National Vietnam War Veterans Day officially is observed March 29, which is the date in 1973 when the last of American combat troops were withdrawn from Vietnam.
The quiz below, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio, provides an opportunity for you to test your knowledge of the era in which the Vietnam conflict took place.
1. Most historians trace the Vietnam conflict back to what year?
A. 1955
B. 1959
C. 1962
D. 1965
2. In what year did the United States officially declare war on Vietnam?
A. 1963
B. 1966
C. 1969
D. Never, since Congress didn’t issue a formal declaration of war against Vietnam
3. What motivated the United States to become involved in Vietnam?
A. The Domino Theory
B. Threat of the spread of communism
C. Threat of Chinese domination in Asia
D. All of the above
4. Which U.S. president did not play a role in Vietnam?
A. Richard Nixon
B. Franklin Delano Roosevelt
C. John F. Kennedy
D. Lyndon B. Johnson
5. Approximately how many American troops were deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam conflict?
A. 1.4 million
B. 2.4 million
C. 3.4 million
D. 4.4 million
6. Which of the following declared the United States’ formal involvement in the Vietnam War?
A. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
B. Geneva Accords
C. Operation Rolling Thunder
D. Tet Offensive
7. Which of the following student groups was not part of the antiwar movement during the Vietnam War?
A. Students for a Democratic Society
B. Free Speech Movement
C. American Youth Congress
D. Underground Press Syndicate
8. Who leaked the so-called Pentagon Papers, the top-secret government study of the U.S. involvement in Vietnam that damaged the credibility of U.S. foreign policy in the eyes of many Americans, to the New York Times?
A. Daniel Ellsberg
B. Robert McNamara
C. Julian Assange
D. Hugo Black
9. Which journalist said, “For it seems now more certain than ever, that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.”
A. David Halberstam
B. Ben Bradlee
C. Ed Bradley
D. Walter Cronkite
10. Approximately how many Vietnam War troops still remain unaccounted?
A. 800
B. 1,600
C. 1,900
D. 2,100
Answers: 1-A, 2-D, 3-D, 4-B, 5-C, 6-A, 7-C, 8-A, 9-D, 10-B
