1. Aim: How does Nixon address the issues of the Vietnam War?
Do Now:
Johnson Video
Homework:
Complete Regents Review Sheet #5 – Civil War and Reconstruction (Pages 16 &17) due June 1, 2016
Vietnam DBQ due June 2, 2016

2. Johnson Decline to Run in 1968
Toward the end of his term as President, Johnson had reduced bombing of North Vietnam.
Called for peace negotiations to end the Vietnam War.
The resulting Paris peace talks, which began in May 1968, failed to produce an agreement.

3. Paris Peace Negotiations
US & Vietnamese argue for 5 months over the size of the conference table!
Dr. Henry Kissinger & Le Duc Tho

4. Richard Nixon – 37th President of the United States Republican – 1969-1974
President Nixon campaigned on the promise that he had a secret plan to end the war.
In June 1969, he began the policy of Vietnamization, replacing American troops in Vietnam with South Vietnamese soldiers.
Appealed to the great “Silent Majority”

5. The Silent Majority
Nixon had campaigned promising a return to law and order. As President, he strengthened this position, discouraging protest against the war.
President Nixon recognized that student radicals, antiwar protesters, and the counterculture in general had never appealed to many Americans.
Despite widespread discontent on college campuses, not all students agreed with the antiwar protesters. Some firmly supported American involvement in Vietnam. Others questioned the war but were troubled by the lawlessness and radicalism of many antiwar protests. These students did not receive the press coverage of their more outspoken classmates.

6. The Silent Majority
Likewise, many adults held student protesters responsible for rising crime, growing drug use, and permissive attitudes toward sex. Some of these Americans expressed their patriotism by putting flag decals on their car windows or by attaching bumper stickers that read “My Country, Right or Wrong” and “Love It or Leave It.
In a 1969 speech, Nixon appealed to those who, he felt, quietly supported his policies. He referred to this group of Americans as “the silent majority.”

7. Silent Majority Speech – November 3, 1969
Why do YOU think that the less outspoken students were not heard from?

8. Richard Nixon – 37th President of the United States Republican – 1969-1974
Nixon wanted to end the war; he did not want to lose it. He began an aggressive campaign against North Vietnam including:
Massive bombing raids on North Vietnam.
Placing mines in the North Vietnamese harbor at Haiphong, and
He launched secret bombing raids and expanded the war to Cambodia, (and eventually Laos, too.) hoping to destroy Viet Cong camps there.

9. Richard Nixon – 37th President of the United States Republican – 1969-1974
“We take this action not for the purpose of expanding the war into Cambodia but for the purpose of ending the war in Vietnam and winning the just peace we all desire. We have made and we will continue to make every possible effort to end this war through negotiation at the conference table rather than through more fighting on the battlefield.”
— Richard Nixon

10. Richard Nixon – 37th President of the United States Republican – 1969-1974
Nixon hoped his Cambodian attacks would help America in peace negotiations.
Instead, the attacks resulted in both civil war in Cambodia and ignited more anti-war protests in the United States.
Why do you think Nixon thought attacking Cambodia would help peace negotiations?

11. Kent State Massacre
When student antiwar protesters at Kent State University in Ohio reacted angrily to Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia, Nixon ordered the National Guard to Kent State. After students threw rocks at the guardsmen, the troops opened fire, killing and wounding both protesters and bystanders.

12. Kent State Massacre
In May 1970, the National Guard opened fire on a crowd of antiwar protesters at Kent State University in Ohio and killed four students. Reaction to the incident was strong but mixed.
In Support of the National Guard's Actions “He told me they didn't fire those shots to scare the students off. He told me they fired those shots because they knew the students were coming after them, coming for their guns. People are calling my husband a murderer; my husband is not a murderer. He was afraid.”
 — Wife of a member of the National Guard,  quoted in Newsweek magazine, May 18, 1970
Opposed to the National Guard's Actions “Nixon acts as if the kids had it coming. But shooting into a crowd of students, that is violence. They say it could happen again if the Guard is threatened. They consider stones threat enough to kill children. I think the violence comes from the government.”
— Mother of Jeffrey Glenn Miller, a student killed at Kent State,  quoted in Life magazine, May 15, 1970
What do you believe?

13. American Withdrawal from Vietnam
In January 1973, the United States, South Vietnam, North Vietnam, and the Viet Cong signed a formal agreement in Paris. Among the provisions in the agreement were these:
The United States would withdraw all its forces from South Vietnam within 60 days.
All prisoners of war would be released.
All parties to the agreement would end military activities in Laos and Cambodia.
The 17th parallel would continue to divide North and South Vietnam until the country could be reunited.

14. American Withdrawal from Vietnam
South Vietnam Falls
After American forces had withdrawn, North Vietnam attacked strategic cities in South Vietnam, ending with its capital, Saigon.
Following a last-minute evacuation of both American soldiers and Vietnamese refugees, South Vietnam surrendered in April 1975, and Vietnam became unified under a Communist government.

15. A United Vietnam
Formerly Saigon

16. South Vietnamese Attempt to Flee the Country
The Fall of Saigon
South Vietnamese Attempt to Flee the Country

17. America Abandons Its Embassy
The Fall of Saigon
April 30, 1975
America Abandons Its Embassy

18. North Vietnamese at the Presidential Palace
The Fall of Saigon
North Vietnamese at the Presidential Palace

19. 1973: Ceasefire signed between U.S., South Vietnam, & North Vietnam
Conditions:
U.S. to remove all troops
North Vietnam could leave troops already in South Vietnam.
North Vietnam would resume war
No provision for POWs or MIAs
Last American troops left South Vietnam on March 29, 1973
1975: North Vietnam defeats South Vietnam
Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City

20. The Cost of the Vietnam War
3,000,000 Vietnamese killed
58,000 Americans killed; 300,000 wounded
Under-funding of Great Society programs
$200,000,000,000 in U.S. spending
U.S. morale, self-confidence, trust of government, decimated

21. The Impact of the Vietnam War
26th Amendment: 18-year-olds vote
Nixon abolished the draft - all-volunteer army
War Powers Act, 1973
President must notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying military force
President must withdraw forces unless he gains Congressional approval within 90 days
Disregard for Veterans - seen as “baby killers”
POW/MIA issue lingered – 2,583 still unaccounted for today