election of 1964. pres. johnson expands the conflict 1.tonkin gulf resolution (1964): a. granted...

Election of 1964

Pres. Johnson expands the conflict1. Tonkin Gulf Resolution

(1964): a. Granted Johnson military

powers in Vietnam without officially declaring war!

b. Written weeks prior to Tonkin incident

2. Operation Rolling Thundera. First prolonged bombing of

North Vietnamb. In hopes of avoiding

sending ground troops

3. US Supports War Efforts

a. cabinet agrees Vietnam needs help

b. Citizens support it as well

i. 61% in favor

ii. 24% opposed

c. Saigon on the verge of collapse

4. General Westmoreland

a. Advocate for very large number of troops

b. 500,000 by 1967

c. War of attrition

Supreme Commander

5. US Strategies

a. War of Attrition: wearing down the enemy by continuous harassment

b. body count; (unpatriotic) c. Win over the “hearts and minds” of the S.

Vietnamesed. Chemical warfare: napalm/agent orangee. Search and destroy missions/civiliansf. Millions of refugees

Agent Orange

Napalm(gasoline-base bomb) attack

June 8, 1972

14 months in hospital/17 surgeries

6. War in the Jungle: the VCa. Guerilla tacticsb. hiding within

civilian population/city and countryside

c. Booby traps and land mines

d. Terrain/tunnels

Vietcong Tunnels

C. Losing Morale

1. soldiersa. Lose confidence b. Drugs and alcoholc. Killing superior

officers

2. At home

a. Economy suffers/

Inflation

b. Using SS funds

c. Increased taxes

d. $21 B a year on war

e. Living room war: media and credibility gap effect U.S. citizens

1968

The Tet Offensive

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3mfXnFtwQc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3mfXnFtwQc

1:40-

m/watch?v=S3mfXnFtwQc

A. The Tet Offensive (1968)

1. Tet: January 30, Vietnam’s New Years Eve

2. Week-long peace agreement with Vietcong in honor of the holiday

3. Funerals also being held during this time

4. Vietcong used coffins as decoys; filled with with weapons

5. Deaths due to attacks

Vietcong: 32,000 US: 3,000

6. Americans and Congress: “unwinnable” war

B. Public Opinion on War

1. Before Tet Offensive28% Doves

56% Hawks

2. After Tet Offensive40% Doves

40% Hawks

3. 60 % war mishandled

4. 50% mistake to go in

5. Doves vs. Hawks

Opposed war & wanted troops to withdraw from

Vietnam

Should continue & increase force in

Vietnam

C. Days of Loss (1968)

1. March: Johnson announces he will not seek a second term

2. April: MLK assassinateda. AA riots; 46 deadb. Stokely Carmichael “US

declares war on us”

3. Citizens more critical of war4. June: Robert Kennedy

assassinated; Sirhan Sirhan

5. DNC Chicago – fighting inside and outside

Chicago: Mayor Daley “shoot to kill” order,

April 4, 1968• James Earl Ray assassinates MLK

• Violence erupts throughout the US/125 cities

Urban Violence

1. Harlem, Watts, Chicago, Detroit….

2. Needed economic equality: opportunity in jobs, housing, and education

1968 DNC - Chicago

Presidential Election 1968

Hubert Humphrey (D)

Richard M. Nixon (R)

Nixon’s War

“To bring peace with honor”

A. Nixon and Vietnamization1. Allowing for the Vietnamese

to take a more active role by withdrawing US troops

2. Peace with honor… “save face”; wanted a say at negotiation table

3. Secretly continues to bomb supply routes in N. Vietnam military bases, Laos and Cambodia

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

Ho Chi Minh trail

B. Invasion of Cambodia (4/’70)

1. Destroy N. Vietnamese and Vietcong supply centers

2. Leads to incidents such as student strikes and protest rallies on college campuses; ie, Kent State, Jackson State

3. Congress repeals the Gulf Tonkin Resolution

C. Kent State, Ohio (5/’70)

1. ROTC targeted due to military connection

2. National Guard sent out = 4 killed

3. Jackson State, Ms = 2 killed

D. Henry Kissinger

1. National Security Advisor

2. Main negotiator w/N.Vietnam

3. Nobel Peace Prize winner 1973

•

E. My Lai Massacre (11/69)

A Generation in Conflict

A. Vietnam’s Effect on America1. Draft stopped

2. War Powers Act (1973)a. President must inform congress within 48 hours if US

forces are sent into a hostile area without a declaration of war

b. Troops may not stay longer than 90 days unless congress approves presidents action or declares war

3. Foreign affairs: what risks do we take by getting involved?

4. Truman’s Containment policy unenforceable

B. War’s Painful Legacy

1. American’s vets come home

a. 58,000 killedb. Came home to

hostiles; no paradesc. 15% (450,000)

PTSD, suicides, addicts

d. 1982: Vietnams Veterans Memorial

Early Campus Protests

a. Classroom strikes

b. Sit-ins

c. War and campus issues

Vietnam Soldiers

1. Young – avg. 19; 26 WWII

2. Disproportionately AA and Latino

3. “White man’s war”

4. Returning soldiers protest

Crisis in the Cities1. Federal Housing Admin

a. Dev. of suburbia, not cities

b. Redlining neighborhoods

c. “Slum lords”

d. Highway disruptions

2. Unemployment & pollution high

3. Inner city growth a. AA: south

b. Whites: Appalachia

c. Latinos: Puerto Ricans

D. Urban Uprising

1. Why?a. Police brutality

b. Unemployment

c. No health facilities

d. Poor schools

e. Inadequate housing

2. Where– Watts, San Francisco,

Detroit, Cleveland, Newark

Watts Riots (1965)

E. LBJ’s Kerner Commission1. Riots due to “white racism” & police brutality

2. “two societies, one black, one white – separate and unequal”

Election 1972

Richard Nixon

Republican

George McGovern

Democrat

F. Nixon, China & the S.U.1. Policy of détente –

easing cold war tensions

2. Feb. 1972 Nixon visits China = better relations

3. Visits Leonid Brezhnev @ Moscow

– Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I)

G. Watergate

1. Major Players a. Carl Bernstein

b. Bob Woodward

c. Ben Bradleei. Serves as vice president

to the Washington Post today

ii. Responsible for revealing the Pentagon Papers @ the Washington Post

iii. Daniel Ellsberg released them

– “Plumbers” after him

Bernstein, Bradlee, & Woodward

James Butterfield – White House Aide/tapes

2. “Saturday Night Massacre”

a. Nixon wants him fired.

b. Those who are supposed to fire him resign instead.

Archibald Cox

Special Prosecutor

President Nixon’s Last Day

3. House Judiciary Committeea. Three articles of

impeachment: obstruction of justice

b. VP Agnew resigned in Oct ’73; tax evasion, kickbacks as gov. of Maryland

c. Gerald Ford new VP

d. Nixon resigns Aug ’74

e. Gerald Ford new Pres

f. Pardons Nixon