Objective 11.04

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

Tet Offensive

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

Robert McNamara

• Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson

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

War Powers Act of 1973

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

Ho Chi Minh

• Leader of Communist North Vietnam

My Lai Incident

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

Agent Orange

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

Napalm

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

Vietcong

• South Vietnamese Communist sympathizers

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

26th Amendment

• 18 year olds the right to vote

General William Westmoreland

• Commander of UN forces in Vietnam

Kent State

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

Cambodia/Laos

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

Operation Rolling Thunder

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

Paris Peace Accords

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

Fall of Saigon 1975

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