Vietnam and Watergate

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Vietnam and Watergate
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• The longest and most costly war in American
  history Vietnam stemmed out of the Cold War and
  Containment Philosophy.
• Many American leaders were WWII and Cold War
  veteransthey were determined to avoid another
  Munich.
• Unfortunately foreign policy initiatives for
  Southeast Asia was often incoherent and
  ambiguousended in tragedy.

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• American involvement begins back in 1945 the
  U.S. sent advisors to aid the Vietminh to oust
  the Japanese.
• Ho Chi Minh wanted the U.S. to assist the
  Vietminh to unify all of VietnamIt had been
  partitioned many years earlier during the first
  French occupation of Indochina.
• Unfortunately the U.S., though anti-colonialism,
  allowed the French to re-establish its French
  colonial empire to ensure their participation in
  NATO.

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• 58,000 American lives and over 300,000 wounded
  left a legacy of bitterness and much
  misunderstanding
• Many had psychological issues, but manyin fact
  there was 2x the drug and alcohol addiction
  problems than combat injuries by the end of the
  war
• Vietnam left a shattered generation and an
  inherent distrust of government.

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• Many in America changed opinions on Americas
  role in international affairsmany
  unrealistically wanted to be isolationists
• Changed from the last bastion to communism to
  Live and Let Live. American exceptionalism was
  tarnisheduntil President Reagan restored
  patriotic fervor.
• So, how did we get there? What were the lasting
  affects? And does Vietnam still haunt American
  policy and idealism?

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Vietnam Time Line

• 1941The Atlantic CharterAmerica denounces
  colonialism and promotes self-determinism
• 1945Vietnam declares independence (100yrs
  Chinese, Japanese, and French occupation) Ho Chi
  Minh recites the declaration of Independence Sep
  2 1945
• 1949China falls the communist forces of Mao Tse
  TungAmerica fears China communism is spreading
  into Indochina
• 1950Sec of State, Dean Acheson declares that
  America will secure and protect the Pacific Rim
  against communist expansion The Korean War
  suggests that Asia is becoming unstable

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• 1953Korean Conflict stalls into a perpetual
  truce dividing North and South Korea this
  instability enhances Americas resolve that Asia
  also must be part of the containment policy.
• 1954French are now engaged in a
  colonial-nationalist war with the Vietminh. Ho
  Chi Minh vows to fight for as long as it takes.
  The U.S. funds 75 of the French-Indochina War
  France is humiliated by the Vietminh and Vo
  Nyguyen Giap at Dien Bien Phu
• 1954Geneva Peace Accords partition Vietnam on
  the model of Korea

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• 1956--Eisenhower and CIA intervene to prevent
  free electionsfearing the communist will win a
  free election.
• The Domino Theory is embraced if Vietnam falls
  soon all the Pacific rim will collapse
• 1960JFK pursues Vietnam initiatives to bolster a
  weak South Vietnam government

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• Why did JFK pursue Vietnam?
• 1) Reassert American might after the Bay of Pigs
  fiasco, the Berlin Crisis, and the Cuban Crisis
• 2) He was raised an ardent Cold War Warriorsaw
  Ho Chi Minh as a Soviet Pawn
• 3) Supported Limited Brush Fire Wars and
  containment

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• Early on, I believe that America should have been
  in Vietnampast experience was all we had to use
  as a litmus testso Vietnam seemed logical
• Idealistic Americans early also believed that
  Vietnam was worth savingDr. Tom Dooley. He saw
  the tortured Vietnamese and doctored many back to
  health
• After the partition many North Vietnamese fled to
  the South seeking democracy.

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• JFK under CIA urging stepped up the commitment to
  train, supply and financially bolster Ngo Dinh
  Diems regime.
• Diem, however, was very unpopular an introvert,
  staunch Catholic, not a very good leaderHis
  brother, head of the Secret Police, and his
  brothers wife Madam Nhu, were anti Buddhists and
  anti-peasantsmade things worse for Diem.
• The catholic minority ruled ruthlessly over the
  ancient religious groupsespecially Buddhists.

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• The Priests protested against the government
• LBJ as VP made a fact finding trip to Vietnam,
• Diem is the George Washington of Asiahe is a
  great leader
• The Peasants and Buddhists thought
  otherwiseimmolated themselves in protest.

