1968: A Tumultuous Year
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Transcript of 1968: A Tumultuous Year
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