Vietnam to 1960
• France in Vietnam
• Ho Chi Minh
• 1950: Aid to France
• Dien Bien Phu (1954)
• Geneva Conference
• SEATO (1954)
• Ngo Dinh Diem’s Government
Kennedy and Vietnam
• National Liberation Front (NLF) / Vietcong
• Kennedy
• Fall of Diem (Nov. 2, 1963)
Johnson and Vietnam
• The Gulf of Tonkin Crisis• The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution• Rolling Thunder (1965)• Escalation• Search and Destroy• Air Power • 1969: 543,000 troops• Hearts and Minds
Vietnam and Student Protests
• First Anti-Vietnam March
• Realist Critics
• Student Movements
• Mass Expansion
Radicalization of Protest
• War with Administrations
• Terrorists
• Nonviolent Resistance
• Democratic Opposition to the War
Youth Culture of the Sixties and Seventies
• Counterculture
• Folk --> Rock
• Drugs and More Drugs
• Communes and Sexuality
• Gay Rights
• Fade to Self-Indulgence
The Women’s Movement (I)
• Depression Era
• WWII
• Post-War
• President’s Commission on the Status of Women (1961)
• 1964 Civil Rights Act
The Women’s Movement (II)
• Literature– Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (1953)– Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (1963)
• Women’s Political Organizations– Women’s Equity Action League (1963)– National Organization for Women (1965)
• Radical Feminism
Race Relations (Indians)
• Wheeler-Howard Indian Reorganization Act of 1934
• National Congress of American Indians (WWII)
• Government Support
• AIM (1968)
• Wounded Knee II (1973)
Suburban Triumph
• Prosperity and Growth
• Community College
• Baker vs. Carr (1962)
• School Busing
1968: Chaos in America--The Tet Offensive (I)
• January 29, 1968-February, 1968• 50,000 US and SVA vs 85,000 NVA and
Vietcong• 45,000 NVA and Vietcong killed, 6000
capture• US and SVA lose 4,324 killed, 16,063
wounded, and 598 missing.• Vietcong largely ceases to exist
1968: Chaos in America--The Tet Offensive (II)
• Aftermath:– A blow to morale– TV coverage– The Logic of War
• My Lai (1968)
• Vietnamization
1968: Chaos in America--Eugene McCarthy’s Revolt
• March 21--Close results in New Hampshire
• March 24--RFK comes in
• March 31--LBJ goes out
• April 4--Martin Luther King, Jr. Assassinated. Riots in 60 cities
• June 4--Sirhan Sirhan kills RFK
• Hubert Humphrey nominated
1968: Chaos in America-- The Election of 1968
• Richard Nixon’s Southern Strategy
• George Wallace’s Hate / “Law and Order” Strategy
• Nixon and Agnew: 31.78 million votes, 301 electoral (Nixon took 8 Southern States out of 15)
• Humphrey and Muskie: 31.27 million votes, 191 electoral (Only 1 Southern State. Johnson had taken 10 in 1964.)
• Wallace and LeMay: 9.9 million votes, 46 electoral (6 Southern States)
Nixon and Foreign Policy
• House of Cronies
• Nixon Doctrine
• SALT (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) I
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Nixon Goes to China
• Detente
Nixon and Vietnam (I)
• Goals– Avoid Appearance of Defeat– Build up South Vietnam: “Vietnamization”
• Invasion of Cambodia (1970)– Khmer Rouge
• December 1970--Gulf of Tonkin repealled
• Prisoners of War?
Nixon and Vietnam (II)
• December 1971: 100,000 out, 133,000 remain
• April 1, 1972: New NV offensive
• Negotiations
• January 23, 1973: Peace settlement
• 1975: Fall of Saigon
The Nixon Era: Domestic Programs
• Apollo 11: July 20, 1969
• The Problems of the Cities--Ignored
• “New Federalism”
• Welfare Reform
The Nixon Era: Economic Weakness
• “Demand-Pull Inflation”
• Off the Gold Standard
• Cost-Push Inflation
• Conservation and Energy Efficiency
• Stagflation
The Nixon Era: Domestic Arena II
• Supreme Court--2 appointments
• Supreme Court--Burger Court
• Regulation– The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency)– Wage and Price Freeze (August 15, 1971)
1972 Election
• Nixon Runs Left
• George McGovern’s Coalition
• Watergate Breakin
• The Results– Nixon/Agnew: 47.168 million (520 electoral)– McGovern/Shriver: 29.1 million (17
Electoral votes)
The Criminal Presidency I
• A Culture of Criminality
• The Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREEP)
• Watergate
• The Trial
• The Accusation: March 1973
• John Dean Confesses
The Criminal Presidency II
• Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox• The Tapes vs Executive Privilege• VP Spiro Agnew Resigns• The Saturday Night Massacre• “I am Not a Crook”--November 17, 1973• The Tapes Censored• The IRS• The Watergate Tapes
The Criminal Presidency III
• Impeachment
• Supreme Court -- July 24, 1974
• The Smoking Gun--June 23, 1972 Tape
• August 8, 1974--Nixon Resigns
Gerald Ford, 1974-7: A Mediocre Presidency
• August 9, 1974
• Less Imperial
• Fall of Vietnam
• Cambodia and Pol Pot
• Refugees to the US
Economic Woes
• Stagflation– Unemployment: 5.8-11%, Inflation: 6 to 13%.
• The Energy Crisis– Prelude– Kissinger and the 1973 War
• Oil Embargos– Gas from $3 to $12 a barrel
The Carter Years, Unsuccessful Idealism, 1977-81
• Jimmy Carter vs. Ford– Carter: 40.8 million (297 EV)– Ford: 39.1 million (240 EV)
• Simplicity
• Economic Troubles:– Inflation hit 13%, the Fed tightened Credit,
Interest Rates hit 15% by 1979.
Carter’s Struggle
• Energy Plan• Industrial City Meltdown• Corporatization of Agriculture• Human Rights• Deregulation
– Airlines: 1978– Trucking and Rail: 1980– Banking Industry
Carter Abroad: Success
• Salt II (1979)
• Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
• Sadat and Begin – Camp David Peace Accords (1978)