Transcript The Vietnam War - Johnston County Schools

The Vietnam War
Ho Chi Minh
• Created the
Indochinese
Communist
Party that
fought for
Vietnamese
independence
from France
Domino Theory
• The idea that if a nation falls under
Communist control, then nearby nations
would also fall under Communist control
• The U.S. feared this would happen in
Asia if Vietnam was allowed to have a
Communist controlled government
Geneva Accords
• 1954 peace agreement
• Divided Vietnam into Communist
held North Vietnam and nonCommunist South Vietnam
• Unification elections were to be
held in 1956
Vietcong
• South Vietnamese Communists
who, with the North Vietnamese
help, fought against the South
Vietnamese government
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
• The U.S. claims
that a destroyer
was fired upon by
North Vietnam
• 1964, gave
President
Johnson broad
powers to wage
war in Vietnam
General William
Westmoreland
• Led the
American
forces in
Vietnam
Chemical Warfare
• Napalm: a
• Agent Orange: A
gasoline
toxic chemical
substance used in
sprayed by U.S.
bombs that U.S.
planes in Vietnam
planes dropped in
to expose
Vietnam to burn
Vietcong hideouts
away jungle and
expose Vietcong
hideouts
Tet Offensive
• A massive surprise attack by the
Vietcong on South Vietnamese
towns and cities in 1968
• Showed that the war was not going
as well as hoped and support
began to severely decline
Richard Nixon’s
Vietnamization
• Nixon’s strategy
for ending U.S.
involvement in the
war by gradually
withdrawing
American troops
from Vietnam
My Lai Massacre
• Village in northern South Vietnam
• Suspected of being a Vietcong
hideout
• More than 200 unarmed men,
women, and children were
murdered by U.S. troops in 1968
Kent State
• Kent State University is located in
Ohio
• May 4, 1970 students protest the
Vietnam War
• National Guard troops called in and
open fire, killing 4 and wounding 9
Pentagon Papers
• 7,000 page document, leaked to
the press in 1971
• Revealed that the U.S. government
had not been honest about its
intentions in Vietnam
War Powers Act
• Law enacted in 1973
• Limited the President’s right to
send troops into battle without
consulting congress