Hansen
Vietnam Study Guide for Unit Three (American Intervention 1965 Through 1968) Exam 10-11
What ya needs ta know…
· Acronyms
o ARVN or Republican soldiers
o NVA or Vietminh
o NLF or VC or Charlie or Vietcong
o DMZ
· Entry of ‘official’ American troops
o LBJ’s attempts to avoid further confrontation after 1964 election
o Pleiku and the American response
o General Westmoreland as commanding general
o Ia Drang
§ Why did U.S. think they could succeed where the French had failed
§ Conventional battle
§ What was the Vietminh final assessment as a result of this battle? In other words, what policy did they decide to follow in the ‘American’ War
· 1965 – 1968
o In what sense was the U.S. war effort limited? Why these limits?
o Height of American troop strength? (# and year it reached this number)
o U.S. Strategy
§ War of Attrition
· Why was this strategy questionable?
· Crossover Point
· Body Count
§ Three-Prongs
· Free-fire zones
§ Why was bombing of North Vietnam relatively ineffective?
§ In what sense did McNamara personify the U.S. strategy? Who was he?
§ War of Attrition versus Hearts and Minds
· Why incompatible?
· Agent Orange
· Mere Gook Rule
· Guilded Basket poem
· Search and Avoid
· Fragging
o In what sense was the U.S. public lied to about U.S. success in Vietnam during these years?
§ What programs was LBJ forced to sacrifice to the hungry war-beast of Vietnam?
o LBJ’s efforts to tighten the screws on the Vietminh/Vietcong
§ Phoenix Program
· Khe Sanh and the Tet Offensive
o Khe Sanh
§ When, where, what, why, so?
o Tet Offensive
§ When, where, what, why?
§ Hue, American Embassy in Saigon, Ho Chi Minh’s goal?
§ How could one argue that the Tet Offensive was a win and a loss for each side? In the long run, who won the Tet Offensive?
· 1968
o Importance of Walter Kronkite
o Reasons LBJ didn’t run for reelection (there are several)
§ Eugene McCarthy
§ Robert Kennedy
§ Hubert Humphrey
· Which were pro-anti war?
§ Why was LBJ’s decision such a shock?
o Chaos of ‘68
§ Civil Rights
· Orangeburg Massacre
· Olympic Black Power Protest
· Black Panthers
· Black American’s Double Burden
§ Assassinations
· MLK and RFK
· Impact?
§ Anti War Protests
· Columbia
o Reasons college campuses were hotbeds of protest?
· Catonsville Nine
§ Democratic National Convention in Chicago
· Reason it would be a surefire flash point?
· Mayor Daley adds to the problem. How?
· Cointelpro
· Chaos ends democratic chances in the ’68 election
· Humphrey nominated
o Nixon
§ What platform did he run on?
§ How did he address the Vietnam ‘quagmire’?