Deck 30: The Vietnam ERA 1963-1975

Question 1

The chapter introduction juxtaposes the stories of Marines in Vietnam and National Guardsmen at Kent State to make what point?

A) Communist infiltration could harm Americans just as it did the South Vietnamese.
B) America divided over the fundamental question of who was a true friend and who the real enemy.
C) In the Vietnam War, the military was less the villain than the victim.
D) Poorly prepared and ineptly led armed forces led to America's defeat at home and abroad.

Answer 1

America divided over the fundamental question of who was a true friend and who the real enemy.

Question 2

A typical U.S. soldier in Vietnam would be

A) in his mid-twenties.
B) a son of blue-collar America.
C) very poorly educated.
D) college educated.

Answer 2

a son of blue-collar America.

Question 3

In a war with uncertain goals-to escalate until the other side negotiated a settlement-what became the measure of U.S. military success?

A) bombing damage assessments
B) body counts
C) territory occupied by U.S. or South Vietnam forces
D) opinion polls showing how many South Vietnamese supported their government

Answer 3

body counts

Question 4

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution, as passed by

A) the Congress, authorized President Johnson to take all necessary measures to repel attacks on U.S. forces.
B) the Congress, blocked further commitment of U.S. ground troops without congressional approval.
C) the UN Security Council, called for both U.S. and North Vietnamese forces to withdraw from South Vietnam.
D) the UN General Assembly, condemned U.S. aggression against the people of Vietnam.

Question 5

Why couldn't America's superior technology prevail in Vietnam?

A) Technology did not distinguish friend from foe.
B) The U.S. never exploited its technological advantages.
C) The Vietnamese peasants were more influenced by the terrorist attacks of the Vietcong than the incomprehensible machines of the Americans.
D) Politicians and the media refused to let the military use its technology effectively.

Question 6

Agent Orange, identified with long-term health and environmental problems, was used in Vietnam to

A) intoxicate enemy troops.
B) camouflage American troop movements.
C) mark enemy supply lines.
D) defoliate the jungle.

Question 7

Why did President Kennedy push the space program?

A) It would be, for him, a public relations gold mine.
B) It would be, for him, a giant pork barrel to pay back his political supporters.
C) If the race for space were lost, domestic reform might be lost.
D) If the race for space were lost, the cold war might be lost.

Question 8

The most dramatic convert from supporter to opponent of the Vietnam War was the

A) secretary of defense, Robert McNamara.
B) chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Earl Wheeler.
C) commander of American forces in Vietnam, William Westmoreland.
D) U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, Ellsworth Bunker.

Question 9

The "Tet offensive"of 1968 was

A) a tactical defeat for the Communists.
B) a political defeat for the United States.
C) both a tactical defeat for the Communists and a political defeat for the United States.
D) None of these answers is correct.

Question 10

For America, the ________ was a great failure of foreign intelligence, a great tactical military success, and a great political defeat.

A) Democratic convention of 1968
B) War on Poverty
C) Tet offensive
D) theory of escalation

Question 11

Which of the following "traumas"occurred in 1968?

A) the first big urban race riot in Watts
B) the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King
C) confrontation in the streets during the Republican convention
D) Operation Rolling Thunder

Question 12

National leaders divided into two opposing camps concerning involvement in the Vietnam War. They were the ________ and the ________.

A) beats; hippies
B) real Americans; flower children
C) silent majority; student radicals
D) doves; hawks

Question 13

Who was NOT a presidential candidate in the election of November 1968?

A) Lyndon Johnson
B) Richard Nixon
C) George Wallace
D) Hubert Humphrey

Question 14

Richard Nixon in 1968 campaigned on a platform

A) endorsing protest and permissiveness.
B) promoting law and order.
C) attacking liberals, intellectuals, and "long-hairs."
D) promising immediate negotiations to end the war.

Question 15

What key segment of the American electorate did both George Wallace and Richard Nixon try to attract?

A) individualistic-minded westerners
B) the unemployed
C) senior citizens
D) the lower middle class

Question 16

The Nixon-Kissinger team

A) shared a global vision of U.S. foreign policy and tended to pursue their ends secretly.
B) paired a traditional small-town conservative with a troubled and profane easterner.
C) showed how effective an active vice president could be.
D) brought little foreign affairs expertise to the White House.

Question 17

The term "Vietnamization"refers to the policy of

A) shifting the burden of actual combat to the South Vietnamese.
B) training U.S. troops in the "Nine Rules" for understanding Vietnamese culture.
C) shifting U.S. military operations from conventional tactics to guerrilla-type combat like that of the Vietcong.
D) countering antiwar propaganda with a campaign to tell the "real story" in Vietnam.

