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The Beginning of the End. Richard Nixon wants to get rid of nightmares Begins to pull troops out of Vietnam in 1969, but STILL fights war Negotiations over rule in S. Vietnam cont. while Nixon and Henry Kissinger came up with Vietnamization
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Richard Nixon wants to get rid of nightmares • Begins to pull troops out of Vietnam in 1969, but STILL fights war • Negotiations over rule in S. Vietnam cont. while Nixon and Henry Kissinger came up with Vietnamization • Gradual withdrawal in order for the S. Viet to take a more active role in the war
By 1972 there were only 25,000 troops left • Nixon called this “peace with honor” • Nixon still wanted clout to negotiate and continued bombing supply routes in N Viet and Cambodia and Laos.
Massacre shocks nation • NY Times report on My Lai Massacre • Shot more than 200 civs • Troops claim they were only following Lt. Calley’s orders • “Kill anything that breathed”
Home front was calming down however in 1970, even after My Lai • newly unveiled Cambodia attacks incite protest • 1.5 million students went on strike • Kent State saw burning of ROTC building
May 4, National Guard opened fire, killing four • Jackson State sees 2 shot • Many supported the National Guard • “Got what they were asking for”
Nixon Policies-Good President or Bad? • Positives • Aids Medicare/Medicaid and Family Assistance Plan • Peaceful Foreign policy of détente and China/USSR trips • SALT
Negatives • Stagflation- unemployment AND price rise • Civil Rights • Slowed integration for votes
Watergate • Ordered “plumbers” to break into the Democratic National Committee and “bug” their phone lines • They get caught • After the election it is discovered that they were paid by Nixon
Nixon denies involvement • Nixon fires many employees involved • Nixon withholds tapes and information from the Senate investigating committee • Finally hands over edited copies
Nixon resigns • V.P. Gerald Ford becomes President • First act Pardons Richard Nixon of all crimes • Public outraged; destroyed any chance of being elected