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

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.

Answer 2

Technology did not distinguish friend from foe.

Question 3

Operation Rolling Thunder accomplished which of the following goals?

A) bolster confidence in South Vietnam
B) cut the flow of supplies from the North
C) bring the North to the bargaining table
D) None of these answers is correct.

Answer 3

None of these answers is correct.

Question 4

President Nixon refused to turn over secretly-recorded Oval Office conversations to the special prosecutor,

A) claiming executive privilege.
B) claiming the tapes were inadmissible as evidence.
C) citing national security issues.
D) claiming executive privilege and matters of national security.

Question 5

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 6

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 7

What tactic, eventually ruled illegal by the courts, did President Nixon use to battle Democratic programs that he opposed?

A) line-item veto
B) impoundment
C) executive privilege
D) nullification

Question 8

Which of the following was a defining moment of the nascent gay rights movement?

A) Stonewall Inn raid
B) addition of homosexuality to the American Psychiatric Association's list of mental disorders
C) passage of the Equal Pay Act
D) the publishing of The Closing Circle

Question 9

The process of steady intensification of American military presence in Vietnam was known as ______.

Question 10

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

Question 11

La Raza Unida launched a third-party movement to gain power in communities in which ________ were a majority.

Question 12

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

Question 13

Why did Lyndon Johnson escalate the war in Vietnam?

Question 14

Explain the ways college campuses became centers of antiwar protest.

Question 15

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

Question 16

Explain the "Nixon Doctrine."

Question 17

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

Question 18

Catalogue the major costs of the war in Vietnam.

Question 19

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

Question 20

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 21

Choose two 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 22

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 23

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 24

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

Question 25

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

Question 26

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?