Objective 11.04

1
Objective 11.04

• Identify the causes of the United States
  Involvement in Vietnam and examine how this
  involvement affected society

2
Tet Offensive

• Vietcong offensive against the cities of South
  Vietnam in 1968/turning point in US public
  opinion against the war.

3
Robert McNamara

• Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and
  Johnson

4
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

• North Vietnam attacks a US ship off the coast of
  Hanoi/ President Johnson asks Congress for the
  authority to respond/ Congressional approval
  leads to US active military involvement in Vietnam

5
War Powers Act of 1973

• Passed after the Vietnam War/limited a Presidents
  authority to wage war without Congressional
  approval

6
Ho Chi Minh

• Leader of Communist North Vietnam

7
My Lai Incident

• Lieutenant William Calley leads a raid against
  the village at My Lai killing aprox. 200 civilians

8
Agent Orange

• Defoliant/ used to eliminate the jungle to take
  away the hiding places of the Vietcong/ caused
  birth defects in children and cancer

9
Napalm

• Gas bomb used to destroy the jungle hiding places
  of the Vietcong

10
Vietcong

• South Vietnamese Communist sympathizers

11
Pentagon Papers

• Papers released by Daniel Ellsberg describing
  lies told by President Johnson during the Vietnam
  conflict/President Nixon tried to block their
  release on reasons of National Security/ NY Times
  v. Nixon

12
26th Amendment

• 18 year olds the right to vote

13
General William Westmoreland

• Commander of UN forces in Vietnam

14
Kent State

• University where anti-war demonstration turns
  violent when National Guard opens fire on the
  crowd

15
Cambodia/Laos

• Countries that border Vietnam that were bombed by
  President Nixon for aiding and supplying the
  Vietcong

16
Operation Rolling Thunder

• 8 week strategy of bombing Hanoi and other North
  Vietnamese targets to destroy North Vietnams
  economy and ability to supply the Vietcong

17
Paris Peace Accords

• Meetings between Henry Kissinger and Lo Duc Tho
  between 1969 and 1975 leading to the end of US
  participation in Vietnam

18
Fall of Saigon 1975

• April 30, 1975 North Vietnamese overrun the South
  Vietnamese capital