Warm Up: Pick up a copy of the “Ohio” lyrics off of the stand next to the white board and await further instruction Do NOT write on the lyrics!

Activator What event are they singing about?

PEACE PROTESTS AND THE END TO THE WAR Vietnam War

Review What is going on in Vietnam that is making the war so hard to win for the Americans?  Hard to tell who the enemy is, the US is fighting in the jungle which it doesn’t have a lot of experience in, the N Vietnamese and Vietcong were willing to accept large casualties and wait out the war Why didn’t some Americans believe the US should have been in Vietnam?  The war in Vietnam was actually a civil war; many didn’t believe the US should have been involved in a civil war.

Student Activism In what ways were students on college campuses starting to take an active role against the Vietnam War?  Free Speech Movement  Teach-ins  Resisting the draft  Protests for peace on college campuses; some turned deadly (Kent State and Jackson State) What is the difference between a “hawk” and a “dove?”  Hawk – Supports war in Vietnam  Dove – Against the war in Vietnam; promoted peace

Moral Begins to Drop At the beginning of the war, the majority of the population was in support of the war. As it raged on, moral began to drop for the following reasons:  Disproportionate representation of minorities and poor Americans – wealthy Americans were able to get their sons stationed in areas away from the war.  Scenes of dying soldiers and desperate civilians on the news  Heavy American casualties due to the Tet Offensive  President Johnson’s refusal to turn fighting over the South Vietnamese

Election of 1968 Richard Nixon was able to defeat Hubert Humphrey as he promised the following:  Restore law and order to the protests in the United States  A plan to end the war in Vietnam

Beginning in May 1968, the US entered into peace negotiations with North Vietnam Peace agreements would not be reached with North Vietnam until 1973 After assuming office, President Nixon promoted the policy of Vietnamization  Replacing American military forces with South Vietnamese military forces Steps towards Peace

The War Comes to an End Days before the 1972 election, the United States announced a provisional peace agreement. In January 1973, the US, N and S Vietnam, and the Viet Cong agreed to the following:  US withdrawal of all troops in S Vietnam within 60 days  All prisoners of war (pow’s) would be released  All military activities in Laos and Cambodia would end  17 th Parallel would continue to divide N and S Vietnam until it could be reunified

After Americans Leave North Vietnamese troops continued attacking cities in South Vietnam, with the goal being capturing Saigon As North Vietnamese troops closed in on Saigon, American helicopters airlifted 7,000 people out of Saigon. The day after the last minute airlifts, Saigon fell to the North.

Domestic Changes 26 th Amendment – Changes the voting age from 21 to 18 years of age. Why would they make this change?  People claimed that they could fight and die for their country but they could not elect the leaders who put them into the war Nixon abolished the draft, instead, the military would be made up of all volunteers.

Should the US have been involved? Costs of the Vietnam War: Of the 2.7 million Americans that served in the Vietnam war…  300,000 were wounded in action  75,000 were disabled Of the casualties listed on The Wall, approximately 2,583 remain missing in action  58,129 were killed  The average age was 19

Should the US have been involved? On the Vietnamese side it is estimated…  1.1 million North Vietnamese and Vietcong were killed  Over 2 million North and South Vietnamese citizens were killed Your thoughts?

The Vietnam Memorial, Washington, D.C.

Lessons for the future 1. Wars must be of short duration. 2. Wars must yield few American casualties. 3. Restrict media access to battlefields. 4. Develop and maintain Congressional and public support. 5. Set clear, winnable goals. 6. Set deadline for troop withdrawals.