us and vietnam: 1968. mid 1960s review civil rights strife: assassination of malcolm x; sncc, black...
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US and Vietnam: 1968
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Mid 1960s Review
• Civil rights strife: assassination of Malcolm X; SNCC, Black Panthers
• LBJ's first election, 1964• LBJ’s Great Society
programs: “War on Poverty:” Medicare, Medicaid
• LBJ's policy of escalation in Vietnam, 1965-1968
• American justification for intervention: "Aggression from the North"
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1967 “Vietnam Summer”
• 1967: "Vietnam Summer"• US involvement reached
550,000-troop presence• Generational split
– Elder generation supported use of force to prevent the spread of communist threat
– Younger generation believed "threat" to be of too little consequence to justify their participation in war. 41% of pop was under 20.
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1967 Student Protests• Martin Luther King, Jr.: billions
spent in Vietnam could be better spent combating domestic poverty
• US society wrenched by racial tension and movement for racial equality
• Marijuana and hallucinogenic drugs accepted by "counter culture," especially in SF Bay Area
• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) focused in UC Berkeley: speeches, demonstrations, folk music, “teach-ins”
• October 1967: protestors raised Vietcong flag on Pentagon flagstaff, burned draft cards
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Vietnam Troop LevelsSource: Congressional Quarterlies
1960 900
1961 3,200
1962 11,300
1963 16,300
1964 23,300
1965 184,300
1966 385,300
1967 485,600
1968 536,100
1969 475,200
1970 334,600
1971 156,800
1972 24,200
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Into the 1968 Election• Eugene McCarthy, Democrat from
Minnesota: immediate withdrawal from Vietnam
• New Hampshire primary: McCarthy received 42%; Johnson 49%
• Bobby Kennedy entered Democratic race four days later
• Tet Offensive: January-September• General Westmoreland's Appraisal
of the 1968 Tet Offensive– further escalation of troop
commitment needed to "win" the war
– invasions of Cambodia and Laos were necessary
– invasion of North Vietnam necessary
– cost should increase from 17b to 27b yearly taxes would have to be raised
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Assassinations
• MLK– April 4, 1968 in Memphis– Race riots erupted across US– Johnson declared April 9
national day of mourning– 2 months later, James Earl Ray
captured in UK, confessed, but later retracted confession
• Bobby Kennedy– June 4, 1968 in L.A.– Had been leading Demo-cratic
primary race– Hubert Humphrey won primary,
and lost to Nixon
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1968 Democratic Convention• After appraisal of the Tet Offensive,
Johnson announced – his decision to withdraw from the
presidential campaign– Cessation of bombing north of 19th
parallel– hope for immediate peace talks with
Ho Chi-minh• Chicago Democratic Convention
– Democratic incumbent withdrawn– Pro-McCarthy Student
demonstrations and police clash televised
– Failure to convince moderate Democrats
• Republican challenger: Richard M. Nixon, Republican from California– Campaigned against Kennedy in
1960– "End the War and Win the Peace"
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1968 Election Illustrated…• Public perceived US policy in
Vietnam as a failure• Public opinion changed policy
in Vietnam• Huge generational gap in
opinion about government and war
• Public’s perception of the Cold War had changed
• Heightened responsiveness of president to American popular opinion
• US public changed morality regarding foreign policy: foreign intervention might not be justified