Political Results

• New Hampshire Primary• LBJ 49%• Senator Eugene

McCarthy 48.6% (Minn)• Soon Robert Kennedy

would enter the race for 1968.

Home Front• Hawks – pro-war • Doves – anti-war• Norman Morrison• Quaker, father of 3 threw child

near the Pentagon• Then set himself on fire due to

the war• March 31, 1968-LBJ

announced that he would not run for a 2nd term & halt bombing

• Alice Herz• 82 year old woman that

burned herself alive-Detroit

E. Nixon

• “I’m not going to end up like LBJ. I’m going to end that war fast.”

• Can we win? Henry Kissinger told Nixon that Vietnam could be won in 8-13 years!

Peace w/Honor

• How do we end the war in Vietnam?• Peace with Honor• Withdraw troops,

negotiate, and when they do not accept bomb• Push USSR/China to help

end the war…• Creighton Abrams

replaces Westmoreland

Nixon Doctrine

• 1. US shall keep all treaty commitments.• 2. US shall provide a

shield of nuclear power to a country that is an ally or vital to our security.• 3. We will give $$ and

military aid to others but they are responsible for their primary defense.

Madman Theory

• Goal-Make the NV think that Nixon had lost his mind in order to end the war• Ex: Boxer Shorts

• Operation Duck Hook-called for the possibility of dropping nuclear weapons across NV by Nov. 1, 1969

Operation Linebacker I April 10, 1972• LBJ-March 31, 1968• End all bombing of North

Vietnam

• Restart the Air War against the North• Destroy anything that

could be used as an offensive weapon• Dropped mines in

harbors of NV• Destroyed 4 USSR ships

Operation Linebacker II

• Known as the Christmas bombings• December 1972• Round the clock

bombings of civilian targets like hospitals and orphanages

• Estimated 2000 Casualties on Day 1

Vietnamization

• Plan by the Nixon administration to turn the fighting in Vietnam over to SV.• This lowered US military

effectiveness.

Troop Withdrawal

• Nixon uses his Peace with Honor approach• Starts to withdraw

troops over a 14 pt. phased plan• 1968-560,000• 1972-60,000

Domestic America

• Nixon guards the White House (January 1970) - 300 soldiers• “Draft Beer, not Kids”• “1,2,3,4, we don’t want

your ------- war”• “Hey, hey LBJ, how many

kids did you kill today?”

Anti-War Protesting

• The war wasn’t ending like most Americans had hoped.• Bombing escalated• Involvement in Laos &

Cambodia increased• Congress is angered over

the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution