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Chapter 22 Vocab . Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh/ Vietminh. Leader of the Vietnamese independence movement who also embraced communism. Founded the Vietminh…the League for the Independence of Vietnam. Domino Theory.
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Chapter 22 Vocab Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh/ Vietminh • Leader of the Vietnamese independence movement who also embraced communism. • Founded the Vietminh…the League for the Independence of Vietnam.
Domino Theory • The belief that if one country (Vietnam) fell to communism, the rest of the region (southeast asia) would soon follow.
Dien Bien Phu • French military base in northwest Vietnam where French forces surrendered to Vietminh forces in 1954.
Geneva Accords • France granted independence to Indo-China (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallell into two countries.
Ngo Dinh Diem • Anti-communist leader of South Vietnam. • Unpopular with the Vietnamese people, but supported by the US government.
Vietcong • Guerilla fighters committed to undermining Diem’s government in the South and uniting Vietnam as a single, communist state.
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution • Authorized the US president to “take all necessary measures to repel anyi armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression.” • Congress essentially handed their war powers over to the president.
William Westmoreland • The American commander in South Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh Trail • Network of jungle paths that North Vietnam used to supply the Vietcong.
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) • Student activist group originally committed to fight against racism and poverty, which also campaigns against the war in Vietnam.
Credibility Gap • Gap between what the Johnson administration said and what journalists reported. • Made it hard for the American public to believe what the government told them.
Tet Offensive • Coordinated assault by the North Vietnamese army on many important targets in South Vietnam (including the US embassy in Saigon) • Turned American public opinion against the war. • Named after the lunar New Year.
Vietnamization • (Nixon) gradual withdrawal of American troops, as South Vietnam slowly assumed more of the fighting.
My Lai • Village in S. Vietnam where in 1968 US forces opened fire on unarmed civilians killing between 400-500 Vietnamese.
Pentagon Papers • Government papers leaked to the New York Times, that revealed that the US governemnt had not been honest about the conflict.
Paris Peace Accords • 1973 Peace Agreement between the US, S. Vietnam, N. Vietnam, and the Vietcong that effectivly ended the Vietnam War.
War Powers Act • Passed by Congress in 1973, this act required the President to inform Congress of any commitment of troops abroad within 48 hours and to withdraw them in 60-90 days unless Congress approves the troop commitment. • This was a way to reestablish some limits on executive power.