Vietnam Ch22-5

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Vietnam Ch22-5

Multiple Choice

Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.

The End of the War President Nixon and Vietnamization President Nixon took office in 1969 and wanted to end the war. Right away he announced that some American troops would be withdrawn from Vietnam. He thought this might be a peace overture to North Vietnam but the Communists did not show any signs toward peace. Nixon then continued the war against North Vietnam to achieve what he called “peace with honor THE PULLOUT BEGINS President Johnson had started negotiations with North Vietnam to end the war. The talks took place in Paris. President Nixon continued the talks after he took office but the talks were going nowhere. The United States and South Vietnam insisted that all North Vietnamese forces withdraw from the South and that the government of Nguyen Van Thieu, then South Vietnam’s ruler, remain in power. The North Vietnamese and Vietcong demanded that U.S. troops withdraw from South Vietnam and that the Thieu government step aside for a coalition government that would include the Vietcong . In the midst of the stalled negotiations, Nixon announced his strategy to end America’s involvement in Vietnam. Known as Vietnamization, the plan called for the gradual withdrawal of U .S . troops in order for the South Vietnamese to take on a more active combat role in the war. By August of 1969, the first 25,000 U.S. troops had returned home from Vietnam . Over the next three years, the number of American troops in Vietnam dropped from more than 500,000 to less than 25,000. Nixon was keeping his promise to end the war in Vietnam “PEACE WITH HONOR” However, part of Nixon’s Vietnamization policy was aimed at establishing what he called a “peace with honor.” Nixon intended to maintain U .S. dignity in the face of its withdrawal from war. A further goal was to keep America strong in the negotiations North Vietnam. President Nixon still demanded that the South Vietnamese government remain intact. North Vietnam continued to use the Ho Chi Minh trail to supply the Vietcong in the South.
The North Vietnamese could use the trail without worrying about being attacked because we did not want to Laos and Cambodia, which were neutral countries. Nixon felt he had to stop the supplies to the South so he secretly ordered a massive bombing campaign against supply routes and bases in North Vietnam The president also ordered that bombs be dropped on the Ho Chi Minh trail in the neighboring countries of Laos and Cambodia, which held a number of Vietcong sanctuaries. Nixon told aide H. R. Haldeman that he wanted the enemy to be afraid of the U.S.	*President Nixon plans strategy in Vietnam*

President Nixon reduced the American troops in Vietnam by _____

a.	25,000	c.	475,000
b.	125,000	d.	525,000

Nixon wanted to pull the U.S. out of the war but he did not want to desert the people of South Vietnam and he did not want it to look like the U.S. was defeated. What labile did Nixon put on this policy?

a.	Peace with Honor	c.	Vietcong peace
b.	Peace at any cost	d.	Paris treaty

Who was the president of South Vietnam when Nixon took office?

a.	Ho Chi Minh	c.	Mao
b.	Nguyen Van Thieu	d.	Chaing

Nixon wanted the South Vietnamese to take over the fighting so the American troops could be pulled out. This policy was called _____

a.	Peace with honor	c.	Peach now
b.	Vietnamization	d.	North Vietnamization

Why did Nixon decide to bomb Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam?

a.	stop the supplies through the Ho Chi Minh trail	d.	all of these
b.	Make North Vietnam fear and respect him	e.	only two of these answers are correct
c.	make the U.S, stronger in the negotiations with North Vietnam

