Unit 9.2—Vietnam and Counterculture Chapters 16 – 17 CSS 11.10, 11.11.
Transcript of Unit 9.2—Vietnam and Counterculture Chapters 16 – 17 CSS 11.10, 11.11.
Unit 9.2—Vietnam and Counterculture Chapters 16 – 17CSS 11.10, 11.11
Part TwoThe Homefront 11.9.3, 11.9.4
EQ #3: How did the American war effort in Vietnam lead to rising protests and social divisions back home?
The Homefront
• Selective Service• most of the 2.5 million who
served were poor working class
• disproportionate rate of AA casualties
• 15 million men received deferments
• college students and certain jobs• many left for Canada
• changed to lottery system in 1969
• widespread resistance to the draft
• draft cards burned
The Homefront
• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)• students at the U of
Michigan organized against the war in ‘64
• UC Berkeley students were forbidden to organize on campus
• started the Free Speech Movement
The Homefront
• Credibility Gap • LBJ’s optimism did not
match what people saw on TV
• people began to distrust the government• Vietnam Veterans Against
the War grew from 6 to 40,000 members
•Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?•Eighteen today, dead tomorrow!•Make love, not war!•Hell no, we won’t go!•Trust no one over thirty!
The Homefront
• Tet Offensive, 1968 • 70,000 Vietcong caught
U.S. by surprise on Vietnamese New Year
• attacked all across S. Vietnam
• military win for US but publicity victory for Vietcong
• 2000 US dead• 50,000 Vietcong dead
• severe blow to US confidence in the war
The Homefront
• Election of 1968• LBJ refused to run
for re-election• RFK was killed• major riots broke out in
Chicago at the Democratic Convention
• Nixon promised “peace with honor”
• the “Silent Majority”
1968
R Richard M. Nixon 31,785,480 301
D Hubert Humphrey 31,275,166 191
AI George Wallace 9,906,473 46
Part TwoVietnamization 11.9.3, 11.9.4, 11.8.5
EQ #4: How did the Vietnam War end, and what were its lasting effects?
Vietnamization
• Vietnamization • Nixon promised to reduce
U.S. involvement• peace talks stalled
• US wanted communists out of South Vietnam and POWs returned
• Ho Chi Minh wanted US out of South Vietnam immediately
• Nixon sent troops into Cambodia to seize Vietcong supplies in 1970
• in 1971, 2/3 of Americans wanted troops out of Vietnam even if it went communist as a result
Vietnamization
• My Lai Massacre, 1968• U.S. troops led by Lt.
William Calley massacred 400-500 unarmed villagers
• Calley convicted in 1971• court-martialed and
sentenced to life in prison but released in 1974
• added to anti-war movement
Vietnamization
• Pentagon Papers, 1972• The New York Times
published a classified history of the war
• it covered policy under Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson
• LBJ wrote the Tonkin Gulf Resolution before the attack
• Daniel Ellsberg, a Vietnam vet, leaked it
• Nixon tried to block it• The Supreme Court ruled
free speech
Vietnamization
• Kent State, 1970• Students protestors
threw rocks at the National Guard
• the guardsmen fired on antiwar protestors• 4 killed and 8 wounded
• college campuses across the nation closed down• President Nixon “...when
dissent turns to violence it invites tragedy”
Vietnamization
• Paris Peace Talks, 1973• Nixon won re-election
in 1972 with peace approaching
• Nixon renewed bombing North Vietnam when talks stalled
• US troops pulled out in 1973
Vietnamization
• Saigon Falls, 1975• communist forces
restarted hostility • Saigon fell and was
renamed Ho Chi Minh City
• US embassy workers were evacuated to ships off the coast• the US reopened
diplomatic relations with Vietnam in 1995
Vietnamization
• Cost of the Vietnam War• Aug. 1964-May 7, 1975• 3,403,100 served in the
Southeast Asia Theater (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia)• 58,202 died• 300,000 wounded• POWs: 766• MIA: 2,338• 240 won Medal of Honor
• represented 9.7% of their generation
Vietnamization
• War Powers Act, 1973• limited presidential
authority to make war• President must inform Congress
within 48 hours of sending in troops
• President may only commit troops up to 60 days in field
• congressional authority always higher than president
• passed over Nixon’s veto
Part TwoNixon and the Cold War 11.9.3
EQ #5: How did Richard Nixon change Cold War diplomacy during his presidency?
“Peace with Honor”
• Henry Kissinger• Sec. of State under
Nixon• key in ending
Vietnam• under “realpolitick”
the US opened talks with China and the USSR
“Peace with Honor”
• Zhou En-lai• Nixon went to China
to meet communist leader Zhou En-Lai in 1972
• put pressure on North Vietnam to end the war
• it spooked the USSR
“Peace with Honor”
• Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT)• Nixon and Brezhnev
agreed to freeze number of long-range nuclear missiles (ICBMs) in 1972
• it didn’t end the Cold War but it reduced tension (détente) between the US and the USSR