Office of the Historian

Abbreviations and Terms

    • ABC, American Broadcasting Company
    • AFP, Agence France Presse, a French news agency
    • Avenue Kléber (also Ave. Kléber or Kléber), address of the International Conference Center at the Hotel Majestic in Paris, the site of the (plenary) Paris Peace Talks; see also Paris Peace Talks
    • B-52 Stratofortress, a heavy bomber used for both strategic and tactical bombing
    • ban phong tom, Vietnamese dish of shrimp flour chips
    • La Celle St. Cloud (also St. Cloud), a suburb of Paris, the location of the post-Accord meetings between the Republic of (South) Vietnam and the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam to establish a National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord, which began in March 1973
    • cha gio, minced pork buns, Vietnamese dish made of fried rice paper filled with meat and vegetables
    • Choisy-le-Roi (also Choisy), a suburb of Paris, the location of one of the residences of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam at 11 Rue Darthé, used as a venue for the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho negotiations
    • CIA, Central Intelligence Agency
    • CJCS, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • dikes, Red River Delta, an intricate, centuries-old system of dikes that controlled irrigation in the low-lying areas of the Red River Delta of North Vietnam and protected those who lived and worked there
    • DMZ, demilitarized zone; established roughly at Vietnam’s 17th parallel to a width not more than five kilometers each side of the demilitarized zone
    • DMZL, see DMZ
    • don doc, Vietnamese word that translates as “supervision” or “control”
    • DRV (also DRVN), Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam
    • Eight Points, peace plan presented by President Nixon in a May 14, 1969, speech to the nation; peace plan presented by Kissinger on August 16, 1971, at his meeting with Xuan Thuy; peace plan presented by the PRG Delegation on September 17, 1970, at the (plenary) Paris Peace Talks
    • FANK, Forces armées nationales khmères (Khmer National Armed Forces)
    • FARK, Forces armées royales khmères (Royal Khmer Armed Forces)
    • La Fontaine au Blanc, U.S.-owned villa in the Paris suburb of St. Nom la Bretèche, used as a venue for the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho negotiations
    • FUNK, Front uni national du kampuchéa (National United Front of Kampuchea)
    • Geneva Agreement (or Accords) of 1954 on Indochina, agreement of July 1954 reached at a multilateral conference in Geneva that ended the French role in Indochina. The agreement partitioned Vietnam at the 17th parallel, established a DMZ, and called for elections within 2 years; neither the United States nor South Vietnam signed the Agreement. The Communists established a government in the North in Hanoi under Ho Chi Minh, and the non-Communists, supported by the United States, established a government in the South in Saigon (see Foreign Relations, 1952–1954, volume XVI, The Geneva Conference).
    • Geneva Agreement (or Accords) of 1962 on Laos, agreement of July 1962 reached at a multilateral conference in Geneva, which established Laotian neutrality. Fourteen states pledged to respect Laotian neutrality and territorial integrity and refrain from interference in Laotian internal affairs and from establishing military bases in Laos. Since the North Vietnamese troops did not withdraw as promised, the agreement effectively ceded eastern Laos to the Communists (see Foreign Relations, 1961–1963, volume XXIV, Laos Crisis).
    • GI, government issue, shorthand for a U.S. soldier
    • Gif-sur-Yvette (also Gif), a Paris suburb, the location of the property at 108 Avénue du Général Leclerc used as a venue for the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho negotiations
    • GMT, Greenwich Mean Time
    • GNU, Government of National Union (Laos)
    • golf course, shorthand for the venue at St. Nom la Bretèche, the site of a famous golf course
    • GRUNK, Gouvernement royal d’union nationale du kampuchéa (Royal Government of National Union of Kampuchea, Royal Khmer National Union Government)
    • GVN, Government of (South) Vietnam
    • HAK, Henry A. Kissinger
    • Hakto (also HAKTO), series indicator for messages sent from Henry A. Kissinger while away from Washington
    • ICC, International Control Commission, established under the 1954 Geneva Agreement on Indochina and incorporated into the 1962 Geneva Agreement on Laos
    • ICCS, International Commission of Control and Supervision; organization created by the 1973 Paris Peace Accords to supervise the cease-fire
    • JCS, Joint Chiefs of Staff
    • JEC, Joint Economic Commission
    • JMC, Joint Military Commission
    • Kléber, see Avénue Kléber
    • Kontum, a province in South Vietnam’s Central Highlands opposite Laos
    • Lam Son (also Lamson) 719, a February-March 1971 operation in Laos by South Vietnamese forces to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail
    • LPF, Laotian Patriotic Front, political arm of the Pathet Lao
    • NCNRC,National Council of National Reconciliation and Concord
    • nem, nem ran, see cha gio
    • Neuilly-sur-Seine (also Neuilly), a Paris suburb, the location of the property at 31 Boulevard de la Saussaye used as a venue for the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho negotiations
    • NFC, National Front of Cambodia
    • Nhan Dan, Quan Doi Nhan Dan, DRV military newspaper
    • Nine Points, peace plan presented by Xuan Thuy on June 26, 1971, at the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho negotiations
