Tiffany Messenger, Alex Strong: The Vietnam War by Tiffany Messenger

The Domino Theory

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-24 16:36:09 UTC

Prominent from the 1950s to the 1980s, this theory speculated

that if one state in a region came under the influence of Communism, then the surrounging countries would follow in a domino effect. The domino theory was used by successive United States administrations during the Cold War to justify the need for AMerican intervention around the world.

Ho Chi Minh

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-24 16:53:56 UTC

Vietnamese Communist statesman and president of North Vietnam from 1954 to 1969, Ho Chi Minh deployed his forces in a querilla conflict that became the Vietnam War.

Viet Minh

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-24 17:00:03 UTC

In full, Viet Nam Doc Lap Dong Minh Hoi, English League for the Independence of Vietnam, organization that led the struggle for Vietnamese independence from French rule. The Viet Minh was formed in China in May 1941 by Ho Chi Minh. Although led primarily by Communists the Viet Minh operated as a national front organization open to persons of various plitical persuasions.

Dien Bien Phu

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-24 17:10:06 UTC

The decisive engagement in the first Indochina War (1946–54). After French forces occupied the Dien Bien Phu valley in late 1953, Viet Minh commander Vo Nguyen Giap amassed troops and placed heavy artillery in caves of the mountains overlooking the French camp. Boosted by Chinese aid, Giap mounted assaults on the opposition’s strong points beginning in March 1954, eliminating use of the French airfield. Viet Minh forces overran the base in early May, prompting the French government to seek an end to the fighting with the signing of the Geneva Accords of 1954.

Ngo Dinh Diem

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-24 17:15:01 UTC

Ngo Dinh Diem was, anti-Communist, leader of Vietnam 1955 until his assassination in 1963. His heavy-handed rule and resulting ouster paved the way to the Vietnam War.

Vietcong

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-24 17:21:28 UTC

In full Viet Nam Cong San, English Vietnamese Communists, the guerrilla force that, with the support of the North Vietnamese Army, fought against South Vietnam (late 1950s–1975) and the US (early 1960s–1973). The name is said to have first been used by South Vietnamese Pres. Ngo Dinh Diem to belittle the rebels.

Defoliants

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-24 17:34:47 UTC

Agent Orange was a powerful mixture of chemical defoliants used by U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War to eliminate forest cover for North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops, as well as crops that might be used to feed them. The U.S. program of defoliation, codenamed Operation Ranch Hand, sprayed more than 19 million gallons of herbicides over 4.5 million acres of land in Vietnam from 1961 to 1972. Agent Orange, which contained the chemical dioxin, was the most commonly used of the herbicide mixtures, and the most effective. It was later revealed to cause serious health issues–including tumors, birth defects, rashes, psychological symptoms and cancer–among returning U.S. servicemen and their families as well as among the Vietnamese population.

Search-and-Destroy Missions

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-24 17:38:02 UTC

U.S. military tactic of attrition used in Vietnam between 1965 and 1968. Created by General William Westmoreland and his deputy, Brigadier General William DePuy, search and destroy depended on military capabilities at the given time. It was an ad hoc approach that grew out of discussions between Westmoreland and DePuy.

Doves and Hawks

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-26 02:40:21 UTC

The war divided the country into two different sections. The sections were the people who wanted war and the ones who didn't. The ones who wanted war were known as the "Hawks." The ones who didn't want war were known as the "Doves." The hawks believed that due to the agression of North Vietnamese it forced us into the war.

They thought that the United States should do what ever is necessary to win. Doves think that the problem in Vietnam is a civil war. They thought that the United States had no right to be in their conflicts. They also believed that the money that was spent there that it would be much better invested in America for certain programs.

Robert S.

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-26 02:56:34 UTC

He was an American business executive and the eighth U.S. secretary of defense, serving under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. He is best known for helping lead the United States into the Vietnam War during the Kennedy Administration, an act for which he spent the remainder of his life wrestling with the moral consequences.

Tonkin Gulf Resolution

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-26 03:16:57 UTC

This was in response to the TOnkin incidentIt is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President, Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of way by Congress, for the use of "conventional" military force in Southeast Asia. Specifically, the resolution authorized the President to do whatever necessary in order to assist "any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty". This included involving armed forces.

Operation Rolling Thunder

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-26 03:24:09 UTC

Operation Rolling Thunder was the name given to America’s sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Operation Rolling Thunder was a demonstration of America’s near total air supremacy during the Vietnam War. It was started in an effort to demoralise the North Vietnamese people and to undermine the capacity of the government in North Vietnam to govern. Operation Rolling Thunder failed on both accounts.Operation Rolling Thunder was given government approval and officially started on February 24^th 1965 though the first attack did not occur until March 2^nd when 100 US and VNAF planes attacked an ammunition base at Xom Bang. The bombing campaign lasted until October 1968, despite the fact that it was meant to have been no more than an eight-week campaign.

Ho Chi Minh Trail

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-26 03:27:41 UTC

The Ho Chi Minh Trail was not just one trail but a series of trails. The Ho Chi Minh Trail was used by the North Vietnamese as a route for its troops to get into the South. They also used the trail as a supply route – for weapons, food and equipment. The Ho Chin Minh Trail ran along the Laos/Cambodia and Vietnam borders and was dominated by jungles. In total the ‘trail’ was about 1,000 kilometres in length and consisted of many parts. The ‘trail’ consisted of dummy routes that served the only purpose of confusing the Americans but was, in places, 80 kilometres (50 miles) wide. It is thought that up to 40,000 people were used to keep the route open. The natural environment gave the trail excellent cover as the jungle could provide as much as three canopies of tree cover, which disguised what was going on at ground level. The American response to this was to use defoliants – the most famous being Agent Orange – to kill off the greenery that gave cover to those using the trail. However, while large areas of jungle were effectively killed off, the task was too great and the Ho Chi Minh Trail was used for the duration of the war against the Americans in South Vietnam.

Students for a Democratic Society

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-26 03:32:32 UTC

American student organization that flourished in the mid-to-late 1960s and was known for its activism against the Vietnam War. SDS, founded in 1959, had its origins in the student branch of the League for Industrial Democracy, a social-democratic educational organization.

William Fulbright

tiffanycheyann — 2015-02-26 03:37:04 UTC

American senator who initiated the international exchange program for scholars known as the Fulbright scholarship. He is also known for his vocal and articulate criticism of U.S. military involvement in South Vietnam during his tenure as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The American public came to know Fulbright best for his probing, articulate opposition to the Vietnam War, despite the fact that he initially supported U.S. involvement. Indeed, as an old friend and former Senate colleague of President Johnson, Fulbright had shepherded the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution through the Senate. In 1966, however, his committee held televised hearings on U.S. military involvement in Southeast Asia, from which he emerged as a leading proponent for an end to the U.S. bombing of North Vietnam and for peace talks to settle the Vietnamese conflict.