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Operation Passage to Freedom was the term used by the US Navy to describe the transportation in 1954-55 of 310,000 Vietnamese civilians from the communist N. Vietnam. to S. Vietnam. The French army also helped in the transportation. This was also followed by a humanitarian relief effort trying to gain the hearts of Viet for S. Viet PM Ngo Dinh Diem. This immigration also helped grow Diem's Catholic power base. |
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| Dulles served as US Secretary of State under President Eisenhower. He advocated an aggressive stance against communism during the Cold War. He also advocated support of the French in their war against the Viet Minh in Indochina. |
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| Was the wife of Ngo Hinh Nhu, the brother and chief advisor to President Diem. She was considered the First Lady. She considered herself a reincarnation of the Trung Sisters. She insisted that Diem enforce strict morality laws on the S. Vietnamese. She wasn't a fan of the US and took opportunities to denounce them as often as possible in the media. She escaped the coup that eventually killed her husband and brother in law as she had been in America at the time. She later famously said "Whoever has the Americans as allies does not need enemies." |
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| The secretary of defense under John F. Kennedy andLyndon B. Johnson, from 1961 to 1968. McNamara initially advocated increasing U.S. involvement in Vietnam but started to question U.S. policy by 1966. After growing disillusioned with the direction of the war, McNamara resigned his position following the Tet Offensive in early1968. |
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| The 35th U.S. president, whose decision to send U.S. “military advisors” into Vietnam in 1962 marked the first official U.S. involvement in the country. Although Kennedy and his administration backed the corrupt Ngo Dinh Diemregime in South Vietnam, they ultimately decided to back a coup to overthrow Diem in November 1963. Just weeks later, Kennedy was assassinated, and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson became president. |
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| This was a defense strategy implemented by JFK in 1961 to address the Kennedy administrations skepticism of Eisenhower's New Look and its policy of Massive Retaliation. This strategy calls for mutual deterrence at strategic, tactical and conventional levels giving the US the capability to respond to aggression across the spectrum of warfare, not limited to nuclear arms. |
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Stages of Flexible Response |
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There are three stages in Flexible Response
1) Direct Defense - In case of a conventional Soviet attack (meaning non-nuclear or this would be considered a first strike) initial efforts would be to try and stop the Soviet advance with conventional weapons.
2) Deliberate Escalation - This phase was entered when conventional NATO forces were succumbing under the Soviet attack. NATO forces would switch to a limited use of nuclear weapons such as recently developed tactical nuclear weapons
3) General Nuclear Response - This was the last phase or stage which more or less corresponded to the mutual assured destruction scenario, meaning the total nuclear attack on the communist world. |
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| Is an American director who directed the film Fog of War. He also invented a system referred to as the Interrortron. See other cards for more info. |
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| General in the US Air Force who is credited with designing and implementing an effective but also controversial systematic strategic bombing campaign during WWII. He planned and exectued massive bombing campaign against cities in Japan that resulted in high death toll of civilians. He was also characterized as a belligerent warmonger who aggressiveness threatened to enflame tense international political situations like the Cuban Missile Crisis. He was a committed anit-Communist and clashed with flexible minds like McNamara. He supported a much more vigorous engagement in Vietnam. |
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Cuban Missile Crisis (1962) |
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| Began October in 1962 JFK was informed that a mission flown over Western Cuba had taken photographs of Soviet nuclear missile sites. This led to a 13 day standoff between US and the Soviet Union that ended up being the closest the US has ever gotten to nuclear war. A stalemate between the two nations eventually led to then leader Khrushechev removing the missiles and launch equipment. The US agreed not to invade Cuba and to remove nuclear missiles from Turkey. |
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| Errol Morris' unique interviewing machine. The system is a modified teleprompter which allows Morris to project his image on a two way mirror placed directly over the camera's lens. This allows Interviewees to address Morris image on the mirror and gives the effect of them looking directly into the camera and ultimately the viewer. Morris wife coined the termo combining interview and terror. |
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| Fog of War is a documentary by Errol Morris about the former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and the various difficult lessons he learned about the nature and conduct of modern war. The title is taken from a term used to describe the uncertainty in situation awareness experienced by participants in military operations. |
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| Was a PT boat of which JFK commanded. The attacking of this boat made Kennedy into a war hero. It was attacked in the Solomon Islands while PT-109 and other PT boats were trying to intercept the Tokyo Express. PT-109 was hit by a Japanese boat and cut in half. Survivors including JFK swam to an island and waited for rescue. JFK was able to swim to another island to find food and water and returned to navigate back to the resources with his men. They were found by natives. JFK scratched a message in a coconut shell for them to deliver to allied troops. They were eventually rescued. |
