Vietnam and the 1960s STAAR Questions 2013-23

In 1971, President Richard Nixon claimed executive privilege to prevent newspapers from publishing classified documents. He argued that release of the Pentagon Papers, which detailed U.S. involvement in Vietnam, threatened national security. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of the newspapers. Which of the following provided a legal basis for this Supreme Court decision?

• The Thirteenth Amendment

• The decision in Brown v. Board of Education

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964

• The First Amendment

Which box lists characteristics of the 1960s?

• Prohibition, The Lost Generation, The Harlem Renaissance, Religious fundamentalism

• Widespread unemployment, New Deal programs, The Golden Age of Hollywood, The Dust Bowl

• The counterculture, The Civil Rights movement, The Vietnam War, The Space Race

• Televangelists, Neoconservatism, Video games, The fall of the Soviet Union

After the 1954 Geneva Conference, which action became a part of U.S. foreign policy?

• The gradual buildup of financial and military aid to South Vietnam

• The gradual buildup of economic and industrial aid to North Vietnam

• The use of diplomatic efforts to reunify Cambodia and South Vietnam

• The use of military force to restore French rule in Laos and North Vietnam

Read the excerpt and answer the question that follows. China is so large, looms so high just beyond the frontiers, that if South Viet-Nam went, it would not only give them an improved geographic position for a guerrilla assault on Malaya, but would also give the impression that the wave of the future in southeast Asia was China and the Communists. —President John F. Kennedy, televised interview, September 9, 1963 Which idea reflected in these remarks formed the basis for U.S. involvement in Vietnam?

• Nuclear deterrence

• Flexible response

• Domino theory

• Iron Curtain

Study the table and answer the question that follows. Why was the United States concerned about Agreement 2?

• Officials believed the election would lead to a civil war and revolution.

• Congress members feared foreign policy decisions would lead to criticism at home.

• The administration opposed the creation of regional alliances.

• Leaders feared communist officials would win the election and take over the country.

What was the overall goal of U.S. military intervention in Vietnam from 1964-1973?

• Eliminating trade barriers between the United States and Southeast Asia

• Isolating the Soviet Union by improving Chinese relations with the United States

• Promoting economic growth in the Pacific region

• Preventing communism from spreading throughout Southeast Asia

What happened as a direct result of these recommendations?

• North Vietnamese leaders appealed for a ceasefire.

• U.S military involvement in Vietnam escalated.

• South Vietnamese leaders rejected military assistance.

• Soviet ground troops were deployed to Vietnam.

In 1954, the Geneva Conference, which was held to negotiate peace in Indochina, resulted in two compromise agreements: a cease-fire and a final declaration. The cease-fire established a demilitarized zone at the 17th parallel in Vietnam. The final declaration provided for elections to unify Vietnam under the supervision of an international commission. The United States refused to approve the final declaration. Which policy guided U.S. opposition to this declaration?

• Containment

• Peaceful coexistence

• Constructive engagement

• Deterrence

The domino theory, which provided the basis for U.S. entry into the Vietnam War, was the belief that intervention was necessary to prevent —

• the expansion of communism across Southeast Asia

• the inclusion of Taiwan in the Warsaw Pact

• the loss of UN military bases in Asia

• the rise of China as a dominant economic power

Which of these best explains why worldwide reactions to U.S. involvement in Vietnam grew increasingly hostile during the late 1960s and early 1970s?

• The United States was viewed as appeasing a brutal dictator.

• The United States demanded the unconditional surrender of Ho Chi Minh.

• The United States was viewed as an aggressor invading an underdeveloped nation.

• The United States ignored a United Nations Security Council resolution to cease hostilities.