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• Diem and Nhu were so unpopular, that the
  Vietnamese Military under the prodding of CIA
  assassinated Diem and his brother
• This created a change of events of corrupt and
  inept leaders in Vietnam
• By 1964 it was obvious that this was going to be
  an American Warif the line in the sand was to be
  fixed in AsiaJFK bumped up the 750 advisors to
  16000

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• The Tonkin Gulf resolution and Incident of 1964.
• Ostensibly, America was running covert and
  clandestine interdictions into North Vietnam
• In response, the North Vietnamese sent out small
  gun boats to contest the the destroyers and
  interdiction--

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• President Johnson under very murky information
  called these so-called unprovoked attacks as
  devious as Pearl Harbor. One can see the picture
  and emotions this reference conjures up.
• To Johnson this was justification for direct
  military intervention
• The congressional resolution allowed LBJ to take
  all necessary measures to prevent further
  aggression by the North Vietnamese

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• Johnson initiates Operation Rolling Thunder
  saturation bombing of the North
• Feb 3, 1965 the VC attack and kill 8 American
  advisors at Pleiku Airbase
• To protect American lives against physical
  aggression Johnson sends Combat Troops to Vietnam
  to secure and maintain security at the Air
  BasesThe Marines land at Da Nang Feb 1965

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• Marines and other Army Units immediately complain
  about the heat and being relegated to sitting
  ducks at these bases
• Finally Johnson gives the OK to Search out and
  Destroy the enemy missions
• To take the countryside away from the enemy and
  pursue the VC aggressively.

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• We marched into the Rice Paddies on that damp
  March afternoon, we carried, along with our
  Rifles and packs, the implicit convictions that
  the Viet Cong would be quickly beaten and we were
  doing something altogether noble and good. We
  kept our packs and rifles our convictions we
  lost.

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• There has been much exaggeration about the
  atrocities by U.S. soldiers on civilians
• 1) Racist theorywe considered them non-human so
  it was easy to inflict barbaric acts against
  them
• 2) frontier Heritagewe are by nature violent and
  inherently murderouswe just needed a war to act
  out on these impulses
• Hogwashis there an element of truthmaybebut
  overall what was it about Vietnam that made
  otherwise normal moralistic Iowans, Georgians,
  New Yorkers, or Californians sadistic and crass
  to the idea of humanity and compassion?

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• These observations and muses are by Sociologists
  and Psychologists who never experienced first
  hand war and its savagery nor do they take into
  account how monstrous the VC, NVA and even ARVN
  could be to their own people.
• The Korean Division took delight in cutting off
  ears etc These academic ignore the years of
  barbarous warfare inflicted upon one another
  during the Chinese occupation and the First
  Indochina War with the French.

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• The evil was inherent in the circumstances of a
  bloody, hate filled civil war and social
  revolutioneach trying to purge each other from
  the landscape add the ferocity of Jungle warfare
  eliminating humanity
• Atrocities were almost a badge of honor long
  before the Americans arrived
• Twenty years of fratricide and ruthlessness
  obliterated any reference point of humanity
• The average age of the U.S. soldier was 19In
  WWII, the avg age was 26.

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• I am not excusing My Lai or other atrocities, but
  I understand how ethical and moral lines become
  blurred
• Regardless of your moral compassthe compass
  spins losing direction when perpetually exposed
  to crueltyand in a place where no mercy is
  givenNo mercy is expected.

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• By 1968, 560,000 troops were in Vietnam.
• The Tet Offensive changed the perception of the
  war we thought we had control of the urban
  areas, but Tet proved otherwise
• Irony, VC were never able to amass another attack
  as they did at Tet their infrastructure and
  ability to make war was destroyed however,
  public opinion in America changed.
• Now Mom and Pop America began to oppose the war
  LBJ refused to run for officePeace candidates
  popped up everywherethe most credible was Eugene
  McCarthy and Bobby KennedyNixons plan was
  phased withdrawal Peace with Honor.

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• Regardless of initiatives or what the Government
  said, the enemy controlled the countryside and at
  nightwell the world belonged to Charlie.
• This was the first truly mechanized war also
  first televised war Body counts were on TV each
  night while people ate their dinner
• Lack of frontline awareness and identity of the
  Good Guys or the Bad Guyslines blurred
  egregiously, by 1970 the morale was badover 700
  fraggings took placeand many refused to expose
  themselves in Combatthere were many more drug
  addiction cases or overdoses than there were
  combat injuries buy 1971.

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• There was much domestic opposition to the war
  student deferments kept much of the Middle Class
  and Upper classes out of Vietnammuch resentment
  by Blacks and Poor Whites especially by
  1970until 1970 more whites fought in Vietnam
  than the Press will admit
• after 1971, there were few left but Poor Whites
  and African Americans and Latinos

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• Domestically, The Anti-War movement was gaining
  ground Tet proved the death knell to American
  supportsome still supported the Troops, but many
  did not support the War
• It was not until Mom and Pop America began
  carrying signs around the White House that
  legitimate negotiations beganNot the Counter
  Culture or SDS or any other Peacenik
  movementgood for TV, but reality, it made very
  little headway until after Kent StateThen,
  again, it was Mom and Pop America marchingwhy
  are we killing one another?