Seeking to win support for his war policies, Richard Nixon appealed to what he called the silent majority-moderate, mainstream Americans who quietly supported the president’s strategy. To be sure, many average Americans did support the president. However, the events of the war continued to divide the country. HE MY LAI MASSACRE In November of 1969, Americans learned of a shocking event. On March 16, 1968, a U.S . platoon under the command of Lieutenant William Calley Jr., entered the small village of My Lai in northern South Vietnam in search of Vietcong rebels .The troops rounded up the villagers and shot them . In all, the soldiers massacred more than 100 innocent Vietnamese-mostly women and children. The troops insisted that they were following Lieutenant Calley’s orders . When asked what his directive had been, one soldier answered, “Kill anything that breathed.” Twenty-five army officers were charged with involve- ment in the massacre and subsequent cover-up, but only Calley was convicted and imprisoned . The My Lai massacre shook the nation’s conscience *THE INVASION OF CAMBODIA AND KENT STATE* The country’s mood by 1970 seemed to be growing less explosive. American troops were on their way home, and it appeared that the war was finally winding down. In 1969 many students were shifting their attention from the antiwar movement to the environment . Then on April 30, 1970, President Nixon announced that U.S . troops had invaded Cambodia. President Nixon said the “incursion” into Cambodia was launched, to clear out North Vietnamese and Vietcong supply centers. Upon hearing of the invasion, college students across the country erupted in protest. In what became the first general student strike in the nation’s history, more than 1.5 million students closed down some 1,200 campuses . Disaster struck hardest at Kent State University in Ohio, where a massive student protest led to the burning of the ROTC building . In response to the growing unrest, the local mayor called in the National Guard. On May 4, 1970, the guards fired into a crowd of campus protesters who were hurling rocks at them. The gunfire wounded nine people and killed four, including two who had not even participated in the rally. Ten days later, similar violence rocked the mostly all-black college of Jackson State in Mississippi. National Guardsmen there confronted a group of antiwar demonstrators and fired on the crowd after ;
several bottles were thrown . In the hail of bullets, 12 students were wounded and 2 were killed, both innocent bystanders . Polls indicated that many Americans supported the National Guard respondents claimed that the students “got what they were asking for.” The weeks following the campus turmoil brought new attention to a group known as “hardhats,” construction workers and other blue-collar Americans who supported the U.S. government’s war policies . In May of 1970, nearly 100,000 members of the Building and Construction Trades Council of New York held a rally outside city hall to support the government.

Who was responsible for the My Lai Massacre?

a.	North Vietnam	c.	100 Vietnamese villagers
b.	The Vietcong	d.	A platoon of U.S. soldiers

The officer responsible to My Lai was named _____ and he was _____ by the U.S. government

a.	William Calley - set free	c.	Nguyen Van Thieu - put in prison
b.	Lieutenant William Calley Jr - imprisoned	d.	President Nixon - impeached

The mood in the colleges seemed to be calming down in 1970. It seemed that the U.S. was pulling out of Vietnam. What got the students fired up and protesting again?

a.	My Lai Massacre	c.	Nixon said they had to have passing grades to continue as students
b.	Bombing of Laos and Cambodia	d.	The colleges wanted the students to pay tuition

The great majority of the American people did not protest or demonstrate against the war. They wanted the U.S. to end the war in Vietnam but they supported the government and President Nixon because they believed he was doing what needed to be done for the good of the country.

What were these supporters called?

a.	Hard Hats	c.	Mothers for Peach
b.	SDS	d.	Silent Majority

10.

Why did president Nixon invade Cambodia?

a.	He wanted to cut off supplies to the Vietcong in South Vietnam	c.	He wanted to cut off supplies to North Vietnam
b.	He wanted to free those countries from Communism	d.	He wanted to make them part of greater Vietnam

THE PENTAGON PAPERS

Nixon’s Cambodia policy cost him significant political support. By first bombing and then invading Cambodia without even notifying Congress, the president stirred anger on Capitol Hill (Congress). On December 31, 1970, Congress repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which had given the president near independence in conducting policy in Vietnam .

In June of 1971 former Defense Department worker named Daniel Ellsberg stole secret papers about the Vietnam war from the government and gave them to a newspaper. These papers became known as the Pentagon Papers . The 7,000-page document, written for Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, revealed that the government drew up plans for entering the war even as President Lyndon Johnson promised that he would not send American troops to Vietnam . Furthermore, the papers showed that there was never any plan to end the war as long as the North Vietnamese persisted .For many Americans, the Pentagon Papers confirmed their belief that the government had not been honest about its war intentions . For most Americans the Pentagon Papers did not mean much because the Pentagon is always drawing up plans. They saw them as part of the anti-war movement. The document was not particularly damaging to the Nixon administration. They did show that the Johnson administration was saying one thing in private about the Vietnam war and another thing in public. Was this dishonest?

11.

