Hearts and Minds -- guide in rough order of introduction in film
People/Places (in rough order of introduction in film)
Clark Clifford—Aide to President Truman, 1946-195, Secretary of Defense 1965-1970
John Foster Dulles – Secretary of State under Eisenhower; recall that he and his CIA Director brother, Allen Dulles, mastermined the coup in Guatemala and was the author of the massive retaliation strategy of the Cold War
Eisenhower – president 1951-1960
Kennedy – president 1961-1963
Johnson- president 1963-1968
Nixon – president 1969-1975
Prisoner of War George Coker -- now retired from Navy
Marine Randy Floyd --became an active opponent of the war
Walter Rostow – aide to President Kennedy and National Security Advisor to Johnson – argues that U.S. was defending position after being subject from attack; one of the authors of the U.S. Vietnam policy, a hardliner “liberal” who believed U.S. needed to defend its global position vis-ŕ-vis the Soviet Union, and that the showdown was in Vietnam
Gulf of Tonkin resolution 1964—see Vietnam outline – resolution granting President power to conduct war; by 1968, 500,000 troops in Vietnam
Senator Fulbright –Chair of Foreign Relations Committee; had voted for the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, but by the time he was interviewed for the film (1970s), he had changed his mind (see “Arrogance of Power” Document)
Wisconsin celebration – mock takeovers of towns by Communists was a patriotic celebration in parts of the Midwest, meant to bestow appreciation for the “American Way”
J. Edgar Hoover – head of the FBI, premier anti-communist in the U.S.
Saigon – Capital of the U.S.-created South Vietnamese government; as the film illustrates, there were numerous supporters of the Vietcong, and in general support for a united Vietnam in the city
Vietcong or “VC”--A Vietnamese belonging to or supporting the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam. Communist guerillas (often hidden by the south Vietnamese peasants) were attempting to overthrow the government of South Vietnam
Hanoi - - Capital of the North Vietnamese government
--both countries are majority Buddhist, and beginning in the mid 1960s, Buddhist monks burned themselves alive in protest against the Catholic dictator Diem, who was supported by the U.S., and in turn Diem’s brother led a repression movement against them; Catholics were usually elite, schooled to be imperialist posers, but the Catholic priest here was a clear dissenter. The U.S. finally decided to get rid of Diem and he was replaced by a series of other heads of government
Indochina -refers to Vietnam and surrounding area – all Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand (all controlled by France since 19th century imperialism)
Southeast Asia – Indochina and surrounding area -
Daniel Ellsberg -former aide, Defense Department, later peace activist; Ellsberg had worked for Defense Department in the 1960s, but began to have doubts about the U.S. policy when he read reports that differed from the public pronouncements. Eventually, he leaked the material to the New York Times, which published them; they revealed the lies told to Congress and the media about what was happening in Vietnam. As a result, he became one of Nixon’s most reviled enemies. Nixon sought to get dirt on Ellsberg, and his “plummers unit” broke into his psychiatrist’s office; this is one small part of the Watergate scandal.
General Westmoreland Commanding General, Vietnam, 1964-1968 (see material in November 14 outline)== pursued an attrition strategy designed to inflict such heavy losses on the enemy that its will to continue would be broke
B-52s—high altitude bombers, canister bombing especially effective with these
Ho Chi Minh –leader of North Vietnam; would have been elected President of all of Vietnam (including south, then occupied by French with U.S. assistance) under the Geneva 1954 elections, these were the elections the U.S. prevented, and after which the U.S. set up South Vietnamese government
Napalm—Dow Chemical Corporation made this—became the focus of U.S. anti-war protests; Dow corrects image in the 1980s; invented for WWII; as clear from the documentary, sometimes attacks on South Vietnamese villages also ended up hurting U.S. ground troops
Discussion of cutting out eyes – not well-identified in movie, but this refers to the CIA’s Operation Phoenix, where torture and mutilation was common
Tet Offensive, January 1968 capture of the American embassy -- while the U.S. forces ultimately prevailed, the fact that the Vietcong could actually capture the embassy seemed to disparage Westmoreland’s promise that victory was right around the corner. The guy who was shot point-blank had been a spy in the U.S. embassy. After this, Johnson’s ratings plummeted and he announced he wouldn’t run for a 2nd term, leaving the field open to other candidates
Senator Eugene McCarthy- anti-war Democratic Party Candidate
Senator Robert Kennedy –after McCarthy demonstrated the viability of anti-war plank, Kennedy jumped in the race and became the front-runner. Assassinated May 1968
Vietnam Veterans against the War – very active anti-war group, tossed medals of honor at the White House to protest the war; most got FBI files
Vietnamization- use of “native” “surrogate” troops to replace U.S. troops. Roots of Nixon Doctrine (see November 14 outline); increased bombing so as to escalate the war without use of troops. The tonnage dropped after 1969 exceeded the already heavy levels reached by Johnson. Inevitable that more civilians would be targeted
Nixon’s “Christmas bombing” – December 1972—shortly after winning reelection Nixon widened the war by launching “Operation Linebacker II”, saturation bombing surrounding countries in Indochina, illegal under Geneva convention and kept secret from the American public at the time; civilian targets were numerous, including hospitals,