The U.S. Enters the Vietnam War

Title: The U.S. Enters the Vietnam War Labels: Vietnam_War, JFK, Cold_War, LBJ, Ho_Chi_Mihn, Gulf_of_Tonkin, Diem


The answers are due on Friday prior to class.


1. Many neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of US policy. Explain why.
Neutral observers in Vietnam were critical of U.S policy because America decided to prevent elections in Vietnam from happening because they were afraid the communists would prevail. Ho Chi Minh was an inspiration to Vietnam in the sense that he inspired the people to want a free country through communism. These observers were critical because the U.S was taking away the opportunity to elect an inspirational leader.

2. Explain how US politicians would have defended their policies.
U.S polititians wouldve enforced the "domino theory" in saying that if Vietnam fell to communism all Asian countries would as well.

3. The following events are not listed in correct date order. Place them in the correct chronological order. (Write the year inside the parenthesis, i.e. (1965). Then note the reason for each U.S. action, and how it brought the U.S. into deeper involvement in Vietnam.
The reasons you can choose from are: No direct involvement; financial support; political involvement; military involvement. Also, note what events triggered the increased involvement.


(1963 ) Assassination of JFK - Johnson becomes president
Johnson was more prepared to deal with the situation in Vietnam and commit to full U.S involvement.
political.

( 1955) Formation of South Vietnam
Ngo Dinh Diem was the one who set up The Republic of South Vietnam. He was supported by America because he was a bitter anti communist. He was a christian who had little to no respect for buddhism. He had a corrupted regime which eventually led to him being overthrown.
political.

( 1964) Gulf of Tonkin Incident
When the Tonkin Gulf resolution was passed, it gave Lyndon Johnson power to launch full way whenever he felt necassary.
military.

( 1962) Number of 'advisers' reaches over 11,500
Increased u.s military in vietnam.
military.

( 1962) JFK sends military advisers
Sent advisers to Vietnam to fight Viet Cong. Increased tension later between North and South.
militaty.

( 1965) U.S. Marines land at Da Nang
America is finally at war in Vietnam.
military.

(1954 ) U.S. stops elections in Vietnam
Angered Vietnam because they could not elect Ho Chi Minh.
political.

( 1963) U.S. supports South Vietnam government after army overthrow Diem
Increased support for a Communist led government.
no direct.
( 1960) Viet Cong attacks on U.S. and South Vietnam bases
The u.s had to fight back against Viet cong.
military.

( 1960) Viet Cong formed
later attacks U.S air forces.
no direct.

4. Choose two events that you think were critical in getting the U.S. involved in a war in Vietnam. Explain
your choice.
I believe two critical events was the assination of JFK and not allowing the elections to occur. The JFK assasination is very critical to getting the u.s involved in war because JFK was not necassarily ready to commit to a full war in Vietnam while Lyndon Johnson was ready whenever. Also not allowing the elections to occur made the people of Vietnam angry with the U.S from the beginning.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

1. Kennedy described Wednesday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 27 as the darkest days of the crisis. Use the information on page 350 to explain why.
The blockade on october 24 is the beginning of the blockade on Cuba. The soviet ships carrying the missiles still come and this gives the soviets initiative to ask for the removal of missiles from turkey. This happened on saturday october 27. Kennedy was torn over this because he wanted the Cuban missiles out of the area but could not remove the missiles from Turkey. Also a U2 plane was shot down over cuba on the same day.

2. Do you think that nuclear war was ever a possibility in this crisis?
Yes because all the resources necassary for war were set in place and ready to be fired off at the moment of attack. Each country had enough weapons to anhiliate the other.



3. Is Source 26 a Soviet or an American cartoon? Explain your answer by referring to the details in the cartoon.
I believe that source 26 is an american cartoon mainly because it shows Kennedy as being the calm cool and collected one while Kruschev is stressed out and weak. It also shows how Kruschev is losing this cold war while Kennedy (america) is winning.

4. Using Source 27 list any evidence you can find for and against each of the explanations.

Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba?
To bargain with the USA

If there were missiles in Cuba Khrushchev could get Kennedy to give up some stuff in return for the removal of the missiles.

To test the USA
The Soviet Union wanted to test out President Kennedy. They placed these nuclear weapons in Cuba to see how strong the Americans really were. If america would act upon the issue, the Soviets knew they were strong. If they were to back down, they were weak and now the Soviets could use this to their advantage.

To trap the USA
the missiles in Cuba were a trap. Khrushchev wanted the Americans to find them and enter into a nuclear war.

To get the upper hand in the arms race
Khrushchev believed that with missiles in Cuba it was less likely that the USA would ever launch an attack against the USSR.


To defend Cuba

The missiles were used to help defend Cuba.


