Post on 03-Jan-2016
US and Vietnam: 1968
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"
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.
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
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
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
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
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"
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