which meant never fighting on his opponents' terms. He compared his troops to a tiger, while the Americans were like an elephant. If the tiger stands still, the elephant will crush it. But if the tiger keeps moving and occasionally jumps on the elephant to take a bite out of it, the elephant will slowly bleed to death. What did Ho Chi Minh believe this strategy would ultimately accomplish against the American military?

He believed that if the North Vietnamese wore the American forces down enough they would eventually leave.

You have a row of dominoes set up, you knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is the certainty that it will go over very quickly. So you could have a beginning of a disintegration that would have the most profound influences. What point is President Eisenhower making here with his domino analogy?

If Vietnam were to fall to the communists, it would only be a matter of time before its neighbors followed suit.

During the Vietnam War, what contributed to low morale among US troops and on the home front?

Lack of progress and doubts about the wisdom of U.S. involvement in Vietnam.

What best describes the main difference between many American troops stationed in Vietnam before 1965 and those stationed there after that date?

Many troops stationed there before 1965 were volunteers, while many of those after were drafted into the service.

American Troops Withdraw from Vietnam In October 1972, the United States and North Vietnam came to terms on a peace settlement. One month later, with lasting peace almost at hand, Nixon easily defeated the antiwar Democrat George McGovern for reelection. But Nixon's triumph was short-lived. The Vietnamese peace fell apart when North Vietnam refused to sign the agreement. Talks broke off, but renewed American bombing in North Vietnam finally induced the North Vietnamese to resume negotiations. How was the 1972 presidential election most like the 1968 election?

Nixon used promises to end the war to his advantage.

What impact did defense spending for the Vietnam War have on education in the U.S.?

Paying for the war affected education spending.

How did U.S. policy in Vietnam change following the Tet Offensive?

Policy makers thought the war unwinnable and began to negotiate for peace.

What objective did American military leaders hope to achieve in North Vietnam with military campaigns such as Operation Rolling Thunder?

They believed that the strikes would lower the enemy's morale and drive the North Vietnamese to negotiate a peace treaty.

"On the first attack, the evidence would be pretty good. On the second one the amount of evidence we have today is less than we had yesterday. This resulted primarily from correlating bits and pieces of information eliminating double counting and mistaken signals. This much seemed certain: There was an attack. How many PT boats were involved, how many torpedoes were fired, etc.-all this was still somewhat uncertain. This matter may be of some importance since Hanoi has denied making the second attack." - National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, at the White House staff meeting at 8 a.m. on August 5, 1964, discussing the Gulf of Tonkin incident This quote suggests that the decision to escalate the war in Vietnam was possibly based on

flawed, manipulated, or misunderstood intelligence.

Which of these best describes the "Americanization" strategy recommended by Robert McNamara and William Westmoreland?

having American forces take on a more active role in the Vietnam War

I did not become vice president with Lyndon Johnson to cause him trouble. ?—Hubert H. Humphrey, 1965 As vice president during 1968—arguably the United States' most politically turbulent post-World War II year—Hubert Humphrey faced an excruciating test of statesmanship. During a time of war in Southeast Asia when the stakes for this nation were great, Humphrey confronted an agonizing choice: whether to remain loyal to his president or to the dictates of his conscience. His failure to reconcile these powerful claims cost him the presidency. Yet few men, placed in his position, could have walked so agonizing a tightrope over so polarized a nation. Which of these factors most likely cost Humphrey the election in 1968?

his refusal to defy President Johnson on the Vietnam War

How was the Peace Corps different from other foreign aid initiatives such as the Alliance for Progress?

its emphasis on public service and volunteering

During the Vietnam War, African American soldiers made up a

made up a disproportionately high number of casualties.

What military strategy did President Nixon employ in Vietnam early on in his presidency?

the "Vietnamization" of combat operations

In an expanded sense, however, many American foreign-policy strategists misjudged the spread of communism. They concluded it was a monolithic global movement controlled by Moscow and Beijing. However, as the war's aftermath would attest, communist movements in Southeast Asia were nationalistic and intolerant of outside influences. In 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and installed a pro-Vietnamese government. China supported the ousted Khmer Rouge. For more than ten years that followed, the U.S. supported a coalition of anti-communist Cambodian opposition groups that included the Khmer Rouge. Which idea, one which formed the basis of American foreign policy in the 1960s, was largely discredited by events of the 1970s in the wake of the Vietnam War?

the "domino theory"

Immediately after the Paris Peace Accords were signed on January 27, 1973, Operation Homecoming returned 591 prisoners of war who had been captured in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (two POWs from Vietnam and a Cold War POW were released from China). Some families and government officials expected a greater number of returnees, which gave rise to the urgency of the accounting mission. In 1973, the United States listed 2,646 Americans as unaccounted for from the war, with roughly equal numbers of those missing in action, or killed in action/body not recovered. From February 1973 to March 1975, teams from the United States and the Republic of Vietnam conducted joint, but restricted, searches for Americans missing in South Vietnam. On April 30, 1975, searches ended completely when the Communists took over Vietnam. In the 1980s the United States resumed its recovery efforts with high-level policy and technical meetings. Then in August 1987, President Ronald Reagan dispatched Gen. John W. Vessey, Jr. as a Special Presidential Emissary on POW issues, to find ways to resolve the issue. As a result of the Vessey meetings, the Vietnamese permitted American teams to search throughout the country, starting in September 1988. What proved to be the biggest obstacle to finding missing American soldiers in Vietnam following the war?

the new communist regime in Vietnam

In response to this Soviet aggression, Kennedy demanded the removal of the missiles. In a dramatic television address on October 22, 1962, he blamed Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet premier, for causing a "reckless and provocative threat to world peace." He also announced that he had approved a naval quarantine (blockade) of Cuba to prevent the Soviets from completing the bases. Behind the scenes, however, Kennedy worked toward a diplomatic settlement. He indicated that he would remove U.S. missiles in Turkey and Italy if the Soviets removed their missiles in Cuba. After six tense days during which nuclear war seemed a real possibility, Khrushchev agreed to honor the blockade and remove the missiles. As Secretary of State Dean Rusk later told a reporter, "Remember, when you report this, that, eyeball to eyeball, they blinked first." Why did Secretary of State Rusk likely insist that the reporter remember, when reporting the story, that the Soviets "blinked first"?

to bolster Kennedy's image as a strong and resolute leader