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• Staunton Lynd, Jane Fonda and Susan Sontag
  actually went to North Vietnam and posed for
  pictures to support the Anti-War Movement
• Sontag, the North Vietnamese genuinely care
  about the welfare of captured American Pilots
  they get more food than the actual Vietnamese
  people, they are larger, used to more and expect
  more, so we give them more NVA believe in the
  goodness of man and are morally concerned

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• Because of the political and social dissension in
  America, the 1968 Presidential election became a
  free for all in the streets in Chicago
• Democrats were split and this left room for
  Richard M. Nixon and his Peace with Honor and
  Law and Order platform to win the election

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• Nixon actually widened the war, invaded Cambodia
  and Laos, beefed up Bombing of North
  Vietnamunlike Johnson, Nixon okayed the bombing
  of civilian targets and Haiphong harborin
  essence almost brought the war to an endHanoi
  was on its knees and teetering, but because they
  controlled their media we did not learn this
  fact until the 1980s
• Tet and Nyguyen Hue offensives of 1968 and 1972
  was all the VC and NVA had leftbut Nixon was
  trying to get Hanoi back to the bargaining
  tablenot concerned with winning the warat this
  time

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• Nixon did by 1970 begin ratcheting down Troop
  numbers, until in 1973 America completely
  disengaged from VietnamYes some advisors and CIA
  personnel left, but in effect America was out of
  the warPOWs came homesome ague there are still
  those therewho really knows?
• The aftermath of Vietnam, however, forces America
  to rethink its involvement The brutal
  repression, torture and murders of South
  Vietnamese people by the victorious Northern
  Communists, the Boat People fleeing oppression,
  prison and death, Genocide in Cambodia and Laos
  and the Mekong delta regionHanoi was absolutely
  ruthless enforcing their will and power over the
  southern peoples

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• Strategically and tactically the U.S. failed
• it was the wrong war and the wrong place at the
  wrong time, when we were losing we said we were
  winning But as wrong as the war fought in
  Vietnam was in many respects, it was not wrong in
  the purposes and philosophy, for which it was
  fought.
• Being anti-communist was and remains the right
  attitude

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• Nixon played on the attitudes of most of Middle
  America
• Tired of the war racial strife, lawlessness and
  political chaos
• Spoke of the Silent Majority
• 1) rising crime rates
• 2) social violence
• 3) drug abuse
• 4) promiscuity
• 5)no patriotism

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• Nixon appealed
• 1) Urban ethnic voters (Catholics, Italians,
  Irish and Polish descent)
• 2) Blue Collar Workers
• 3) Southern and Suburban Whites
• Developed three strategies
• 1) appeal to the fears of the Blue Collar
  workers
• 2) exploit social issues that mattered to the
  Catholics
• 3) exploit the conservativeness of the South

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• Though Nixon would be slow ending the warand he
  did order secret invasion and bombing of Cambodia
  and Laoshe also initiated saturation bombing of
  the North and mined Haiphong harborhe did end
  the war
• 1) He did withdraw troops from Vietnam
• 2) he advocated and got the Russians to
  reciprocate in Détente. (a partial thawing to the
  Cold War)initiated the Five Policemen concept
  to maintain global peaceful co-existenceand
  police other nations.

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• PolicemenU.S. China Russia Japan and Western
  Europe.
• China invited America to a Ping Pong Tournament
  Ping Pong diplomacy opened the door for Nixon
  to visit Chin and begin new open relations
• Realismvery populace country markets etc
• World Opinionmany agreed China should be
  recognized
• Bargaining ChipRussia and China traditional
  enemiestwo adversaries as allies frightened
  Russia

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• 4) Nixon could get away with itstrong reputation
  against communismthis is just politics
• 5) Press Coveragepositive coverage for an
  election yearover look Vietnam and Watergate
• He also visited Russia
• SALT I missile limitation
• Cooperation with space exploration
• Better trade agreements between USSR and US
• The Berlin Agreement of 1972.

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• Watergate was truly unnecessary however, Nixon
  wanted a mandate a landslidea show of love from
  the people
• Operatives called Plumbers bugged the
  Democratic offices at the Watergate Complex
  located in Foggy Bottom on the banks of the
  Potomac. They were caught.
• Woodward and Bernstein Washington Post pursued
  the story relentlesslywhy were these common
  burglars carrying White House connections and
  credentials?

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• Nixon got his mandate, but he also had to appear
  to prosecute the Watergate Break-in These were
  his guys, but he promised to pursue the burglars.
  
• Mushroomed into a national Trial on TVSam Ervin
  led a host of Senators pursuing the truth or
  expose a suspected cover-up

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• By chance, Butterworth made an off-hand comment
  about what he had heard in these meetingswell
  it should be on the Oval Office Taping system.
• Stuff hits the fanall Oval Office conversations
  had been taped (not that unusualthese were
  secret tapings)
• President refused to hand over the tape
  Executive Privilege. national security

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• Huge battle between Executive, Legislative, and
  JudicialCourt said turn them over
• 18 mins were accidentally erased The House
  began impeachment proceedings for high crimes
  and misdemeanors.
• Nixon became very paranoidSaturday Night
  Massacrefired the special counsel and all the
  assistants finally he had to resign
• The OFFICE was BIGGER than the MAN!!!