Question 18

President Nixon's carrot-and-stick plan to end the war in Vietnam included

A) hard-line negotiations with North Vietnam.
B) shifting the burden of actual combat to Laos.
C) a swift, short invasion of North Vietnam.
D) a swift, short invasion of China.

Question 19

The Nixon Doctrine proclaimed

A) Vietnamization.
B) a new Wilsonian internationalism.
C) that the U.S. would deepen its involvement in other parts of the world once out of Vietnam.
D) that the U. S. would expect its allies to share the burden of preserving world peace and order.

Question 20

What is the word that describes America's new relationship with the Soviet Union, as fostered by Nixon and Kissinger?

A) confrontation
B) divide and conquer
C) détente
D) SALT

Question 21

Richard Nixon is best described as

A) an extremist who deliberately and scornfully criticized hippies and antiwar protesters.
B) an ideologue whose rigidly anti-Communist instincts led him to stand firm against the Soviets.
C) a cold war liberal, committed equally to containment of communism abroad and an active federal welfare program at home.
D) a pragmatist, who deviated from his own earlier positions in both foreign and domestic policy.

Question 22

Who in the 1950s did NOT support helping Indians to end their confinement on reservations and move into the urban mainstream?

A) liberals seeking to free Indians from reservations
B) the Bureau of Indian Affairs
C) western politicians seeking access to reservation resources
D) full-blood Indians seeking to preserve tribal culture

Question 23

In 1974 homosexuals achieved a major symbolic victory when the ________ removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders.

A) American Medical Association
B) American Psychiatric Association
C) Association of American Psychiatrists
D) American Psychological Association

Question 24

How did U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War finally end?

A) with the unilateral withdrawal of U.S. troops
B) with the negotiated withdrawal of U.S. troops according to a treaty with North Vietnam
C) with the negotiated withdrawal of U.S. troops according to a treaty with South Vietnam
D) with an international peace conference after the defeat of a large U.S. force

Question 25

Which of the following Supreme Court decisions struck down 46 state laws that restricted a woman's access to abortion?

A) Plessy v. Ferguson
B) Roe v. Wade
C) Jones v. Schafly
D) Steinam v. United States

Question 26

Students were killed by National Guardsmen at Kent State University during a demonstration protesting the invasion of ________.

Question 27

The countries through which the Ho Chi Minh Trail ran were South Vietnam, Cambodia, and ________.

Question 28

The "war at home"-the debate over the war in Vietnam-was initially centered on ________.

Question 29

Lyndon Johnson stunned the nation when he announced he would not be a candidate for ________ in 1968.

Question 30

George Wallace formed the ________ Party in 1968 and hoped to gather the votes of disgruntled Democrats.

Question 31

________ launched a third-party movement to gain power in communities in which Chicanos were a majority

Question 32

César Chávez gained prominence through his efforts to organize ________ workers into a union.

Question 33

Nixon's strategy for winding down U.S. involvement in Vietnam, known as ________, attempted to shift the burden of actual combat to the South Vietnamese.

Question 34

What was the "domino theory"? How did it justify the American war in Vietnam?

Question 35

Explain the ways college campuses became centers of antiwar protest.

Question 36

Describe the major similarities in the appeals of George Wallace and Richard Nixon in the 1968 election.

Question 37

Describe the major segments in Hispanic culture in the United States.

Question 38

Catalogue the major costs of the war in Vietnam.

Question 39

Explain why you would be either a hawk or dove in the debate over Vietnam.

Question 40

Did the domino theory justify the U.S. war in Vietnam?

Question 41

Why was Vietnam sometimes called "a rich man's war and a poor man's fight"? Discuss with reference to the composition of the armed forces in Vietnam.

Question 42

Choose four of the following events and explain why they were important turning points in the Vietnam War: Geneva accords, Tet offensive, New Hampshire primary, Kent State.

Question 43

It might be argued that the possibilities for change in the liberal tradition were thwarted by violence during the 1968 presidential campaign. Discuss, describing the positions of the various candidates in both the primaries and general election.

Question 44

Both Indians and Hispanics were hardly "monolithic"ethnic groups in American life. Explain how that led to a variety of responses to the activist currents of the 1960s and 1970s, among both Hispanics and Indians.

Question 45

Compare Richard Nixon's view of international politics with that of Franklin Roosevelt, or Dwight Eisenhower.

Question 46

What would you describe as the major legacy (positive or negative) of the Vietnam War?

Question 47

Outline the chronology of the Vietnam War from 1953 to 1973. How did this war begin and end? Be sure to include, in your discussion, at least three battles and three significant figures. What is the significance of the war? What did the U.S. military learn from this conflict?