    • Nixon Doctrine (also known as the Guam Doctrine), U.S. policy enunciated by President Nixon in 1969 whereby the United States would expect its allies to assume the main role in their defense, although providing assistance and support as requested and protection from a nuclear power
    • NLF, National Liberation Front, Communist front organization in South Vietnam acting as political government of the insurgency; later renamed Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam
    • NLHX (NLHZ), Neo Lao Hak Xat (Zat), the political arm of the Pathet Lao
    • NSC, National Security Council
    • NVA, North Vietnamese Army, term used by the United States for the People’s Army of (North) Vietnam
    • NVN, North Vietnam
    • P, President Nixon
    • pacification, the military, political, economic, and social process of establishing or re-establishing local government responsive to and involving the participation of the people; it includes the provision of sustained, credible territorial security, the destruction of the enemy’s underground government (infrastructure), the assertion or re-assertion of political control and involvement of the people in government, and the initiation of economic and social activity capable of self-sustainment and expansion
    • Paris Peace Talks, a loosely defined term that, depending on context, could mean the secret meetings between Henry Kissinger for the United States and Le Duc Tho for the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam or the 174 meetings of the public talks held from 1968 to 1973 between the United States and the Republic of (South) Vietnam on one side and the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam on the other; the latter were also known as Plenary or Avénue Kléber talks
    • PAVN, People’s Army of (North) Vietnam
    • PDJ, Plaine des Jarres (Plain of Jars), strategically important area of Laos
    • Pentagon Papers,multi-volume classified history, entitled United States-Vietnam Relations, 1945-1967, that Secretary of Defense McNamara commissioned; later leaked to The New York Times in June 1971
    • Phoenix, the Phoenix Program, known as Phuong Hoang in Vietnamese, was a joint U.S. and Vietnamese intelligence program, which aimed at identifying, locating, and destroying the Viet Cong infrastructure in the villages and capturing its membership, particularly the leaders
    • PL, Pathet Lao
    • PLAF, People’s Liberation Armed Forces, Communist forces in South Vietnam, synonymous with Viet Cong
    • PMDL, Provisional Military Demarcation Line, see DMZ
    • Politburo, Political Bureau; the executive body of the Central Committee of the Communist Party in many Marxist-Leninist regimes including the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam
    • POW, prisoner(s) of war
    • PR, public relations
    • PRC, People’s Republic of China
    • PRG, Provisional Revolutionary Government of Vietnam, political wing of the South Vietnamese Communist movement, replaced the National Liberation Front (NLF), but the terms are often used interchangeably
    • Quang Tri, northernmost province of the Republic of (South) Vietnam, located immediately south of the DMZ, and between Laos to the west and the South China Sea to the east
    • RLG, Royal Lao Government
    • Rue Darthé, 11 Rue Darthé, the address of one of the residences of the Democratic Republic of (North) Vietnam in the Paris suburb of Choisy-le-Roi used as a venue for the Kissinger-Le Duc Tho negotiations
    • RVN, Republic of (South) Vietnam
    • RVNAF, Republic of (South) Vietnam Armed Forces
    • SALT, Strategic Arms Limitation Talks
    • SEATO, Southeast Asia Treaty Organization
    • Seven Points, peace plan presented by Kissinger on May 31, 1971, at his meeting with Le Duc Tho; peace plan presented by the NLF Delegation in July 1971 at the (plenary) Paris Peace Talks
    • sortie, a single mission flown by a military aircraft; the total number of uses of an individual aircraft
    • St. Cloud, see La Celle St. Cloud
    • strategic hamlets, a South Vietnamese Government program to counter Viet Cong control in the countryside. The government relocated farmers into fortified hamlets to provide defense, economic aid, and political assistance to residents. The hope was that protection from Viet Cong raids and taxation would bind the rural populace to the government and gain their loyalty. The program started in 1962, but was fatally undermined by over expansion and poor execution. By 1964 it had clearly failed.
    • SV (also SVN), South Vietnam
    • Ten Points, peace plan presented by NLF delegate Madame Binh on May 8, 1969, at the (plenary) Paris Peace Talks; peace plan presented by Le Duc Tho on August 1, 1972, at his meeting with Kissinger; peace plan presented by Kissinger on August 14, 1972, at his meeting with Le Duc Tho
    • Tet, Vietnamese New Year
    • Thua Thien, a province in South Vietnam’s Central Highlands opposite Laos and the South China Sea
    • Tohak (also TOHAK), series indicator for messages sent to Henry A. Kissinger while away from Washington
    • Twelve Points, peace plan presented by Kissinger on August 1, 1972, at his meeting with Le Duc Tho
    • Two-Point Elaboration, elaboration of the Ten Point peace plan presented by the DRV Delegation on February 2, 1972, at the (plenary) Paris Peace Talks
    • UPI, United Press International
    • USA, United States Army
    • USAF, United States Air Force
    • USN, United States Navy
    • Viet Cong,see PLAF
    • Vietnamization, U.S. policy during the Nixon administration of transferring the management and fighting of the war to the Republic of (South) Vietnam
    • VNAF, (South) Vietnamese Air Force