Vietnam Smore
Sterling Bissell, Mackenzie Ebeler
#1 Vietnam Vocabulary
- Cold War- A war dealing with East Germany and West Germany, as well as the iron curtain.
- Containment- Keeping certain things in and out of one area.
- DMZ- A couple kilometers wide in which it was a agreement between nations to establish a boundary in Korea.
- Draft- When the government would bring in soldiers when needed for war.
- General William Westmoreland- Fought in WWII, and Vietnam War.
- Ho Chi Minh- Vietnamese Communist Leader who was prime minister and president of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.
- Mi Lai Massacre- Mass murder between 347/ 504 unarmed civilians in south Vietnam.
- National Liberation Front- socialist political party in Algeria.
- Ngo Dinh Diem- was the leader of Vietnam from 1955 until his assassination in 1963.
- Pentagon Papers- Secret papers that were stolen from the pentagon that were published in the New York Times in 1971.
- Tet Offensive- U.S. troops had been in Vietnam for three years before the Tet Offensive, and most of the fighting they had encountered were small skirmishes involving guerilla tactics.
- Viet Cong- Military branch of the Vietnam Communists
- Vietminization-
a US government policy of transferring the tasks of fighting and directing the war tothe government and forces of South Vietnam
JFK Being Elected as President in 1961
Bombing of North Vietnam Begins
JFK Assassination
#2Creating Contex
Pre-Kennedy Era
1954 – French defeated at Dien Bien Phu, Geneva Agreements call for nationwide elections (US abstains).
1955 – South Vietnamese Premiere Ngo Dinh Diem rejects Geneva accords and refuses to participate in elections (with US backing).
Kennedy Era
1960 – John F. Kennedy elected President.
1961 – Kennedy is advised to send combat troops into Vietnam but declines.
1962 – Increase of American advisors from several hundred to several thousand, Strategic Hamlet program initiated.
May 1963 – SecDef conference on Vietnam sets timetable from withdrawal from Vietnam.
Jun 1963 – First self-immolation by Buddhist monk during “Buddhist Crisis”.
Oct 1963 – Kennedy signs NSAM 263, initiating withdrawal of 1,000 men.
Nov 1963 – Premiere Diem and his brother assassinated in successful US-backed coup by South Vietnamese generals, Kennedy assassinated in Dallas.
Post-Kennedy Era
Nov 1963 - Johnson signs NSAM 273, interpreted by some as continuity and by others as leading the way to escalation.
1964 – North Vietnamese patrol boats attack the Maddox. A second reported attack, which almost certainly did not occur, provides LBJ with Congressional approval for war powers in Vietnam. LBJ re-elected in a landslide.
1965 – Bombing of North Vietnam begins, followed by the landing of Marines at Da Nang, later followed by hundreds of thousands of American soldiers.
1966 – More American combat troops arrive in Vietnam.
1968 – Tet offensive by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong highlight the lack of American success. President Johnson announces peace talks, and simultaneously declares that he will not run for re-election. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy, both opponents of the war, are assassinated. Richard Nixon elected President.
1969 – President Nixon begins secret bombing of Cambodia.
1970 – As anti-war protests grow in U.S., four students are killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University in Ohio.
1971 – New York Times publishes the "Pentagon Papers," an internal Department of Defense study of the war commissioned by McNamara.
1973 – American troops leave Vietnam.
#3 Synopsis of the Tonkin Gulf Resolution
#5 Song Titles of the Vietnam War
The Times Are Caught- Bob Dylan
Put A Little Love in Your Heart- Jackie DeShannon
Give Peace a Chance- John Lennon
The Times Are A' Changin- Bob Dylan
Universal Solider- Buffy Sainte Marie
It Better End Soon- Chicago
Revolution- The Beatles
People Got To Be Free- The Rascals
Turn, Turn, Turn- The Byrds
Give Peace A Chance- John Lennon
Masters Of War- Bob Dylan
Revolution- The Beatles
#6 Heros and Villians at My Lai
William Calley was in My Lai when the massacre happened, and was killing people. He watched girls get raped, and mutilated. While all of the old and young were slaughter. He also was leading men to do the same as he did, but he did save innocent children when he could and threw them into a ditch to give him the best chance of survival that he could.