Vietnam

1
Vietnam

• Chapter 29

2
Antiwar Protests Increase

• US sends 1.5 million draftees to Vietnam during
  the course of the war
• All males had to register once they turned 18
• Those who were enrolled in college were exempt
  along with many in white collar jobs
• Most of those selected to serve in Vietnam came
  from working class or poor backgrounds
• African Americans
• 10 of US population
• 20 of deaths in Vietnam

3
Activism on College Campuses

• Professors and students become critics of the War
• Pacifism
• Effect on the economy
• Personal desire to avoid military service
• Between 1946 to 1970, college enrollment jumped
  from 2 million to 8 million
• Students from Upper middle class families embrace
  antiwar feelings
• Students from working class families were less
  likely to protest

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Protests grow across America

• Americans grew tired of the lack of war progress
  seen on TV
• The style of war frustrated American soldiers and
  television viewers
• credibility gap grows between the Johnson
  administration and what journalist reported.

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Tet Offensive is the Turning Point

• November of 67 General Westmoreland tells LBJ
  that the Vietcong no longer had the strength to
  launch a major offensive
• Jan 1968 Communists launch the Tet Offensive on
  36 provincial capitals and 5 major cities,
  including the US embassy in Saigon.
• The plan was to end the war with an all out
  strike on South Vietnam, leading to a civilian
  uprising

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Results of Tet

• After months of fighting, the uprising never
  came, the Vietcong were pushed back
• Casualties approx 8,000 US to 45,000 VC
• Literal victory for US turns into propaganda
  victory for VC
• Battle shocked Americans back home, showed the
  war was to continue for a long time
• Westmoreland requests more troops

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Cronkite on Vietnam

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?vJdOb_183d1o

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Johnson does not seek re election

• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v2-FibDxpkb0

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Violence Rocks 1968 Presidential Race

• MLK assassinated on April 4th, 1968
• Robert Kennedy assassinated on June 5th, 1968
• Shot by Jordanian immigrant upset with US support
  of Israel

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Protesting the Democratic Convention

• Vietnam protestors are beaten by Chicago police
  during Democratic National Convention in Aug 68
• Hubert Humphrey chosen over Eugene McCarthy

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Nixon Wins Presidency

• Richard Nixon promises Americans Peace with
  Honor
• Wanted out of Vietnam with honorable terms
• Beat Humphrey by nearly 1 million votes
• 301 electoral votes to 191

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Nixons Exit Strategy

• When Nixon took office on 1969, he knew that
  ending Vietnam was needed in order to accomplish
  other goals

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Problems with Peace Negotiations

• United States demands

• North Vietnam demands

• All communist troops out of South Vietnam
• All Prisoners of War returned
• South Vietnam refuses to sign any agreement that
  threatens its security

• Immediate American withdrawal from Vietnam
• A coalition government in South Vietnam that
  would include members of the Vietcong

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Nixons Vietnamization

• Nixon refused North Vietnams terms
• Continued a gradual pull out of US troops,
  letting ARVN troops to assume the burden of the
  fighting with American aid behind the front lines
  Vietnamization
• Nixon orders the bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail
  in Cambodia
• Reduce the flow of Vietcong supplies, but widens
  the war

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US troops enter Cambodia

• In 1970, Nixon becomes impatient with peace talks
  and war stalemate, orders troops to attack VC and
  North Vietnamese bases in Cambodia
• Nixon also helps the pro American government in
  its fight against the Khmer Rouge (communist
  govt.)

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Home Front Anger Grows

• Kent State and Jackson State
• May 4th, 1970
• Students protest over Cambodia
• National Guard kills
• 4 at Kent
• 2 at Jackson

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Home Front Anger Grows

• My Lai Massacre
• March 16, 1968
• American Soldiers searched for VC in the Village
  of My Lai
• Lt. Calley orders the unit to shoot unarmed
  civilians, claimed to be following orders
• Army attempted a cover up
• Life Magazine publishes photos in Mar. 1971

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Home Front Anger Grows

• Pentagon Papers
• 1971, NY Times publishes the Pentagon Papers
• Contained classified govt history of US
  involvement in Vietnam
• Daniel Ellsberg leaks the papers to the NY Times
• Nixon attempted to have blocked
• Papers reveal the governments refusal to fully
  inform Americans about the war and even lie to
  congress

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The War Ends

• Paris Peace Accords signed in Jan 1973
• Both sides agree to cease-fire
• POWs would be exchanged
• North Vietnamese troops would remain in South
  Vietnam
• South Vietnamese non communist govt would remain
  in power pending a political settlement
• Last Americans leave in April of 75 as Saigon
  falls to the North Vietnamese

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Effects of War

• 58,000 Americans die
• 300,000 Americans wounded
• 2 million Vietnamese die
• Returning soldiers come home to a mixed reaction
• War Powers Act of 1973 prohibits Presidential
  Power
• Must notify congress within 48 hours of
  committing American forces

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Richard Nixons beliefs

• Nixon was set to leave his mark on international
  affairs
• Opposite of LBJs Great Society
• Wanted to look to shift American Alliances in
  order to maximize Americas benefit

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Nixon changes American Foreign Policy

• Nixon and Henry Kissinger practice realpolitik
• US foreign allies would be based on concrete
  national interests, not ideologies
• China could be a great trading partner, Japan
  started to become an economic rival
• Concluded that there was no united communist
  movement

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Nixon Reaches Out to China

• 1969, Nixon finally recognized the Peoples
  Republic of China
• Diplomatic relations with China could result in
  American economic gain
• Good relations with China could drive a wedge
  between USSR and China
• April 1971, China invites the US table tennis
  team to play the Chinese national team
• Showed Chinas willingness to talk

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Nixon visits China

• Feb 72, Nixon and Kissinger visit historical
  sites in China and engages in lengthy discussions
  with Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai
• Within a year, American tourists visit China and
  businesses set up trade with China

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Détente with the Soviets

• Nixons China visit worries Soviet Union
• Brezhnev invites Nixon to Moscow
• Agree to US-Soviet Space mission
• Sign Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty
• (SALT I)
• froze the deployment of ICBMs
• Limited ABMs

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Watergate Ends Nixon

• Watergate headquarters for the Democratic party
• 1972, plumbers caught breaking in
• Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein discover through
  informer (Deep Throat) that culprits had ties to
  Nixons re election committee
• US vs Nixon orders the White House to give up
  tapes, 12 minute gap discovered
• Impeachment proceedings started
• Nixon resigns on Aug 8,1974

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Counterculuture

• Betty Friedan
• Wrote The Feminine Mystique
• Discussed the discontent women had with their
  lives in 1963