What does the nickname, “capital hill” stand for?

a.	the president	c.	the defense department
b.	the supreme court	d.	the congress

12.

Since the constitution says that only congress can declare war, what gave the president the right to send troops to Vietnam to fight?

a.	the Pentagon Papers	c.	the Pentagon Resolution
b.	the Tonkin Gulf Resolution	d.	the war resolution act

13.

The Pentagon Papers showed that Robert McNamara _____

a.	was honest and in what he told the President and the American people	c.	may not have been honest with Americans about the Vietnam war
b.	did not like or trust the Defense Department	d.	did not like Daniel Elsberg

America’s Longest War Ends

In March of 1972, the North Vietnamese launched their largest attack on South Vietnam since the Tet offensive in 1968. President Nixon responded by ordering a massive bombing campaign against North Vietnamese cities, and the mining of Haiphong’s harbor, into which Soviet and Chinese supply ships sailed . The bombings halted the North Vietnamese attack, but the grueling stalemate continued . It was after this that the Nixon administration took steps to finally end America’s involvement in Vietnam .

“PEACE IS AT HAND”

By the middle of 1972, the country’s growing social division and the looming presidential election prompted the Nixon administration to change its negotiating policy in Paris . Polls showed that more than 60 percent of Americans in 1971 felt that the United States should withdraw all troops from Vietnam by the end of the year.

Henry Kissinger, the president’s adviser for national security affairs, served as Nixon’s top negotiator in Vietnam . Kissinger, a German emigrant who had earned three degrees from Harvard, was an expert on international relations . Since 1969, Kissinger had been meeting privately with North Vietnam’s chief negotiator, Le Due Tho. Eventually, Kissinger dropped his insistence on the removal of all North Vietnamese troops from the South before the complete withdrawal of American troops. On October 26, 1972, one week before the presidential election, Kissinger announced, “Peace is at hand.”

THE FINAL PUSH

President Nixon won reelection, but the promised peace proved to be elusive . The Thieu regime, alarmed at the prospect of North Vietnamese troops stationed in South Vietnam, rejected Kissinger’s plan. Talks broke off on December 16, and two days later, the president unleashed a ferocious bombing campaign against Hanoi and Haiphong, the two largest cities in North Vietnam . In what became known as the “Christmas bombings,” U.S . planes dropped 100,000 bombs for 11 straight days, pausing only on Christmas Day.

At this point, members of congress began to demand that the war be ended. The Soviet Union and China were also demanding that the U.S. pull out of Vietnam. Everyone, it seemed, had finally grown weary of the war. The warring parties returned to the peace table, and on January 27, 1973, the United States signed an “agreement on ending the war and restoring peace in Vietnam.” Under the agreement, North Vietnamese troops would remain in South Vietnam, which had Nixon’s promise to respond “with full force” to any violation of the peace agreement. On March 29, 1973, the last U.S. combat troops left for home. For America, the Vietnam War had ended but the war went on between South Vietnam and North Vietnam.

THE FALL OF SAIGON

Within months of the United States’ departure, the cease-fire agreement between North and South Vietnam collapsed. In March of 1975, after several years of fighting, the North Vietnamese launched a full-scale invasion against the South. Thieu (president of South Vietnam) appealed to the United States for help. America provided economic aid but refused to send troops . President Gerald Ford, who was now president, captured the nation’s mood during a speech in New Orleans: “America can regain its sense of pride that existed before Vietnam. But it cannot be achieved by re-fighting a war that is finished as far as America is concerned.” On April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese tanks rolled into Saigon and captured the city. Soon after, South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam.

14.

Vietnam was

a.	America’s shortest war	c.	America’s bloodiest war
b.	America’s longest war	d.	Not part of the cold war

15.

What was the key issue between the U.S. and North Vietnam that prevented an end to the war?

a.	An end to U.S. bombing of North Vietnam	c.	The placement of North Vietnam troops in South Vietnam
b.	An end to U.S. bombing of South Vietnam	d.	The placement of South Vietnam troops in North Vietnam

16.

