NewsTracker Answers for week of Sep. 20, 2004

Q: With the election only weeks away, President Bush's service record in the National Guard and Sen. John Kerry's service record in Vietnam 35 years ago continue to dominate the presidential campaign. Where in this map of Southeast Asia is Vietnam?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The last American ground troops left Vietnam in 1973 and South Vietnam surrendered in 1975 as North Vietnamese troops entered its capital, Saigon. What is Saigon's name today?

A. Seoul

B. Hanoi

C. Ho Chi Minh City

D. Phnom Penh

C. In 1976 the Communists unified North and South Vietnam into a single nation and renamed Saigan, Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh was a Vietnamese revolutionary leader who served as president of North Vietnam from 1954 until his death in 1969.

Q: What's the capital of Vietnam today?

A. Seoul

B. Hanoi

C. Ho Chi Minh City

D. Phnom Penh

B. Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam's largest city. Seoul is the capital of Korea, Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia.

Q: The Vietnam war was not limited to the countries of North and South Vietnam. In fact, Sen. Kerry has said that he spent Christmas, 1968, on a gunboat that illegally ventured into a neighboring nation's territory. Which of the following countries does NOT border Vietnam?

A. Cambodia

B. Laos

C. Thailand

D. China

C. Laos and Cambodia lie west of Vietnam, and China borders Vietnam on the north. As part of a Senate speech in 1986, Sen. Kerry said his Christmas in Cambodia was seared into his memory.

Q: What is a name for the area that includes Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos?

A. Indonesia

B. Indochina

C. Polynesia

D. Middle East

B. Indochina is the eastern half of the peninsula that extends into the South China Sea from the mainland of Southeast Asia.