Deck 10: Lyndons War

Question 1

From Johnson's perspective, foreign policy was

A) All part of the political game
B) A matter of patriotism, not politics
C) Something that should look radically different under each president
D) Focused on pragmatism

Answer 1

B

Question 2

For Johnson, a strong anticommunist stand was important to

A) Head off Soviet aggression around the world
B) Maintain democracy at home
C) Prevent the right wing from paralyzing his domestic policy with a communist witch hunt
D) Support the people of Vietnam

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Johnson presented the US involvement in Vietnam as something he had no choice to continue, because

A) The US had promised to support democracy in Vietnam
B) It was necessary to stay strong in the face of communist expansion
C) The European coalition would fall apart without it
D) A strong Vietnam was a hedge against Chinese influence

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Kennedy

A) Supported escalation in Vietnam to the end of his life
B) Attempted to withdraw US troops early in his presidency
C) May have decided to de-escalate the war if he had lived
D) Made the decision in the fall of 1963 to being withdrawing US troops from Vietnam

Question 5

In the two years after the fall of Diem's regime South Vietnam went through _______ different governments

A) Two
B) Four
C) Seven
D) 18

Question 6

Johnson rejected the possibility of creating a neutral Vietnamese government because

A) He could not countenance communists taking part in any Vietnamese government
B) He knew China was poised to invade if the US withdrew
C) Such an option would make the US look weak to the USSR
D) A neutral government wold swiftly fall to communists from the North

Question 7

Despite rejecting escalation, Johnson

A) Authorized secret sabotage operations against Hanoi
B) Authorized an increase in the number of American military advisors
C) Promised to personally eliminate obstacles to any resources needed to help the South Vietnamese government stay in power
D) All of the above

Question 8

The trigger for escalation of American involvement in Vietnam was

A) The Tet Offensive
B) The Gulf of Tonkin incident
C) The American attack on Cambodia
D) The fall of Laos to communism

Question 9

-You can see from this map that the Tet Offensive relied on

A) Low levels of American troop commitment
B) The ability of the Vietcong to surround American strongholds
C) The cooperation of Laos and Cambodia in letting North Vietnamese troops move through their countries
D) Chinese involvement

Question 10

The primary consequence of the Gulf of Tonkin incident was to

A) Shock the Truman administration into questioning involvement in Vietnam
B) Deepen the cycle of American involvement in Vietnam
C) Turn the American people against the war
D) Turn international opinion against US involvement in Vietnam

Question 11

Operation Rolling Thunder was

A) A set of sabotage missions against North Vietnam
B) A policy of massive bombing of North Vietnam
C) A full-scale American invasion of North Vietnam
D) An American invasion of Laos and Cambodia

Question 12

-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara is shown here

A) Giving a press conference on Vietnam
B) Speaking at a university commencement
C) Giving the president a personal briefing on Operation Rolling Thunder
D) Promoting the Vietnam War among America's allies

Question 13

Dissenters within the Johnson administration risked

A) Being banished from the president's councils
B) Being publicly shamed by Johnson himself
C) Being jailed
D) Being fired

Question 14

In summer 1965 General Westmoreland advised the president that the only response to the imminent collapse of the South Vietnamese government was

A) Democratic elections, supported by the US
B) Negotiation with the North to bring an end to the war
C) Aggressive deployment of US troops on the ground in Vietnam
D) Increased bombing

Question 15

Throughout 1964-65, George Ball attempted to

A) Encourage Johnson to escalate involvement in Vietnam more quickly
B) Support Westmoreland's position that US troops could prop up the South Vietnamese government
C) Create an alliance of countries to help the US fight the Vietnam War
D) Encourage Johnson to assess the options of negotiated withdrawal

Question 16

McGeorge Bundy's "middle way" consisted of

A) Negotiated withdrawal
B) Continued US military aid to the South Vietnamese government
C) Committing increased US troops without a massive deployment
D) An increase in bombing campaigns rather than troop commitments

Question 17

The air war in Vietnam grew massively between 1965 and 1967 because

A) It was cheaper and less costly in American lives
B) It was effective in hurting North Vietnamese citizen morale
C) It effectively prevented North Vietnam from supplying Vietcong forces
D) It harmed the effectiveness of the Vietcong forces

Question 18

The ground war frustrated American generals because

A) They were unable to directly engage Vietnamese troops
B) The Vietnamese were able to use unskilled labor to rebuild destroyed infrastructure
C) They were unable to defeat Vietnamese forces in battle
D) Their body count numbers were not accurate

Question 19

At the My Lai massacre, 350 Vietnamese civilians were killed by

A) A North Vietnamese attack
B) A Vietcong reprisal raid
C) A US bombing raid
D) An attack by a US battalion

Question 20

Johnson's late 1965 peace initiative was

A) A true attempt to find a way out of the Vietnam War
B) A public relations gimmick designed to give the appearance of commitment to a negotiated peace
C) An attempt to lull the North Vietnamese into weakening their position
D) A way to browbeat the South Vietnamese government into supporting US escalation