1. Chapter 20 Vocab ( )
Vietnam – 16 words

2. Ho Chi Minh/ Vietminh
Leader of the Vietnamese independence movement who also embraced communism.
Founded the Vietminh…the League for the Independence of Vietnam.

3. Domino Theory
The belief that if one country (Vietnam) fell to communism, the rest of the region (southeast asia) would soon follow.

4. S.E.A.T.O Southeast Asian Treaty Organization
Alliance among the U.S., Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, the Philippines, and Pakistan who pledged to fight communism in Southeast Asia together.
Similar to NATO

5. Dien Bien Phu
French military base in northwest Vietnam where French forces surrendered to Vietminh forces in 1954.

6. Geneva Accords
France granted independence to Indo-China (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), and Vietnam was divided at the 17th parallell into two countries.

7. Vietcong National Liberation Front. Slang for Vietnamese Commies
Used to refer to all Vietnamese communists from the South.

8. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
Authorized the US president to “take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the US and to prevent further aggression.”
Congress essentially handed their war powers over to the president.

9. Ho Chi Minh Trail
Network of jungle paths that North Vietnam used to supply the Vietcong.

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. Vietnamization
(Nixon) gradual withdrawal of American troops, as South Vietnam slowly assumed more of the fighting.

14. My Lai Massacre
Village in S. Vietnam where in 1968 US forces opened fire on unarmed civilians killing between Vietnamese.

15. Pentagon Papers
Government papers leaked to the New York Times, that revealed that the US government had not been honest about the conflict.

16. Paris Peace Accords
1973 Peace Agreement between the US, S. Vietnam, N. Vietnam, and the Vietcong that effectivly ended the Vietnam War.

17. 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 days unless Congress approves the troop commitment.
This was a way to reestablish some limits on executive power.