The War Divides America Ch. 20.3

The War Divides America; Emotional Rift in Society  Anti-War Protests increase; Since Civil War Selective Service Act (1948); Draftees (18 & up) voting age  (1.5 m.); draft grows more unpopular Critics  unfair; government actions; poor & African American  inequalities October 1967; resistance; burned cards  1969; lottery designed

College Campuses Oppose the War; Students & Professors; spike in college enrollment Students for Democratic Society (SDS) (1960); University of Michigan; racism & poverty, end of war; Teach-Ins “we wont go” Clashing with authorities; Berkley  Free- Speech Movement Many Americans oppose war; living room war  distrust of government

Nov. 1967; General Westmoreland Home; Addresses Concerns  Vietcong declining –BUT- 1968; Vietcong assault Khe Sanh  U.S positions N.V’s Tet Offensive; Plan  36 capitols and 5 cities (Saigon)  Until population joined  Uprising did NOT occur Proved  Communist will to fight

War’s End Nowhere in Sight; even further; LBJ and Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford Meet ; Conclusion? March 31, 1968; Election 1968; LBJ announcement; won’t run –AND- decrease bombings  settlements Eugene McCarthy / Bobby Kennedy run for Democrat Candidates; anti-war Violence rocks the race; MLK (James Earl Ray; April 4, 1968) & Bobby Kennedy (Sirhan-Sirhan; June 5, 1968)

Protestors Disrupt Chicago Democratic Convention; Demand Anti-War Candidate Violence brakes out; police v. protestors; rocks and bottles Republican Convention in Miami; peaceful  Richard Nixon; promises “peace with honor.” Richard Nixon Wins Election of 1968!