Word: panic
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...South Viet Nam's major cities only Saigon has so far been spared mass panic, though nerves were frayed by the news from the north. The only clear sign of unease was the precautionary actions taken by many people. Hoarding pushed up the price of rice by some 10%. Housewives were stashing away three-month supplies of Nuoc Mam, the redolent fish sauce. Businessmen were transferring piasters from Vietnamese banks to the local branches of U.S. banks, hoping they would prove safer if the Communists came...
...only further lessen public confidence in the government. But the conservative opposition argued that South Viet Nam now needs a strong, broadly representative, anti-Communist movement while reorganizing the army to defend a smaller perimeter around Saigon and part of the rice-rich Mekong Delta. "The present atmosphere of panic is like China in 1949," said one of the country's most respected political leaders. "We can no longer count on the American forces, and we must act quickly to save ourselves...
Even the refugees who flowed unendingly into the city showed few tears and little panic. From the old imperial capital of Hue, 50 miles to the north, the lines moved in silence, sometimes edging forward down the packed roads at the frustrating rate of only 20 miles a day. In all, 500,000 people swarmed into the city, doubling Danang's population in a matter of days. Amazingly, most of them were swiftly absorbed, off the streets, out of the makeshift sidewalk shelters and shanties. They moved into all of Danang's 100 schools (8,000 packed into...
...midweek the unease, the anger and the frustration had all boiled over into undisguised panic. One morning several rockets aimed at the airport fell short, striking the adjoining hamlet; six were killed and 36 wounded. With company-level engagements taking place just a few kilometers away, it was all too evident that the city was desperately vulnerable. Food was running low, and nobody knew how many more shipments would come in before it ran out altogether...
...Viet Nam flights to provide for their own families. Then came the welcome promise that the U.S. would begin an airlift to take 10,000 people a day to Cam Ranh, a half-hour's trip by air some 200 miles to the south. But still there was panic. Even the so-called priority evacuation flight, limited to Americans and Vietnamese with proven U.S. connections, brought hundreds of people stampeding to the gleaming white U.S. consulate. Mimeographed consulate passes were photocopied and the forgeries passed on or sold to close friends or relatives. Even access through the guarded entrance...