At the Paris peace talks _____ was the negotiator for the U.S. and _____ was the negotiator for North Vietnam.

a.	Henry Kissinger - Ho Chi Minh	c.	Robert McNamara - Le Due Tho
b.	George Ball - Cho En Lai	d.	Henry Kissinger - Le Due Tho

17.

Kissinger and the U.S. finally agreed to allow North Vietnam troops to be stationed in South Vietnam. North Vietnam now agreed to sign the peace treaty. What did South Vietnam do?

a.	Agreed to end the fighting	c.	Asked the U.N to take up the issue
b.	Refused to agree with North troops in the South and continued fighting.	d.	Bombed North Vietnam

18.

All of the following groups were demanding that the U.S. pull out of Vietnam except

a.	Soviet Union	d.	North Vietnam
b.	Communist China	e.	South Vietnam
c.	Liberal Members of Congress

19.

After the U.S. finally pulled out of Vietnam, what happened next?

a.	There was peace throughout Vietnam	c.	Within months North Vietnam and South Vietnam began to fight again
b.	The U.S. continued bombing, even though American troops had been withdrawn.	d.	The North and South retreated behind their borders

20.

In 1975 North Vietnam was pushing to take over South Vietnam. President Thieu asked the U.S. president for help. What did the president of the U.S. do.

a.	told him to surrender	c.	sent American planes to bomb the North
b.	offered money, medicine and supplies but no U.S. troops	d.	sent in U.S. troops

21.

Who was president of the United States when the war finally ended for the U.S.?

a.	Richard Nixon	c.	Gerald Ford
b.	Jimmy Carter	d.	Henry Kissinger

VIETNAM’S EFFECT ON AMERICA Even after it ended, the Vietnam War remained a subject of great controversy for Americans. Many hawks continued to insist that the war could have been won if the U.S. had employed more military power. They also blamed the antiwar movement at home for destroying American morale. Doves countered that the North Vietnamese had displayed incredible resiliency and that an increase in U.S. military force would have resulted only in a continuing stalemate. In addition, doves argued that an unrestrained war against North Vietnam might have prompted a military reaction from China or the Soviet Union and a World War	*Jane Fonda visiting North Vietnam and sitting at an anti-aircraft gun used to shoot down American aircraft*
The war resulted in several major U.S . policy changes. First, the government abolished the draft, which had stirred so much antiwar sentiment. The country also took steps to curb the president’s war-making powers. In November 1973, Congress passed the War Powers Act, which stipulated that a president must inform Congress within 48 hours if U. S. forces are sent into a hostile area without a declaration of war. In addition, the troops may remain there no longer than 90 days unless Congress approves the president’s actions or declares war. In a broader sense, the Vietnam War significantly altered America’s views on foreign policy. In what has been labeled the Vietnam syndrome, Americans now pause and consider possible risks to their own interests before deciding whether to intervene in the affairs of other nations. Many thought the U.S. lost the war in Vietnam and they did not want to suffer another defeat. The war led to a deep division between liberal and conservative groups in the United States. The moral of the country was low and some doubted America’s role in the world as a great nation. Many people called people like Jane Fonda (movie star) and other antiwar activist’s traitors to the United States for supporting North Vietnam while we were at war. The country had to wait another five or six years for Ronald Reagan to become president and restore America’s confidence.

22.

What effect did the Vietnam war have on American morale and belief in itself?

a.	damaged it	c.	no effect at all
b.	helped it	d.	improved American confidence

23.

During the Vietnam war America was concerned with the involvement of the Soviet Union and Communist China. Why?

a.	A confrontation could provoke World War III	c.	We were afraid that China and the Soviets would get into a war.
b.	The Soviets and China were good trading partners of the U.S.	d.	We did not want the Soviets and China to get kicked out of the U.N. over Vietnam

24.

Which law, passed by congress after Vietnam, restricted the presidents ability to make war on his own without congress.

a.	Vietnamization Act	c.	Vietnam War Act
b.	War Powers Act	d.	Presidential War Restriction Act

25.

What do they call it when the U.S. acts nervous about getting involved in wars or the affairs of other countries, even if it is necessary to protect America.

a.	Vietnamization	c.	Vietnam involvement anxiety
b.	war powers anxiety	d.	Vietnam syndrome