A
The first Indochina War was fought between who?
The Vietnamese and the French (The US did help fund/supply the French)
Who was the government employee that leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press?
Daniel Ellsberg.
What was the name of the helicopter pilot who stopped the My Lai Massacre and transported several wounded civilians to the hospital?
Hugh Thompson
Who was Robert McNamara?
The Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam war.
The names of the 2 US Navy ships involved in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident were?
The USS Turner Joy & the USS Maddox
What gave President Johnson the ability to increase US involvement in the war between South Vietnam and North Vietnam in 1964?
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Why is the Gulf of Tonkin incident/resolution seen as a controversial reason for the US increasing involvement in Vietnam?
Johnson claimed the US needed to respond to the 2 "unprovoked attacks" of the North Vietnamese, when in fact the first attack was not unprovoked and the second attack had never occurred.
Why did the United States originally support South Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngo Dinh Diem?
He was seemingly pro-democratic (not a communist), spoke English and was educated in the US, and was a Christian.
What sort of actions by Prime Minister Diem made him unpopular among the US public?
Religious persecution of the Buddhist population, Rigging of elections, and family members in high government positions.
What move by the Nixon administration resulted in the Kent and Jackson State protests?
The expansion of the war into neighboring Laos and Cambodia. (US military was trying to damage the Ho Chi Minh Trail)
Thich Quang Duc was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk who gained international attention to the religious persecution in Vietnam by ________________.
Burning himself alive with gasoline in the streets of Saigon.
This event caused Americans to question the success of the US military in Vietnam. What they saw on television, did not match what President Johnson had been saying.
The Tet Offensive
Describe the Tet Offensive?
What did Walter Cronkite say after the Tet Offensive? and why was that influential?
Cronkite, the prime time CBS news anchor state on air that the US should consider withdrawing from Vietnam. This was influential because CBS was the most popular news outlet at the time and Americans trust Cronkite, this turned more people against the war.
Describe what happened at Kent State and Jackson State protests in 1970?
National guardsmen were called to disperse protesters but eventually fire live rounds against unarmed students. Results in the death of 6 college students.
What was the idea behind Operation Rolling Thunder?
The US would use the full power of its military (bombing the North) to intimidate the North Vietnamese into a peace treaty.
How did the breaking of the My Lai massacre cause more Americans to turn against the war?
Over 500 innocent civilians were killed. If the goal is to hep the South Vietnamese civilians, then why are so many of them being killed by US troops?
US military tried to cover up the story. Makes people not trust the military/gov.
How many troops were eventually deployed in Vietnam?
Over 500,000
Undercover soldiers in South Vietnam that support the efforts of the North. Used guerilla warfare tactics (camouflage and surprise attacks)
How does the Vietnam war end?
Under the Nixon administration, the US slowly reduced the number of troop in Vietnam starting in 1972 (Vietnamization = turning over of responsibility of the conflict to the South Vietnamese)
Once the US is completely withdrawn, the North Vietnamese are able to relatively quickly defeat the South and reunite the country as a whole (1975)
More funding/efforts were going into the war than into helping the impoverish in the US.
Devastation of the Vietnamese civilians
What did the Pentagon Papers reveal about the true goals of the US's involvement in Vietnam?
The top goal was to "avoid a humiliating defeat" which would hurt the reputation of the US.
How did the draft system contribute to the growth of the anti-war movement?
Because college students were exempt from the draft, lower income communities were drafted into service at higher rates than more affluent communities (because they could afford college). Created further division between economic classes in the US.
Why were the Pentagon Papers considered to be an embarrassment for US gov and what impact did this have?
1.They showed that the US had been far more involved in Vietnam than the public was aware
2. They provided different reasons for why the US was involved when compared to what politicians had been telling the public.
3. It made the US public not trust their government officials.
What sort of impact did the Napalm Girl photo have on the conflict?
The picture showed the harm and violence that innocent Vietnamese civilians were living through. Further caused the world and American public to not support the war.