1. Chapter 29 – Times of Turmoil: War at Home & Abroad

2. Vietnam: America’s Longest War
The Vietnam War had its roots in the Truman Doctrine and containment:
Divided after France was defeated in 1954
JFK saw Vietnam as “the cornerstone of the Free World in Southeast Asia” against the spread of communism
LBJ said it was “a fight for American principles”
The U.S paid a huge price for its determination to turn back communism in Indochina:
More than 58,000 Americans died
Created deep divisions at home

3. Lyndon Johnson’s War Pledged not to send American soldiers into combat
LBJ manipulated Congress into passing The Tonkin Gulf Resolution:
Tantamount to a declaration of war
When bombing failed to halt North Vietnamese advances, Johnson sent troops to prevent a Communist victory

4. Deeper into the Quagmire
LBJ was committed to a war of attrition to wear out and destroy Vietnam:
Search-and-destroy missions & chemical warfare wreaked havoc on the people & the land
By the end of 1965, 165,000 troops were in Vietnam with more to come

5. The Credibility Gap
Fearful of losing momentum for his domestic policies (war on poverty), LBJ deceives Congress & the public about the war’s progress
Johnson’s popularity plummets:
Vietnam became a TV war fought on the nightly news
News media increasingly questioned the official descriptions of the war
As casualties mounted, more Americans questioned LBJ’s handling of the war

6. A Generation in Conflict
The so-called sixties generation:
Brought together activism with music, dress and hairstyles known as “flower children”
Rejected their elders’ authority
Formed an increasingly insistent anti-war movement

7. “The Times They Are A-Changin’”
People of all ages protested against the war:
Young people stood out the most
Early campus protests at Berkeley centered on students’ rights to free speech
In 1967, San Francisco attracted thousands of young people for the “Summer of Love”
Events like the Woodstock festival gave witness to the ideals of the counterculture

8. Teenage Soldiers The average age of a GI in Vietnam was 19
Latinos and African-Americans made up a disproportionate share of the soldiers
Many soldiers grew increasingly bitter:
Government lies about their alleged victories
The inability of society to accept them once they returned home

9. Urban Uprisings
Cities became segregated centers of poverty & pollution with large minority populations
Black frustrations resulted in over 100 riots in northern cities between 1964 and 1968
In Watts, Newark and Detroit, rioters battled police and National Guard troops, leaving dozens dead and thousands injured, with more arrested
A presidential commission blamed the rioting on white racism, poverty, and police brutality, and recommended massive social reforms.

10. Urban Uprisings
After World War II, urban uprisings precipitated by racial conflict increased in African American communities. In Watts in 1965 and in Detroit and Newark in 1967, rioters struck out at symbols of white control of their communities, such as white owned businesses and residential properties.

11. 1968: A Year of Turmoil January 30, 1968 – The Tet Offensive
North Vietnamese launched simultaneous attacks across the country
Shattering the credibility of American officials who had been predicting a quick victory
Despite the military victory, media reports triggered antiwar protests in America as well as in Paris, Rome, Berlin and London
LBJ declared a bombing halt and announced he would not seek reelection

12. MAP 29.2 The Southeast Asian War
The Indo-Chinese subcontinent, home to longstanding regional conflict, became the center of a prolonged war with the United States.

13. The Assassination of MLK
By 1968:
Martin Luther King denounces the war in Vietnam
Announced a massive Poor People’s Campaign
Came to Memphis to support a strike by black sanitation workers
On April 4, King was shot and killed while standing on his motel balcony
Rioting broke out in over 100 cities

14. “The Whole World is Watching!”
The 1968 Democratic Convention:
The scene of a major confrontation between protesters and police
Determined to prevent disruptive anti-war protests, Mayor Daley unleashed a police riot that was captured on national TV

15. The Nixon Presidency 1968 - Richard M. Nixon elected
Inherited an increasingly unpopular war and a nation wracked by internal discord
Promises a vague “just and honorable peace” in Southeast Asia and the restoration of law and order at home
Nixon makes stunning moves toward détente with the People’s Republic of China but widened the Vietnam War

16. The Politics of Identity
Nixon had promised to “bring Americans together again,” but 1960s activism got in the way:
Gay liberation movement
Women’s liberation movement
Latinos, Asian Americans, and Indian peoples pressed their own claims, drawing their lessons from the Black Power movement

17. Black Power In the wake of Malcolm X’s death:
Generational divisions marked the civil rights movement as younger African Americans turned to Black Power
Groups like the Black Panthers reflected the growing militancy but met violent resistance from police

18. Nixon’s War Nixon promised to bring “peace with honor” to Vietnam
Fearful that a military defeat would destroy U.S. global leadership
While Nixon spoke of a phased withdrawal of American troops, he widened the war by invading Cambodia
Massive protests led to four deaths at Kent State and two at Jackson State
Nixon eventually accepted a peace settlement that led to the fall of South Vietnam

19. Students at hundreds of colleges and universities turned out in mass demonstrations to protest widening the war in Southeast Asia and the increasing violence on campus. Following the Kent State “massacre,” approximately 5 million students joined the national student strike, boycotting classes for the remainder of the week. This photograph, taken at George Washington University, shows a confrontation between Washington Metropolitan Police and an unidentified student.

20. Nixon’s Foreign Policy
With a policy of détente, Nixon significantly eased Cold War tensions:
Opened relations with the Communist govt. in China
Improved relations with the Soviet Union by negotiating economic agreements & signing the SALT arms control agreement

21. Dirty Tricks & the 1972 Election
Nixon wins reelection against George McGovern but will not complete his second term:
Formed an inner circle to keep information from the public and to plug leaks
June 1972: A team of burglars was arrested trying to bug the DNC’s Watergate offices

22. Watergate: Nixon’s Downfall
The White House tried to cover up its Watergate involvement, but two reporters followed the evidence back to the Oval Office
Nixon fired the special prosecutor who sought secret tapes of White House conversations
Nixon finally resigned to avoid impeachment
VP Gerald Ford sworn in

23. Conclusion
By 1974 Johnson and Nixon’s failures showed a moral failure at the heart of the political system while America was at war with itself……again
Richard Nixon bid a final farewell to his White House staff as he left Washington, DC, on August 9, The first president to resign from office, Nixon had become so entangled in the Watergate scandal that his impeachment appeared certain. He was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford. After taking the oath of office later that day, President Ford remarked that the wounds of Watergate were “more painful and more poisonous than those of foreign wars.”