Vietnam: The Media, Popular Opinion, & Exit

When and why did U.S. popular opinion shift?

Vietnam War Total U.S. Deaths: 58,193 Iraq War Total U.S. Deaths: 4,400 (5/10), Afghanistan: 1,000 (5/10)

1964-1968: EscalationA War of Attrition:• Troop levels increase

dramatically– 1964 – 23,300– 1968 – 536,100

• Dec 1964-1968: Operation Rolling Thunder– 300,000+ sorties– 865,000 tons of bombs

dropped (every NV bridge and major RR line hit)

– Targeted NV, VC, and Ho Chi Minh Trail

B-52 Stratofortress

Escalation• Operation Rolling

Thunder– Failed: Supplies were

still coming down Ho Chi Minh Trail

– Failed: Stiffened the will of the VC and NVA

• Troop Build Up– Failed: Many in SV

disliked both sides, didn’t see U.S. as liberators

1968: A Year of Change• Jan ’68 – Tet Offensive

– U.S. Policy Makers: “Light at the end of the tunnel”

– Truce during Tet (Vietnamese New Year)

– Nationwide attack on 100+ cities in SV by Communists – Saigon, Hue, Khe Sahn

– Goal: Provoke a popular uprising against the Americans

– Military Defeat for the VC and NVA• Est. 45,000 NVA & VC troops KIA• Est. 1,500 U.S. troops KIA• Est. 2,700 ARVN troops KIA

– BUT…

Tet Offensive Targets

Tet Offensive – CBS News

Tet Offensive – Walter Cronkite Commentary (Feb. 7, 1968)

IndicatorPre-TET

Post-TET

Change

 Approves Johnson's handling of job as president

48% 36% -12

Approves Johnson's handling of Vietnam

39% 26% -13

Regards war in Vietnam as a mistake 45% 49% +4Proportion classifying themselves as "hawks"

60% 41% -19

Tet Offensive: A Political Defeat

1968: Growing Tensions at Home

• April 1968- MLK killed, streets explode, a vision dies

• June 1968- Bobby Kennedy killed- had been anti-war Democratic favorite

Growing Anti-War Movement• Initially seen as unpatriotic

• Small groups of activists before Tet– Many associated with Civil Rights

Movement (MLK, Muhammad Ali)

• 1967 – 50,000 March on the Pentagon-Draft Card burning

• Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)– Student movement (mid-1960s)– Chapters at college campuses across the

country

• Tet (1968) – sets off a wave of protests– 1,000 US dying/month– No end in sight

• Draft Lottery- 1969– Greater resistance/”dodgers”– No more education deferments

SHOW VIDEO ON DRAFT CARDS

1968 Election

• LBJ surprise announcement- not running again

• Opened up field- dems split

Election of 1968

• LBJ withdraws under intense pressure

• RFK – seen as a favorite – assassinated June ’68

• MLK/RFK assassinations – set off race riots and antiwar protests

Robert Kennedy

Burning US Cities- anger over MLK’s Death (April 1968)

Chicago Democratic Convention 1968

• Dems split- Hawks (Humphrey- LBJ’s VP) vs. Doves (Eugene McCarthy)

• Mayor Daley’s police vs. anti-war protesters- “The whole world is watching!”- Live on TV

• In Nov. election, Dems split vote and Nixon won- said he represented “The Silent Majority.”

The Candidates ‘68

Hubert Humphrey

• Democrat• Vice President• Supported LBJ’s

war policies

George WallaceRichard Nixon• American

Independent Party

• Segregationist• Posed a threat to

steal votes from Nixon & Humphrey

• Last 3rd party candidate to win electoral votes

• Republican• “Peace with

honor”• “Secret plan” to

end the war

Nixon:31,785,480 ;301 electoral

Humphrey:31,275,166 ;191 electoral

Wallace:9,9066,473;46 electoral

The Anti-War Movement Grows

• Nov. 1969 – My Lai Massacre made public• 1969- Moratorium in DC, SF, NY, etc.- mass protests to end war

• 1970 – Kent State Massacre– 2,000 unarmed college students protest invasion of Cambodia– Ohio National Guard called upon– 4 students killed; 9 wounded

Jackson State killings- 10 days later, state and local police fire on student demonstrators at Jackson State (Mississippi)

- 2 killed, 10 wounded- predominantly Black university

Kent State Massacre

Kent State Massacre

Jackson State Killings 1970

Nixon and Vietnam- Press

• Secretly bombing Cambodia-1969 (Congress and people didn’t know)

• Pentagon Papers- 1971- Daniel Ellsberg

• Nixon tried to issue “prior restraint”, Supreme Court said no- free press- right to know

Nixon and Vietnam- Policy

• Vietnamization: building up ARVN, gradually w/draw U.S. troops– 1969 – 475,000 U.S. troops– 1973 – 50 U.S. troops

• Invasion of Cambodia (1970)- expansion– Seized large amounts of enemy supplies– Communists retreat farther into Cambodia– Sparks more protests at home (ex: Kent St.)– US recruited Hmong and Mien fighters- Laos

• 1972 Christmas Bombings – Lead to 1973 Paris Peace Accords– By this time- only 70,000 troops/6,000 combat

1973 Paris Peace Accords

• Ceasefire in place Jan 27, 1973

• U.S. troops to withdraw within 60 days – return of POWs

• Negotiations between Saigon and VC to set up democratic elections

The Fall of Saigon

• Early 1975: NVA crosses into South Vietnam• President Gerald Ford asks for more military

aid to South Vietnam• Congress refuses• April 30, 1975 – Saigon falls to the

Communists• Thousands of Refugees flee the country

Fall of Saigon: April 30, 1975

U.S. Embassy

Refugees aboard a U.S. Navy vessel

The Legacy of Vietnam• War Powers Act (1973)

– Loss of faith in government– Prevent future wars from starting w/o Congressional approval– President must inform Congress 2 days prior to any use of U.S. troops – must

be withdrawn w/in 60 days if Congress does not support their deployment• Veterans

– No hero’s welcome– Psychological problems – perhaps 500,000– Vietnam Memorial (1982)

• Aftermath in Indochina– Domino Theory correct? – Communists takeover in Cambodia and Laos – mass

refugees• Military

– Decline in Military Spending in the years following Vietnam– U.S. no longer seems invincible – humbling experience– No major military conflicts until the Gulf War (1991)