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A Split Country. Antiwar Movement. -Americans doubted the gov’t - William Westmoreland- US commander in S. Vietnam -enemy is on the brink of defeat. Antiwar Movement. -TV showed otherwise
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Antiwar Movement -Americans doubted the gov’t -William Westmoreland- US commander in S. Vietnam -enemy is on the brink of defeat
Antiwar Movement -TV showed otherwise -credibility gap- hard to believe what the Johnson administration was saying about the war -argued Vietnam was not strategically important
Teach-ins -students abandon their classes to discuss issues surrounding the Vietnam War -May 1965- 100,000 antiwar demonstrations
Anger Over the Draft -not fair bc of college deferment -civil rights -many fled -500,000 refused to go = burn draft cards -18 could not vote -tons of protests
Hawks & Doves -by 1968- nation divided Hawks- escalate the war in Vietnam Doves- withdraw from Vietnam
1968: Pivotal Year -Tet Offensive- turning point of the war -Vietcong attack all major US air bases and major cities in S. Vietnam -strategic disaster for Vietcong - almost destroyed
1968: Pivotal Year -Americans doubted what Westmoreland was saying -Americans no longer support
Johnson Leaves the Race -Democrats nominate Eugene McCArthy for the 1968 election -RFK joins the race too -Democrats divided = Johnson leaves the race
A Season of Violence -MLK was assassinated -James Earl Ray -RFK was assassinated -Sirhan Sirhan George Wallace -assassination attempt
Nixon Wins the Election -Nixon promised to end the war & restore order at home -Nixon wins the 1968 election (finally)
Nixon Ends the War (Kinda) Vietnamization- slowly reduce the troops in Vietnam while training S.Vietnam army to continue the fighting -secretly Nixon bombs Cambodia -Henry Kissenger- Peace negotations with N. & S. Vietnam
Turmoil at Home -My Lai Massacre- spring 1968, under command of Lieutenant William Calley- massacred a village on unarmed S. Vietnamese civilians -Calley goes to jail -made Americans think the war was brutal and senseless
Cambodia Sparks Protest -US invaded Cambodia to destroy Vietcong bases there -US thinks gov’t expanding war -Congress gets mad bc they did not know of invasion = repeal Gulf of Tonkin Resolution -sparks protest - Kent State - soldiers killed 4 students
Pentagon Papers -defense dept. worker leaked top secret info about the Vietnam War and the Johnson administration -showed the gov’t was not being honest
The US Pulls Out -peace negotiations failed between N. Vietnam and N. Vietnam -Christmas Bombing- US dropped thousands of tons of bombs on N. Vietnam for 11 days
The US Pulls Out -negotiations start again -S. Vietnam agree to leave N. Vietnam troops in S. - independent -January 27, 1973 - peace agreement signed ending the war
South Vietnam Falls -March 1975 N. Vietnam launched a full scale invasion of S. Vietnam -US does not respond -April 30, 1975- Saigon was taken over and Vietnam - communist
The Legacy of Vietnam -War Powers Act- inform Congress on any commitment of troops abroad within 48hrs and withdraw 60-90 days -Cold War shift - Containment -> Negotiation
The Legacy of Vietnam -58,000 Americans K.I.A -cost US $170 billion -300,000 were injured