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| He helped persuade Eisenhower to run for the Republican presidential nomination. Though he ran against Kennedy as Nixon's VP and lost, Kennedy named Lodge the Ambassador to S. Vietnam. He also served this office under LBJ. Lodge concluded tha Diem was inept and corrup and that S. Viet was headed for disaster. Lodge witnessed the coup topple Diem and a succession of leaders who all were unable to unify their people. Lodge suggested the US force Vietnam into becoming a protectorate to bring stability. He believed the alternative would be to increase military involvement or abandon S. Vietnam. |
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| US Air Force officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services and the CIA. Was sent to Vietnam as an advisor on special counter-guerilla operations to French Forces against the Viet Minh. From 1954-1957 he was stationed in Saigon where he trained Vietnamese National Army. He was also involved in the headline grabbing Op Passage to Freedom. He was friends with and advised Diem through the early years of his presidency. He encouraged Diem not to rig the election but Diem didn't listen. He was also involved in efforts to topple the Cuban gov. including tried assassinations. |
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Gen. Duong Van Minh
"Big Minh" |
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| Was a general in ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Became President in 1963 after leading a coup in which Diem was assassinated. He was president of a junta set up after Diem's execution. But he wasn't successful as he was criticized for being lethargic and uninterested. He was later toppled by a coup led by Nguyen Khan also a general. He was allowed to stay on as a token head of state so Khan could benefit from his public popularity. |
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| Served as Under Secretary of State for Economic and Agricultural Affairs in the JFK and LBJ administrations. He is well known for opposing excalation in the Vietnam War. Was a supporter of the overthrow of Diem. He advised JFK not to send forces to Vietnam predicting that in '5 years there would be 300 thousand men in the Vietnamese jungles and they'd never be found again. |
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| Was a plan by the gov. of S. Vietnam and the US to combat the Communist insurgency by means of population transfer. US advisors and the Diem regime began implementation of a the plan that would hopefully keep rural peasants from contact with and influency by the National Liberation Front. The program would move them to fortified villages. But it backfired and led to decrease in support for Diem's regime and an increase in support for Communist efforts. The people didn't want to move, those who resisted the move were executed, citizens were supposed to be compensated but they weren't, weren't properly secure. |
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| Was a Vietnames Buddhist Monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection in 1963. The self immolation was in protest of persecution of Buddhists by Diem administration. Photos and coverage of this brought attention to the Diem regimes policies. This led to many monks following Duc's example and burning themselves alive. This is referred to as the Buddhist Crisis and led to a change within the regime. |
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| Army of the Republic of Vietnam or ARVN was the national army of South Vietnam, which U.S. “military advisors” of the MACV or Military Assistance Command, Vietnam trained beginning in 1962. By 1965, after several defeats by the Viet Cong at battles such as Ap Bac and Pleiku, the ARVN was seen as ineffective. |
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| Was a French general and statesman. Gained control of all the French colonies except Indochina which was under the control of the Vichy regime. He didn't support US involvement in Viet and called for a US withdrawal from Viet as the only way to ensure peace. But previously the US had provided support for France during the previous Indochina war. |
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| The U.S.-backed leader of the South Vietnamese Republic of Vietnam from 1955 until 1963. Diem came from a family that was both Confucian and Catholic, and though his Christianity endeared him to many U.S. policy makers, it alienated him from South Vietnam’s Buddhist majority. Diem’s regime quickly became corrupt and autocratic, cracking down viciously on Buddhist leaders and ignoring theGeneva Conference’s promise of free elections in 1956. Increasingly paranoid, he gave his family members important positions of leadership in the government, which they abused. Although the United States continued to support Diem, this support ultimately waned, and Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu were assassinated in 1963 as part of a U.S.-approved coup. |
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| Was a set of domestic programs proposed or enacted in the US by LBJ. His goals were to eliminate poverty and racial injustice. They were major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems and transportation. Resembled the New Deal. Implementation of these programs required LBJ to raise taxes as they were expensive and so was the Viet war. Medicare and Medicaid. |
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Gen. William Westmoreland |
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| Name of 2 disputed incidents. One involving N. Viet and the US. Reports of a US destroyer being attacked while performing a Desoto patrol. Said it was engaged by 3 N. Viet Navy torpedo boats. A sea battle resulted. There were no US casualties in this battle. Second incident reported to have occured on Aug. 4, 1964 is said to have actually never happened but because of it the gulf of tonkin resolution was passed. |
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Gulf of Tonkin Resolution |
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A 1964 resolution, passed by a near-unanimous vote in the U.S. Congress, that gave President Lyndon B. Johnson a free hand to escalate the war in Vietnam. The resolution was prompted by an incident in which two U.S. Navy destroyers were allegedly attacked by North Vietnamese forces in the Gulf of Tonkin. Though not an explicit war declaration, the resolution empowered Johnson to initiate Operation Rolling Thunder and allowed a process of escalation that would eventually see more than 500,000 U.S. soldiers committed to the war in Vietnam.