5. Choose the explanation(s) that you think best fit what you have found out about the crisis. Explain your choice.
I deffinatley think that Kruschev placed these missiles in Cuba to bargain with the u.s and to see how strong they were. Kruschev deffinatley believed that if he could put the missiles on Cuba and scare the u.s enough, they would back down in Turkey. For testing the U.S i think kruschev wanted to see how the u.s would react to such an immediate threat. This could determine how the soviets wanted to attack the u.s and what they could get away with.

The U.S. Attempts to Contain Cuba

1. Why was Cuba so important to the United States?
Cuba was very close to Florida and would be a huge advantage for the u.s. Plus american businesses held property on Cuba and the U.S feared that the Soviets would utilize Cuba to station ICBMs.

2. Why do you think the Americans chose to equip Cuban exiles rather than invading themselves?
They believed that utilizing U.S forces the Soviets would see it as a direct attack on them and retaliate with drastic measure. They also believed that Cubans coujld run their government better than American outside forces.

3. Why did the invasion fail?
The U.S feared that if they provided to much assistance they would be discovered. Because of their failure, the Kennedy administration is embarrassed internationally and fear of possible retaliation from the USSR. As well as more guerillla campains from the Cubans.


4. Compare Source 17 on page 345 (in the Arms Race.pdf reading) with Source 24 on page 348. Describe how the Soviet Union missiles on Cuba changed the Cold War balance of power.
Source 17 shows that american missiles placed in the direction of soviet cities would have a short range to Europe and long range from the U.S. Source 24 shows soviet missiles placed in the direction of american cities and positioned in Cuba compared to long range short range missiles. These sources show the potential of both world powers to completely obliterate their opponent. Both could attack the other at efficient speed.

The American Dream in the 1950s

1. Baby Boom: The baby boom was a time period between the late 40's to early 60's in which the birthrate in america soared due to returning soldiers from WW2. This was the largest generation in americas history.

2. Dr. Jonas Salk: one of the many doctors who was discovering new medicines to help ward off childhood dieses. This saved thousands of lives. Dr. Salk created a vaccine for the disease poliomyelitis. This was a break through in the time.

3. Interstate Highway System:authorized the building of a nationwide highway network- 41,000 miles of expressways.Encouraged the building of sub urbs miles from the city. Helped to unify america and create easy transporation with the use of long distance trucking.

4. Franchise:a company that offers similiar products in various locations such as BK.

5. In a paragraph, describe in detail how Americans spent their leisure time in the 1950s
Americans in the 50's were enjoying more leisure time then they were having in years. 40 hour weeks and plenty of vacation time was one of the perks most employees had during the 50's. People also were very active in baseball and football teams. Even watching sports on t.v. Reading was another very popular activity. The American was interested in cooking do it yourself projects and romance novels.

The Arms Race

1. Read Source 12. What methods do you think Dulles had in mind to 'liberate captive peoples' without a war?
Dulles methods for liberating captive peoples was most likely by using organizations like SEATO and CENTO to help "contain" the Soviet Union. These two organizations aligned key countries literally around the Soviet Union. SEATO aligned The U.S, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Pakistan, The Phillipeanes, Taiwan, and Thailand. CENTO aligned Iran,Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, and Great Britain. NATO was also one of these attempts to encircle.

2. Look at Source 13. Would you agree that the Communist world was encircled? Explain your answer.
I would agree that the communist world was encircled because when looking at the Map you will notice that all countries binded by the Warsaw Pact of the USSR and allies is surrounded by all the different other agreements like SEATO and NATO. Even small countries that were part of these organzations were essential to putting pressure on the Communist world. If the Soviets didnt feel pressured that wouldnt find it necassary to create the Warsaw Pact.

3. Carefully examine the verticle timeline on page 343. Then look back at Source 12. Do you think the development of nuclear weapons was what Dulles might have had in mind?
I dont think nuclear arms was the thing Dulles was focusing on because he was focusing on a solution that didnt have fighting or war.

4. Look at Source 16. What is the Soviet cartoon saying about the U-2 plane?
The soviet cartoon is representing the U.S use of U-2 planes to spy on the Soviets by showing President Eisenhower with a U-2 teloscope spying on the USSR.

5. Read the Factfile on page 344. Explain why the USSR was so angry about the US spy flights.
The USSR was so angry about the U-2 spy flights because the U.S denied them at first and then, after admitting to the spying, proceded to refuse to apoligize to the USSR and promise to stop flying U-2 planes.

6. How would the USA justify this violation of Soviet territory?
The U.S would justify these spying missions as necassary for the protection of the U.S.

7. If the USSR had had U-2 planes, do you think it would have used them? Why?
I think the USSR would've used them for the same reasons that the U.S wouldve because they were concerned about what the U.S was up too.

8. Look at Source 17. Why do you think the USA had missiles based in Europe?
In case of an emergency, the U.S could use the European based missiles because they were short ranged and could hit the USSR in minutes.

9. Define the term 'nuclear deterrent' in not more than 20 words
A term meaning the use of nuclear weapons between countries to compete with eachother for the most weapons.

