Nixon and Vietnam

Nixon and Vietnam

• 1968—Richard Nixon elected President

• Elected as the “peace candidate”

• Promised “Vietnamization” of the War– Continuing to fund South Vietnam– But leaving most fighting to Vietnamese– By 1972, only 60,000 US troops left

• But…..

Cambodia• Neighbor of Vietnam• Had been peaceful• Nixon claimed that

Vietcong trained there• 1969—”secret bombings”

of Cambodia begin• 1970—full scale invasion• Result: War spreads,

Cambodia dissolves

Cambodia• Peaceful country

collapses after US attack

• Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge take control in 1975

• Genocide kills millions– The “Killing

Fields”Pol Pot

Anti-War Movement in Nixon Years• Invasion of Cambodia spurs mass protest

– 300,000 attend DC protest in 1970

• Jackson State and Kent State Universities– Student protesters killed by National Guard

• Congress Revokes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1970

• Pentagon Papers Published in 1971– Proof that US Government was lying about

Vietnam

Anti War Protests

Kent State Massacre, (May 4, 1970)

• 4 protesting students killed by National Guard– Most Americans supported the Soldiers

• The War was unpopular, but the anti-war movement was even more unpopular

• Riots and protests spread to other campuses– Many shut down

Kent State

NYU Students After Kent & Jackson State

Jackson State Massacre, (May 14, 1970)

• 2 students killed by National Guard amidst a protest

• Poorly reported & mostly forgotten– These were black

students

Phillip Gibbs James Green

US Soldiers in Vietnam

• Disproportionately poor and minority

• Viscous, terrifying fighting

• Declining morale– 1 in 6 go AWOL in 1971– 89,000 deserters in 1971

• “Why are we here?”

Public Opinion and the War• By 1964—little

opposition• By 1967—lots of

student opposition• By 1970—majority

of population opposed– Especially among

working class• Their sons were

dying

Final Stages• November, 1972

– Nixon wins landslide reelection– Claims to have “secret peace plan”

• December of 1972– Christmas bombings– Most massive attack on N. Vietnam– Still no surrender

• January 1973– US withdraws after cease fire

• April 1975– North Vietnam conquers South Vietnam

The Fall of Saigon, 1975

Results of the Vietnam War• Vietnam unified under communist control

– US loses

• 2,000,000 Vietnamese deaths?• 55,000 American deaths• Vietnamese society & economy destroyed• Destruction of Cambodia• $150 billion cost to US

– Hurts economy & kills the “Great Society”

• Humiliation for US

“North Vietnam’s leaders had deserved to win. South Vietnam’s leaders had deserved to lose. And America’s leaders, for thirty years, had failed the people of the North, the people of the South, and the people of the United States.”

--The final paragraph of A.J. Langguth’s

“Our Vietnam”