LECTURE: VIETNAM L E A R N I N G T A R G E T : I C A N D I S C U S S T H E I M P A C T O F T H E V I E T N A M C O N F L I C T

LECTURE: VIETNAM L E A R N I N G T A R G E T : I C A N D I S C U S S T H E I M P A C T O F T H E V I E T N A M C O N F L I C T

A-1964: While there, two American destroyers are attacked by North Vietnam 1-Called the Gulf of Tonkin incident 2-because of this, Congress authorizes LBJ to use military in Vietnam B-Fighting begins to escalate 1-At first, seemed like another Korea 2-However, American people did not understand what the American Military was doing in Vietnam

B-Fighting begins to escalate 3-Congress never declares war-president orders in troops to fight 4-War is broadcast nightly on TV news programs A) brought reality of war to Americans for first time B) Before Vietnam: Belief that war is heroic 5-By end of 1968: 536,000 American troops in Vietnam

B-Fighting begins to escalate 6-Tet Offensive A) North Vietnam violates truce during Tet (Vietnamese New Year) B) North was badly beaten C) Attack surprised U.S. because it showed Communists were able to launch an organized attack 7-War causes LBJ not to run for re-election A) Nixon become president in 1969 B) Famous Speech by LBJ

B-Fighting begins to escalate 7-Nixon begins massive bombing raids over North Vietnam 8-Nixon orders troops to invade Cambodia 9-U.S. gets all of its troops out of Vietnam by end of 1973 except for those protecting the American Embassy in Saigon 10-1975: South Vietnam surrenders A) American evacuate their embassy and take many South Vietnamese with them as possible

B-Fighting begins to escalate 11-Problem: What do we do about those missing in action? A) Vietnam originally would not help. B) Vietnam begins helping in mid-1990 s when U.S. normalized relations with them 12-Believed to be the only war in American history that the U.S. lost

C-Problems within American Society 1-Unemployment, civil rights and assassinations cause many people to speak out and not support the war A) Protest songs written and recorded 1) Where Have All the Flowers Gone 2) Eve of Destruction 3) Ballad of the Green Berets B) Counterculture Movement 1) Began at Berkley 2) experimented with drugs and sex 3) called Hippies 4) Culminated with Woodstock

C-Problems within American Society 1-Unemployment, civil rights and assassinations cause many people to speak out and not support the war B) Peace Marches C) Riots D) Draft resisters/dodgers 1) many young men moved to Canada, Mexico or other countries 2) Many used their college deferment to stay in college and continue past a Bachelor s degree A)-Many stayed long enough to earn Ph. D s and thus be too old to be drafted B)-Caused U.S. to end college deferment

D-Election of 1968 1-Vietnam War affects the presidential election greatly A) Democratic National Convention was affected by people protesting against the war outside the convention center 1) LBJ Announced he will not run for reelection 2) Hubert Humphrey nominated A)-LBJ s Vice President B)-From Minnesota C)-Tried to distance himself from LBJ s running of the war 1)-Many Americans believed he supported LBJ since he was VP

D-Election of 1968 3) Robert Kennedy, JFK s brother, who ran against Humphrey, is assassinated by Sirhan Siran while campaigning in California B) Nixon nominated by Republicans at an upbeat convention 1) Nixon says he will get America out of Vietnam A)-He actually escalates the war

D-Election of 1968 2-Results: Name Party Electoral Votes Popular Votes Blomen, Henning Socialist Labor 0 52,589 Chavez, Ventura People's Constitution 0 1,519 Cleaver, Eldridge Peace & Freedom 0 36,571 Gregory, Dick Peace & Freedom 0 47,149 Halstead, Fred Socialist Workers 0 41,396 Hensley, Kirby Universal 0 142 Humphrey, Hubert Democrat 191 31,275,165 McCarthy, Eugene McCarthy 0 25,634 Mitchell, Charlene Communist 0 1,077 Nixon, Richard Republican 301 31,785,480 Others 0 28,739 Wallace, George American Independent 46 9,906,473 Write In Votes 0 9,628

D-Election of 1968 2-Results:

II-OTHER ISSUES DURING LBJ ADMINISTRATION A-Supreme Court Cases 1-Gideon v. Wainwright A) Court held that all persons charged with a felony must be provided legal counsel (later changed to other lower charges) 2-Escobedo v. Illinois A) Police must honor a person s request to have an attorney present during interrogation 3-Miranda v. Arizona A) created Miranda Warning

II-OTHER ISSUES DURING LBJ ADMINISTRATION B-Ralph Nadar 1-Consumer advocate and political activist 2-wrote book, Unsafe at Any Speed, about poor safety standards for cars (1965) A) Led Congress to pass auto safety measures 3-3 rd party candidate for president in 1996, 2000, 2004

III-AFTERMATH OF VIETNAM A-Pentagon Papers (1969-1971) 1-Defense Dept. document discussing U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia 2-Discussed how gov t falsely portrayed its intentions during the Vietnam Was to the American people 3-New York Times received the papers from Daniel Ellsberg, who was studying defense policies 4-Times began printing document 5-Gov t took the Times to court because of National Security 6-Supreme Court allowed the publication due to freedom of the press

III-AFTERMATH OF VIETNAM B-War Powers Act (1973) 1-Law passed during Vietnam War requiring the President to report to Congress within 48 hours of committing troops or substantially increasing troop levels in foreign conflicts 2-Congressional approval was needed for any military commitment of troops for MORE than 90 days 3-Enacted over Nixon s veto 4-Possible Problem: Is it Constitutional? A-No president has ever challenged it in court B-Conflict is between President s power of commander-in-chief and Congress powers to declare war and spend money