Eisenhower & The Cold War

1. The Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949.
The U.S responded by creating the first Hydrogen Bomb. They all wanted to be a step ahead.

2. In 1951, the Iranian prime minister placed the oil industry in Iran under the Iranian government’s control.
United States had the CIA give several million dollars to anti-Mossadegh supporters. This would hopefully have pro-American Shah of Iran return to power. This was because america feared Mossadegh would turn to the Soviets for help.

3. The Guatemalan head of government gave American-owned land in Guatemala to peasants.
U.S had the CIA train an army to invade Guatemala

4. In 1956, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt and occupied the Suez Canal.
U.S stepped in and persuaded the countries.

5. Soviet tanks invaded Hungary and fired on protesters in 1956.
Nothing was done by the U.S because they feared starting a physical war with the soviets.

6. In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
This rocked the U.S causing a frantic pour of money into a fund for the space program. They rushed to create a satellite but failed miserably on the first go. The second was successful.

7. In 1960, the Soviet Union brought down an American U-2 piloted by Francis Gary Powers.
The U.S was startled and lied about using the planes to spy. The Soviets were quick to show evidence so Eisenhower admitted to the spying. This created much tension between the soviets and americans mainly because Eisenhower refused to appoligieze.

The Red Scare (1950s).

For each term or name, write a concise sentence or two explaining its significance.


1. HUAC
House Un-American Activities Comittee. This comittee's purpose was to accuse the film industry of tinging their movies with communist idea's, even though they were created when the Soviets were an american ally. This is the comittee that sent The Hollywood ten to jail.

2. Blacklist
A list that was created by Hollywood directors that condemned people with communist backgrounds. This list ruined the carreers of so many actors, directors, producers, and writers.

3. Alger Hiss
A man accused of being a Soviet Spy. He was charged by Whittaker Chambers who was a former communist spy himself. Hiss's only evidence against him was supposed documents, but in the 90's Soviet cables were realeased pointing him towards guilty soviet espionage.

4. Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
Jewish radical communists directly associated with the Soviet's being able to explode the first atomic bomb in the Soviet Union.

5. Joseph McCarthy
A very famous anti-communist who because he was losing the race to be re-elected, claimed that communists were taking over the country.

6. McCarthyism
The attacks on communism and using people's fear of communists to benefit his McCarthy's cause. Now refers to any form of accusation without evidence.

7. In a paragraph, describe the motivations and actions of Joseph McCarthy during the 1950s. What prompted his actions? What did he do? What happened as a result of his actions?
Joseph McCarthy's actions were prompted by his fear of not getting re-elected to the Senate position. Also, he was an anti- communist activist therefore he saw this as an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone so to speak; get re-elected and eliminate communist "threat". He launched his campain, claiming that he had a list of 204 communists living in the U.S and this was due to "20 years of treason" by the democratic party. He never produced any names of communists and only accused specific demicrats in the senate house where he was immune from a law suit. As an extreme measure McCarthy made accusations against the U.S army which resulted in a Senate investigation. This cost him public support and the Senate condemned him for his actions. He died a a "broken man" and alchohlic.

Korean War Lessons

It is 1952. A new president, Eisenhower, has been elected in the US. Your task is to write a report for him on what lessons the United States can learn from the war. Your report should advise the President on:


•the US aims in Korea
•how the support of the UN helped
•how far the US achieved its aims
•whether MacArthur should have been allowed to invade North Korea
•why MacArthur was removed
•the military and civilian cost of war

The Korean War has brought us to the point of realizing the deadly spread of communism. Therefore, us going into full on war with the Soviet Union and the allies she has created such as China, would be a bad idea due to lack of preperation. Because of the rapid spread of communism throughout the world America made a decision to wage war in Korea, for north korea violated the borders of an America territory. We ultimately underestimated the abbilities of China and took their warnings of joining the war more seriously we wouldnt have pushed into north korea.

In the Korean was we can put partial blame on General MacArthur. He is the one at fault for tantalizing and underestimating the chinese. His defiance of the UN created the threat of the Chinese when he pushed his way into North Korea. The blaten defiance should not have been allowed by the U.S government and we should have removed troops as soon as Northern Korean armies had been forced out. MacArthurs removal from the Commanding position was absolutly the right decision.


The casualties of the Korean War could be totaled up to 1.4 billion. China and North Korea do carry the greater of the casulaties however, Korea itself carried the most with North Korea being the most and South Korea coming next with 570,000 civilians and soldiers killed. American and UN soldiers had the least amount of soldiers and civilian casulties with 34,500 being the death toll.

In conclusion to make the war efforts better in the future we need to prepare the U.S army way in advance and not plunge into full war on the whim. We need tactics and planning, putting all countries involved at the top of the game and not ignoring anything. We must assume that all countries are a great threat and should be prepared from all sides.