The second wave of combat helicopters in Vietnam

Patrick Christain/Getty Images

Test Your Knowledge of Vietnam War History

Take this quiz about the decades-long conflict

Randy Lilleston

En español

Published June 07, 2019

8 Questions

Test Your Knowledge of Vietnam War History

[ {
  "question" : "What year was the so-called Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which two U.S. destroyers reported they had been fired upon by North Vietnamese forces in the aforementioned gulf?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "1960",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "1962",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "1964",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "1966",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "In response to the reports, Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution on Aug. 7, 1964, which became the legal basis for the increasing U.S. presence in Vietnam.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "This television news anchor told his audience on Feb. 27, 1968, “But it is increasingly clear to this reporter that the only rational way out then will be to negotiate, not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.”",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Chet Huntley",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "David Brinkley",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Frank Reynolds",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Walter Cronkite",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Cronkite served as the anchor of the CBS Evening News from 1962 until 1981.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "He was the first U.S. president to send military advisers to South Vietnam.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Franklin D. Roosevelt",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Harry S. Truman",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Dwight D. Eisenhower",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "John F. Kennedy",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Eisenhower sent the advisers after Vietnam was split into two countries under a 1954 cease-fire agreement between communist and anti-communist fighters.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Before World War II, Vietnam was a colony of this country.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "China",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Italy",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "France",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Soviet Union",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "Japan actually controlled Vietnam for much of World War II, after Germany occupied France.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "This city was renamed Ho Chi Minh City, in honor of the North Vietnamese leader, after the Vietnam War ended.",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Hanoi",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Da Nang",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Saigon",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "Hai Phong",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The Atlas of Urban Expansion estimates the city’s population at nearly 10.2 million as of 2015.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "Excerpts from this top-secret government analysis of the U.S. presence in Vietnam were the focus of a major First Amendment battle before the U.S. Supreme Court. What was the popular name for the analysis?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "The Indochina Tract",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Pentagon Papers",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Containment Doctrine",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Paris Analysis",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The complete report, which spanned about 7,000 pages, was released by the National Archives in 2011.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "What was the commonly used name for the defoliant used by the U.S. military during Vietnam to clear vegetation?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "Code Blue",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Red Tide",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Black Gold",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "Agent Orange",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "The use of Agent Orange led to widespread disability claims by Vietnam veterans and court disputes that continued for decades after the war ended.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
}, {
  "question" : "After major U.S. protests against the Vietnam War in the fall of 1969, President Nixon gave a speech in which he called on supporters to back his position until peace could be won. What was the name he gave to these supporters?",
  "answers" : [ {
    "answer" : "The American Patriots",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Silent Majority",
    "correctAnswer" : true
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Peace Through Strength Coalition",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  }, {
    "answer" : "The Presidential Warriors",
    "correctAnswer" : false
  } ],
  "multiSelect" : false,
  "explanation" : "A Gallup Poll after the speech indicated 64 percent of U.S. adults, but only 50 percent of U.S. college students, approved of the way Nixon was handling Vietnam.",
  "hint" : "",
  "hintLink" : "",
  "questionImgCaption" : "",
  "questionImgCredit" : ""
} ]

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Randy Lilleston is the home page editor for aarp.org. He previously served as editor-in-chief for business news publisher Industry Dive and was a senior digital editor for NPR, USA Today and CNN.