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Nixon and Vietnam
Nixon and Vietnam
• 1968—Richard Nixon elected President
• Elected as the “peace candidate”
• Promised “Vietnamization” of the War– Continuing to fund South Vietnam– But leaving most fighting to Vietnamese– By 1972, only 60,000 US troops left
• But…..
Cambodia• Neighbor of Vietnam• Had been peaceful• Nixon claimed that
Vietcong trained there• 1969—”secret bombings”
of Cambodia begin• 1970—full scale invasion• Result: War spreads,
Cambodia dissolves
Cambodia• Peaceful country
collapses after US attack
• Pol Pot & the Khmer Rouge take control in 1975
• Genocide kills millions– The “Killing
Fields”Pol Pot
Anti-War Movement in Nixon Years• Invasion of Cambodia spurs mass protest
– 300,000 attend DC protest in 1970
• Jackson State and Kent State Universities– Student protesters killed by National Guard
• Congress Revokes Gulf of Tonkin Resolution in 1970
• Pentagon Papers Published in 1971– Proof that US Government was lying about
Vietnam
Anti War Protests
Kent State Massacre, (May 4, 1970)
• 4 protesting students killed by National Guard– Most Americans supported the Soldiers
• The War was unpopular, but the anti-war movement was even more unpopular
• Riots and protests spread to other campuses– Many shut down
Kent State
NYU Students After Kent & Jackson State
Jackson State Massacre, (May 14, 1970)
• 2 students killed by National Guard amidst a protest
• Poorly reported & mostly forgotten– These were black
students
Phillip Gibbs James Green
US Soldiers in Vietnam
• Disproportionately poor and minority
• Viscous, terrifying fighting
• Declining morale– 1 in 6 go AWOL in 1971– 89,000 deserters in 1971
• “Why are we here?”
Public Opinion and the War• By 1964—little
opposition• By 1967—lots of
student opposition• By 1970—majority
of population opposed– Especially among
working class• Their sons were
dying
Final Stages• November, 1972
– Nixon wins landslide reelection– Claims to have “secret peace plan”
• December of 1972– Christmas bombings– Most massive attack on N. Vietnam– Still no surrender
• January 1973– US withdraws after cease fire
• April 1975– North Vietnam conquers South Vietnam
The Fall of Saigon, 1975
Results of the Vietnam War• Vietnam unified under communist control
– US loses
• 2,000,000 Vietnamese deaths?• 55,000 American deaths• Vietnamese society & economy destroyed• Destruction of Cambodia• $150 billion cost to US
– Hurts economy & kills the “Great Society”
• Humiliation for US
“North Vietnam’s leaders had deserved to win. South Vietnam’s leaders had deserved to lose. And America’s leaders, for thirty years, had failed the people of the North, the people of the South, and the people of the United States.”
--The final paragraph of A.J. Langguth’s
“Our Vietnam”