VIETNAM, CH 22Section 4
1968
• Tet• Lunar New Year• Truce• War funerals
• Tet Offensive• Vietcong launch attack on over 100 towns and 12 U.S. air
bases• Takes U.S. a month to regain control of towns• 32,000 Vietcong die • 3,000 U.S/ARVN die
• Shook American public
Election of 1968/Democratic Party
• Eugene McCarthy• Senator• Runs on anti-war platform
• Robert Kennedy• At first, isn’t going to run• After McCarthy holds his own in primary against Johnson,
Bobby changes his mind
• Hubert Humphrey• Johnson’s Vice-President
Tragedy
• April 4, 1968• Martin Luther King assassinated• June 5, 1968• Robert Kennedy assassinated
Presidential Election
• August 28, 1968• Protesters converge in Chicago at Democratic National
Convention
• Nixon wins Republican candidacy• Nixon wins the Presidential Election in November
NIXON AND VIETNAMSection 5
Vietnamization
• Henry Kissinger• National Security Advisor to Nixon
• “Body Count” • Number of Vietcong dead• Show that the U.S. was winning, (but we weren’t)
• Vietnamization• “Peace with Honor”• Gradual withdrawal of U.S. troops, 500,000 to 25,000• Vietnamese slowly take over• August, 1969, first 25,000 troops head home• Over the next three years, less than 25,000 remain by 1971
The WAR continues
• Nixon wanted to maintain U.S. dignity during withdrawal• He secretly ordered bombing of Laos and Cambodia• Vietcong strongholds
• Silent Majority – Nixon’s belief that the moderate, mainstream Americans supported war
• Even as troops coming home from Vietnam, Nixon announces invasion of Cambodia
My LAI
• Seymour Hersch• New York Times
reporter
• March 16, 1968• U.S. platoon under
command of Lt. William Calley, Jr. ordered to “kill anything that breathed”
• Over 200 innocent women, children, elderly killed
Protests
• April 30, 1970• Nixon orders invasion of Cambodia
• College students protest• Kent State University• Protesters burn ROTC building• National Guard fires on crowd• 9 wounded, 4 killed
• Jackson State College• 12 wounded, 2 killed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyzoNCJvy4c
Pentagon Papers
• Leaked to public• 7,000 documents that laid out the plans of U.S. entering
Vietnam War• Showed mistakes made with Vietnam by Johnson
administration• Hurt Nixon administration• Confirmed the growing belief that the American people
couldn’t trust the government
1972 Election/Nixon wins
• March, North Vietnam launch massive attack on South• Nixon responds with bombing campaign• October, Kissinger secretly meeting with Le Duc Tho
(N.V. negotiator) for last year, drops demand the North withdraw
• Last bombing on Hanoi and Haiphong, 100,000 bombs • Moscow, Beijing, Congress say ENOUGH• March 29, 1973 Last of U.S. troops come home
Legacy of Vietnam War
• Americans• 58,000 killed• 303,000 wounded
• Vietnamese• Over 2 million killed• North and South
• War Powers Act• RESTRICT THE
POWER OF THE PRESIDENT
• President must inform Congress within 48 hours of troop deployment
• 90 days or less American foreign policy altered
…pause, consider risks People NO LONGER
TRUST government