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| Was in response to military attacks by N Viet and Soviet allies against US bases. The US bombed N. viet in retaliation. |
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Operation Rolling Thunder |
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| A sustained U.S. bombing effort against North Vietnam authorized by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 and lasting until 1968. Rolling Thunder was launched in response to a Viet Cong raid on a U.S. military base at Pleiku that killed several U.S. servicemen. When the air strikes failed to end the war, Johnson increased the number of U.S. soldiers in South Vietnam from roughly 200,000 to over 500,000. |
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| Quaker who set himself on fire below Sec of Defense Robert McNamara's pentagon office in protest of US involvement in the Viet War. |
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An organization formed in 1960 to provide structure and support to the formerly isolated cells of the southern Viet Cong. Eventually, the terms NLF and Viet Cong came to be used interchangeably.
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| Name of the communist stronghold in N. vietnam in the Bin Duong Province. Tunnels were built during the French war but expanded during American War. Some of these tunnels went under us bases they were said to be primarily in the Iron triangle. |
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| A weapon system used during Viet War. Nicknamed for its ability to flatten a forest into a helicopter landing zone. |
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| A flammable, sprayable, gasoline-based gel that the U.S. military used extensively as a weapon in Vietnam. Napalm inflicted devastating burns, killing and maiming many Vietnamese soldiers and civilians. |
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| A massive offensive launched by Viet Cong guerrillas on January 30, 1968, the Vietnamese new year holiday of Tet. The Tet Offensive comprised simultaneous attacks on dozens of U.S.-controlled sites in South Vietnam. Although the offensive resulted in a tactical victory for the United States and many Viet Cong casualties, the American public saw it as a setback, as the U.S. military and President Lyndon B. Johnson had led them to believe that the Viet Cong was already well on its way to defeat. The Tet Offensive caused public support for the war to plummet in the United States, especially when the U.S. military requested 200,000 soldiers in the months following the attacks. |
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| Was a group of government officials. Were exemplars of American Foreign Policy establishment and as such tended to be practical realistic and non-ideological. At first they support the viet War but in 1968 the expressed the conviction that the war could not be won and American troops should be withdrawn. |
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| Was a US marine corp outpost in S. Viet. |
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| Cronkite journeyed to Vietnam to cover the aftermath of the Tet offensive. The report he made when he came back basically stated that the US could neither win nor lose the war and were at a stalemate and should negotiate their way out of the war. LBJ is said to have uttered "if i've lost Cronkite, I've lost Middle America." Weeks later Johnson announced he wouldn't seek reelection |
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| Was a General and police chief in S. Viet.he gained international attention when he executed a handcuffed prisoner on the streets of Saigon capture by Eddie Adams. |
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| Pulitzer Prize winning Photographer and Journalist who captured the photo of police chief General Nguyen Ngoc Loan executing a Vietcong prisoner on a Saigon Street during the opening stages of the Tet offensive. This photo caused a negative reaction to the Viet war in the US. But it was later discovered that Adams didn't think Loan should be ??? for his action |
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| One of bloodiest and longest battles of the Vietnam War. Occurred at beginning of Tet offensive. Though it was an important base for US and S Viet because of the port that allowed supplies it wasn't well protected and was therefore unprepared when the N. Viet army and VC attacked. The N. Viet were eventually driven out by the Marines. the city was viertually destroyed and more than 5 thousand civilians were killed. |
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| Purpose was to serve as an aerial umbrella for the defense of the US Marine Corps combat base onKhe Sanh plateau. The base was under siege. Though Khe Sanh was difficult to hold because of its position, Westmoreland refused to abandon it and sent reinforcements. Op. became comparable to Dien Bien Phu but US believed they would win because of their aerial assistance. |
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| The precise nature of Hanoi's strategic goal at Khe Sanh is regardedas one of the most intriguing unanswered questions of the Vietnam war. Historians ponder on whether the Tet offensive was a diversion intended to facilitate PAVN/NLF preparation for a war-winning battle at Khe Sanh or Ke Sanh was a diversion to mesmerize Westmorelan in the days before Tet. Reality is that Tet diverted 30,000 US troops away from the cities that were the main targets of the Tet offensive. |
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| Little Tet also known as mini-tet or the May offensive was the second phase of the Tet offensive. Communist untis struck 110 targets throughout S. Vietnam. |
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| Was a counterinsurgency program designed, coordinated and executed by the US CIA, Special Ops and the Republic of Vietnams security organization during the Vietnam War. The Program was designed to identify and "neutralize" the civilian infrastructure supporting the NLF. This infrastructure is known as the NVI. Civilians were required to give information on known NVI or be tortured. Many civilians also lost there lives through the use of this method because people would use it as a way of getting back at others. |
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