19.3: the war winds down protest, protest, and more protest!

19.3: The War Winds 19.3: The War Winds DownDown

Protest, protest, and more protest!

I. Nixon Moves to End the War

A. Henry Kissingera. National Security

Advisor

b. Linkage policy – improve relations w/SU and China so as to reduce aid to Vietnam

c. Main negotiator w/N.Vietnam

d. Nobel Peace Prize winners 1973

Le Duc Tho

B. Vietnamization

1. Letting the Vietnamese take a more active role by withdrawing US troops…

2. But, secretly bombs Cambodia

3. Silent majority: mainstream Americans who quietly supported the president’s strategy

C. My Lai Massacre (11/69)

Lt. Wm Calley

D. Invasion of Cambodia (4/70)

1. Destroy supply centers and Ho Chi Minh trail without Congress’s approval

2. School protests increase!

a. Kent State – 4 killed

b. Jackson State -2 killed3. Gulf Tonkin Resolution

repealed (’70)

4. War Powers Act (’73) …

4. War Powers Act- President must inform congress within 48

hours if US forces are sent into a hostile area without a declaration of war

Troops may not stay longer than 90 days unless congress approves

E. Pentagon Papers (6/71)

1. Continued to expand war w/o Congress consent

2. Pres. Johnson was not honest with Americans

3. Gov’t continues to lose credibility

Daniel

Ellsberg

F. Election of 1972George McGovern (Dem)

Landslide victoryw/60% of popular vote!

Richard Nixon (R)

G. Christmas Bombings (’72)

1. Dec. 1972: peace negotiations break down = “Christmas bombings” (11 days of bombing to resume peace talks stopping only on Christmas day)

2. Jan. 27, 1973 = agreement reached; by March all soldiers gone

H. Fall of Siagon

1. By April 1975, Southern Vietnam falls to Northern forces.

2. Congress does not approve help.

II. The Legacy of Vietnam

A. Human toll

1. >58,000 dead

2. >300,000 injured

3. 15% (450,000) PTSD, suicides, addicts

4. POW/MIA

5. no parades; hostiles

6. $170 Billion on war

1982: Vietnam Veterans Memorial

****************************2. Continued Fighting in SE Asia

a. Vietnami. Reeducation

ii. boat people

b. Cambodia’s Khmer Rougei. Communist group who opposed capitalism

ii. Wanted a peasant society

iii. End up killing over 2 million Cambodians