Counterculture

Barefoot hippies dancing to psychedelic rock, bra-burning feminists fighting for women's empowerment, Weathermen who preach revolution without caring about what the clouds are doing, and everything else in between. These were all parts of America's counterculture movement of the 1960s. The point was to challenge the norms of everyday life and ideally change the world.

Domino Theory

1. Set doubles down early.
2. Use up your high numbered tiles ASAP.
3. Keep your suits diversified.

Oh, wait, that's domino strategy not domino theory. Whoops.

The domino theory refers to an argument made in the Cold War era that if countries like Vietnam successfully created a government in the name of communism, the other countries surrounding them would most likely become communist, too. This mentality ended up justifying American military intervention in all sorts of places, including Vietnam, Cuba, and quite possibly the moon.

French Indochina

Let's get this out of the way: Vietnam wasn't French, it wasn't Indian, and it wasn't Chinese. But when France colonized the areas we now know as Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia in the 19th century, they went ahead and lumped a diverse group of peoples, places, and cultures into this vague stereotype anyway, calling the region French Indochina.

The Great Silent Majority

If Nixon had two catchphrases, they would be "I am not a crook" and "the great silent majority."

This second phrase became hugely popular. That's because the term was about people in a popular sense. If Twitter had existed, this would have been the most retweeted post of the day, for sure.

Nixon wanted to appeal to the average American in this speech. But before we give him too much credit, he wasn't really appealing to everyone.

He was really trying to appeal to the population that wanted hippies and protesters out of the media spotlight. The great silent majority was the people who believed in institutional authority, typically supported conservative policies, and most likely did not listen to the Grateful Dead. These were the people who voted for him: Americans who voted for Republican presidential candidates, were typically from the South, and held conservative social and political views.

Guerilla Warfare

Guerrilla warfare refers to a military tactic that involves small groups of fighters using tactics like ambushes, hit and runs, and small raids. The point is for small units to remain speedy while slowly picking apart a much larger enemy force. This tactic became a favorite among Viet Cong soldiers and ultimately frustrated French and American forces.

The Nixon Doctrine

Closely associated with the term "Vietnamization," this was Nixon's grand plan to get out of the Vietnam War. He argued that America was tired of fighting everyone else's wars. That America wanted to go home, watch some TV, and take a nap while the rest of the world dealt with their own problems. But if push came to shove, America would totally back up its allies—with nuclear weapons, if need be.

Republic of Vietnam

Okay, this gets a little tricky, so bear with us here. When we talk about the Vietnam War, we often call this country South Vietnam.

When Ho Chi Minh started his revolution against France following World War II, the anti-communist Vietnamese set up shop in the southern chunk of the country. After the French and the Viet Minh agreed to peace, the new Republic of Vietnam was formed in the south.

The United States spent the next several years attempting to prop up a stable government, but both internal forces and fighting forces from the north kept making the situation more and more difficult. It stopped being a separate country at the end of the Vietnam War in 1975.

Viet Cong

Also known as the National Liberation Front, these were the Vietnamese insurgents from the south. They were technically rebels from the Republic of Vietnam who fought against the South Vietnamese and the U.S. government during the Vietnam War…sort of.

We say "technically" because they also fought alongside North Vietnamese soldiers and often took orders from the north. Confusing? Just imagine how American G.I.s felt when they were fighting an enemy they couldn't fully identify.

Viet Minh

So, just to make things a little messier, let's talk about the reigning political and military force of North Vietnam. This was the main organization that Ho Chi Minh got together as a way to get rid of the French. They started a war for independence after World War II and became the main political powerhouse of the north after the French pulled out of the region.

But the United States didn't really fight this organization because, by 1960, the north had transitioned power to another fighting group: the Vietnamese People's Army.

There, doesn't that clarify everything about the Vietnam War? Right? Right?

Vietnamizing/Vietnamization

We know this may be a completely novel concept, but Nixon actually believed that the war in Vietnam should be fought by the Vietnamese…eventually.

The United States was desperate to get out of Vietnam, so this is the term that Nixon used to refer to handing the war back over to the Vietnamese. He wanted to slowly arm, train, and eventually hand leadership over to South Vietnam so they could fight the north without the United States being present.