Vietnam War Vocabulary
Vocabulary- The Vietnam War 1. Ho Chi Minh- a Japanese nationalist leader during the Vietnam War who supported communism. He later became the president of North Vietnam.
2. Vietminh- an organization whose goal was to win Vietnam’s independence from foreign rule, mostly formed by Ho Chi Minh
3. Domino Theory- The theory that if one nation is taken over by communism, many other countries would become communism too. 4. Vietcong- A communist opposition group in the South that assassinated thousands of South Vietnamese government officials that started in 1957.
5. Ho Chi Minh Trail- A network of paths along the borders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia by which Ho Chi Minh supplied arms to the Vietcong.
6. Robert McNamara- Secretary of Defense that worked with Johnson and Dean Rusk to send troops to Vietnam.
7. Dean Rusk- Secretary of State that worked with President Johnson and Robert McNamara to send a lot of U.S. soldiers to Vietnam.
8. William Westmoreland- the American commander in Vietnam that kept requesting for more troops and was unsatisfied with the fighting ability of the ARVN. He was a WW2 and Korea veteran.
9. ARVN-The south Vietnamese army (Army of the Republic of Vietnam)
10. Search-and-destroy missions- a strategy that U.S. soldiers used where they uprooted civilians suspected to be related to the Vietcong, killed their livestock, and burned villages.
11. Battle for “Hearts and Minds”- The attempt to win over the South Vietnamese people to join the South Vietnamese and US against the North Vietnamese, and the Vietcong
12. Credibility gap- when a public doesn’t trust statements made by the government. Critics thought a credibility gap was growing between what the Johnson administration was stating and what was actually happening.
13. Draft- required enrollment into the armed forces where all males, 18 and older, had to register with their local draft boards and were screened
2. Vietminh- an organization whose goal was to win Vietnam’s independence from foreign rule, mostly formed by Ho Chi Minh
3. Domino Theory- The theory that if one nation is taken over by communism, many other countries would become communism too. 4. Vietcong- A communist opposition group in the South that assassinated thousands of South Vietnamese government officials that started in 1957.
5. Ho Chi Minh Trail- A network of paths along the borders of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia by which Ho Chi Minh supplied arms to the Vietcong.
6. Robert McNamara- Secretary of Defense that worked with Johnson and Dean Rusk to send troops to Vietnam.
7. Dean Rusk- Secretary of State that worked with President Johnson and Robert McNamara to send a lot of U.S. soldiers to Vietnam.
8. William Westmoreland- the American commander in Vietnam that kept requesting for more troops and was unsatisfied with the fighting ability of the ARVN. He was a WW2 and Korea veteran.
9. ARVN-The south Vietnamese army (Army of the Republic of Vietnam)
10. Search-and-destroy missions- a strategy that U.S. soldiers used where they uprooted civilians suspected to be related to the Vietcong, killed their livestock, and burned villages.
11. Battle for “Hearts and Minds”- The attempt to win over the South Vietnamese people to join the South Vietnamese and US against the North Vietnamese, and the Vietcong
12. Credibility gap- when a public doesn’t trust statements made by the government. Critics thought a credibility gap was growing between what the Johnson administration was stating and what was actually happening.
13. Draft- required enrollment into the armed forces where all males, 18 and older, had to register with their local draft boards and were screened