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Geneva Conference
In 1956 elections were to be held to reunite the country under a single government. The Geneva Conference also recognized Cambodia’s independence. -
Domino Theory
By 1954, the United States was paying roughly three-fourths of France’s war costs. During a news conference that year, Eisenhower defended United States policy in Vietnam by stressing what became known as the domino theory—the belief that if Vietnam fell to communism, so too would the other nations of Southeast Asia -
Geneva Accords
Negotiations to end the conflict were held in Geneva, Switzerland. The Geneva Accords temporarily divided Vietnam along the 17th parallel, with Ho Chi Minh and the Vietminh in control of North Vietnam and a pro-Western regime in control of the South -
Overthrow of Diem
In the spring of 1963, Diem, a Catholic, banned the traditional religious flags for Buddha’s birthday. When Buddhists took to the streets in protest, Diem’s police killed 9 people and injured 14 others. The generals seized power on November 1, 1963, and executed Diem shortly afterward. -
Tonkin Resolution
On August 2, 1964, President Johnson announced that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had fired on two American destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin. Two days later, the president reported that another similar attack had taken place. On August 7, 1964, the Senate and House passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, authorizing the president "take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States
and to prevent further aggression.” With only two dissenting votes, Con -
Operation Rolling Thunder
-In March 1965, Johnson expanded American involvement by shifting his policy to a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam. The campaign was named Operation Rolling Thunder. That month the president also ordered the first combat troops into Vietnam. American soldiers were now fighting alongside the South Vietnamese troops against the Vietcong. -
Tech In
a group of faculty members and students at the University of Michigan abandoned their classes and joined together in a teach-in. Here, they informally discussed the issues surrounding the war and reaffirmed their reasons for opposing it. The gathering inspired teach-ins at many campuses. In May 1965, 122 colleges held a “National” by radio for more than 100,000 antiwar demonstrators. -
Credibility Gap
many people found it hard to believe what the Johnson administration said about the war because of all of the tv coverage on the war.Beginning in February 1966, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held “educational” hearings on Vietnam, calling in Secretary of State Dean Rusk and other policy makers to explain the administration’s war program -
Pentagon Papers
-Support for the war weakened further in 1971 when Daniel Ellsberg, a disillusioned former Defense Department worker, leaked what became known as the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times. The documents revealed that many government officials during the Johnson administration privately questioned the war while publicly defending it. The documents contained details of decisions that were made by the presidents and their advisers without the consent of Congress. They also showed how the various ad -
March To Pentagon
Some of the protesters were determined to disrupt military operations by storming the Pentagon. The most serious incident occurred when 20 to 30 demonstrators pushed through the line of U.S. Marshals and military police into the Pentagon's Mall entrance. They were greeted by heavily armed troops. The soldiers forced some demonstrators outside. Others were carried out bodily. -
Tet offensive
military campaign during the Vietnam War that was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnam against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks that were launched against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam, during a period when no attacks were supposed to take place -
Johnson Leaves the Presidential Race
With the war growing increasingly unpopular and Johnson’s credibility all but gone, some Democrats began looking for an alternative candidate to nominate for president in 1968. With the division in the country and within his own party growing, Johnson addressed the public on television on March 31, 1968. He stunned viewers by stating, “I have concluded that I should not permit the presidency to become involved in the partisan divisions that are developing in this political year." -
Hawk and Dove
By 1968 the nation seemed to be divided into two camps. Those who wanted the United States to withdraw from Vietnam were known as doves. Those who insisted that the United States stay and fight came to be known as hawks. As the two groups debated, the war took a dramatic turn for the worse, and the nation endured a year of shock and crisis. -
Vietnamization
Nixon cut back the number of American troops in Vietnam. process involved the gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops while South Vietnam assumed more of the fighting. -
Kent State
Ohio National Guard soldiers, armed with tear gas and rifles, fired on demonstrators without an order to do so. The soldiers killed four students and wounded at least nine others. Ten days later, police killed two African American students during a demonstration at Jackson State College in Mississippi. -
26th amendment
Section 1.The right of citizens of the United States, who are 18 years of age or older, to vote, shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age.
Section 2.
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation -
war powers act
-The war also left its mark on the nation as a whole. In 1973 Congress passed the War Powers Act as a way to reestablish some limits on executive power. The act required the president to inform Congress of any commitment of troops abroad within 48 hours and to withdraw them in 60 to 90 days unless
Congress explicitly approved the troop commitment. -
Paris Peace accords
intended to establish peace in Vietnam and an end to the Vietnam War, ended direct U.S. military involvement, and temporarily stopped the fighting between North and South Vietnam. -
US withdrawl of troops
U.S. military involvement ended on 15 August 1973 as a result of the Case–Church Amendment passed by the U.S. Congress. The U.S. government viewed involvement in the war as a way to prevent a communist takeover of South Vietnam as part of their wider strategy of containment. -
South Vietnam surrender
The South Vietnamese forces had collapsed under the rapid advancement of the North Vietnamese. The most recent fighting had begun in December 1974, when the North Vietnamese had launched a major attack against the lightly defended province of Phuoc Long. Before surrendering they had 42 provinces
