THE WORST YEAR IN AMERICAN HISTORY?

1968: A Tumultuous Year

TET

“Tet” is the Vietnamese New YearBoth sides had promised “no fighting”

during TetVietcong and North Vietnamese Army

attacked dozens of cities simultaneously Eventual USA victory, but the battle had

scared the American public, who had been told they were close to winning the warJohnson’s credibility gap widened

TET

Many who had supported the war (hawks) were turning against it (doves)

The media now openly criticized the war

The White House began to see the war as unwinnable

Johnson’s popularity plummeted

Johnson Withdraws

Robert Kennedy (a Democrat) decided to run against Lyndon Johnson (also Democrat) in the 1968 election

On March 31, 1968, Johnson gave a TV interview in which he announced he would begin negotiations to end the war in Vietnam

He then announced that he would not run for re-election Shocked the nation, hurt troop morale He admitted later that, “That war killed the lady I

really loved—the Great Society.”

Martin Luther King JR.

April 4, 1968Martin Luther King was assassinated by

James Earl RayAnguish, anger, disillusionmentRiots

Robert Kennedy

June 3, 1968Robert Kennedy, brother of JFK, was

assassinated after California primaryWould have been Democratic nomineeShot by Sirhan Sirhan

Riots

The summer of 1968 was filled with riots and violence in American cities

"Incessant agitation and propaganda on the part of communists and other subversives and extremists have definitely contributed to Negro unrest and fomented violence." — FBI, 1967

1968 Democratic Convention

Chicago—convention to determine the Democratic nominee for president (Hubert Humphrey, Johnson’s VP)

Massive protests, anti-war ralliesDisrupted the conventionMayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, called on

Police and National Guard to use tear gas, night sticks, dogs, etc. to disburse the protesters

Thousands of arrests

Televised

“The whole world is watching”

1968 Election

(R) Richard M. Nixon(D) Hubert Humphrey(AIP) George Wallace

“A Liar, A Wussy, A Racist”

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon ran on and said the following … We need to restore “law and order” We need “peace with honor” in Vietnam “I have a secret plan to end the war”

His running mate (for VP) was Spiro AgnewAgnew: Gov. of MD, seen as moral leader

Birth name: Anagnostopolus

Hubert Humphrey

Hubert Humphrey had been VP under LBJWas content to follow LBJ policies but hinted

at pulling out … maybeIndecisive

Running Mate was Edmund MuskieMuskie: Senator form Maine

Birth Name: Edziu Sixtus Marzcisewski

George Wallace

George Wallace had been governor of Alabama

He hated blacks. He was a racist and a segregationist “I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow,

segregation forever!”

Running mate was General Curtis Lemay“Bomb Vietnam back into the stone age”

Willing to “use the bomb in Vietnam”

In 1972 George Wallace was shot during an assassination attempt. He lived, but was paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life.

Nixon Wins!

Nixon won a plurality (he had enough electoral votes and more popular votes, BUT he did not have a majority … 43%)

1968

TET(My Lai—happened in 1968 but did not hear

about it until 1969)LBJ does not runMLK assassinatedRFK assassinatedRiotsDemocratic Convention, Chicago1968 ElectionNixon Wins