1968: Taking a Turn for the Worst!
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Transcript of 1968: Taking a Turn for the Worst!
1968: Taking a Turn for the Worst!
Ch. 29, Section 3 &4
IN THE 1969 DRAFT, THE FIRST 195 DATES (1940-1955) DRAWN WERE CALLED TO SERVICE!
WERE YOU DRAFTED?
http://www.landscaper.net/draft.htm
1940: FDR SIGNS THE SELECTIVE TRAINING AND SERVICE ACT
-MEN WERE DRAFTED FOR VARIOUS REASONS FROM 1948-1973
-1969: FIRST LOTTERY DRAWING HELD!!
THE DRAFT
-
1969-1972: Draft Lottery, based on Birthdates
-in response to 1968 events
-850K affected in 1969
-Approx. 70K men flee to Canada “Draft Dodgers”
TET
-late January the start of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year
-7 day party!!
-cease-fire??
KHE SANH
-increased traffic on Ho Chi Minh trail; America expecting an attack
-Siege of Khe Sanh-to throw
Americans off guard!
NO PARTY IN SOUTH VIETNAM!
-Tet Offensive begins Jan. 30th, 1968
-12 U.S. military bases & more than 100 S. Vietnam cities attacked by Vietminh & Vietcong
EFFECTS OF TET OFFENSIVE
-45K Vietcong/N. Vietnamese troops die
-1,500+ Americans die; 2,700+ ARVN troops die
-major blow, no “safe” place in S. Vietnam
-public support weakened
-political bickering
ELECTION OF 1968-Johnson is done!
-Nixon (Republican)
-Democrats-Robert Kennedy-Hubert Humphrey
-Independent: George Wallace
VIETNAMIZATION-1969: 540K U.S. troops in S. Vietnam
-1972: only 24K in S. Vietnam
-still not good enough for some war not over!
PROTESTORS
-College students
-Kent State Massacre
WHY DID THEY PROTEST?
-middle-class & vets join the protests
(1) My Lai Massacre(2) Pentagon Papers
ELECTION OF 1972
-incumbent Nixon vs. George McGovern (Dem)
-26th Amendment
-Jan., 1973: U.S. agrees to pull out, but what will happen to S. Vietnam??
NEARING THE END
-1975: North Vietnam invades South Vietnam
-April, 1975: Saigon evacuated; South Vietnam surrenders
-Vietnam is reunified, but under communist rule!
EFFECTS OF THE WAR-Domino Theory: Cambodia falls to communism
in 1973; Vietnam invades Cambodia in 1975
-Lives lost
-Environmental Effects/Human Defects
-Veterans
-War Powers Act (1973)