VIETNAM 1945-1975
“America in Vietnam”
Review Vietnamese attempts at independence from the French.
Identify:
Ho Chi Minh
What were the results of the French war?
How did the U. S. view Vietnam after 1954?
North Vietnam
South Vietnam
President Dwight Eisenhower?
President John F. Kennedy?
How many American military advisers were committed in 1962 and why?
What was their mission and goal?
Why weren’t they effective?
How many members of the National Liberation Front (Viet Cong) were there in 1962?
Identify:
Ngo Dinh Diem
Henry Cabot Lodge
William Colby
Define the US role in South Vietnam in 1963.
What advice did President Lyndon Johnson get after President Kennedy’s death in 1963?
Identify:
Maxwell Taylor
Robert McNamara
Ho Chi Minh Trail
Describe the governmental situation in South Vietnam, 1963-1965?
Identify:
Gulf of Tonkin incident
Congressional Resolution?
Why did the U.S. start bombing the North?
What was the North Vietnamese response to the American bombing?
Why did President Lyndon Johnson decide to send American combat troops to Vietnam in 1965?
Identify or define:
William Westmoreland
Contrast:
Limited war
Total war
Discuss the nature of U. S. prosecution of the war.
Review the importance, costs, losses, and results of the bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Identify:
Nguyen Cao Ky
Discuss the effect of the war on South Vietnamese civilians. Deaths?
Identify:
“Search and Destroy”
“Pacification”
What accounted for most American casualties?
“Bouncing Bettys”
What was the importance of kill-ratios or body counts?
How large was U.S. troop strength in Vietnam by 1968?
Discuss the Communist response.
Review the role and effectiveness of helicopters in the war.
How was US troop morale?
Discuss U. S. relations with the South Vietnamese army (ARVN)
Review American domestic reaction to the war.
Identify:
Vo Nguyen Giap
Khe Sanh
Tet Offensive
How did the media affect the war?
Identify:
Clark Clifford
What were President Richard Nixon’s plans for the war?
Identify:
Melvin Laird
“Vietnamization”
Nguyen Van Thieu
What motivated North Vietnam in the war?
How much foreign military aid did the Communists receive by 1970?
Review the North Vietnamese reaction to a gradual U. S. troop withdrawal.
Why did Richard President Nixon decide to invade Cambodia in 1970?
Review the American reaction at home, and identify:
Kent State episode
Pentagon Papers
What were the results of the secret peace talks by Secretary of State Henry Kissinger?
Nixon’s role?
Cease-fire terms, 1973
What was the reaction of President Thieu?
Why was the ceasefire ineffective?
Why did the U. S. abandon its commitment to South Vietnam in 1975?
Describe the North Vietnamese offensive in 1975 and the end of the war?
Though Questions:
How would you evaluate the American role in Vietnam on a military and a political basis?
Should the U.S. have intervened? What went wrong? Could the war have been won?
Compare and contrast the Vietnam War with the war in Korea.