Vietnam War Part IIVietnam War Part II

Section 3Section 3

A Turning PointA Turning Point• January 1968 was the start of the Tet Offensive• January 30th is the Vietnamese New Year known

as the Tet• In the past this holiday was honored with a lull in

the fighting• This year the Vietcong executed strikes in more

than 100 cities and 12 US military bases• At one point the Communist troops held the

courtyard of the US Embassy• The North expected the people in the South to

greet them as liberators, but it was not so

ContinuedContinued• More than a month later when the assault ended

almost half the North’s surging troops were dead• To the US media the offensive’s end was

described as a defeat for the North• Despite suffering heavy losses the Vietcong

remained strong in many places• The Tet Offensive shook the confidence of the

US and showed that no part of South Vietnam was secure

• After the Tet Offensive, public criticism of the war rose dramatically

• Time and Newsweek began to call for the end of the war

Back in the USBack in the US• After the Tet Offensive the 3 out of 4 Americans

disapproved of Presidents handling of the job• There were two challengers to the Democratic

nomination• Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy (brother

of John Kennedy)• In response to the support to the challengers

Johnson announced that he would not seek the nomination for another term

• This left the race for the Whitehouse wide open

Race for the WhitehouseRace for the Whitehouse• Robert Kennedy seemed to be the shoe in for

the nomination for the Democrats• He was winning in the state primaries and won

the crucial California Primary• On the night of his victory in California Robert

Kennedy was shot by Sirhan Sirhan • This came just two months after the

assassination of Martin Luther King Jr• The country was in shock• Despite being Johnson’s Vice President,

Humphrey received the Nomination and the Republicans took advantage

The RepublicansThe Republicans• Richard Nixon received the Republican

Nomination for the 1968 election• He appealed to the patriotism of the mainstream

America and also promised a crackdown on urban crime

• Nixon told voters he has a secret plan to end the war in Vietnam but revealed no details

• The popular vote for the election was close but the electoral college was a landslide in Nixon’s favor

• Richard Nixon was now responsible for the nation and the war in Vietnam

Vietnamization, and CambodiaVietnamization, and Cambodia• Henry Kissinger was an advisor to several

presidents and was important to Nixon• Kissinger and Nixon came up with the plan of

Vietnamization• This involved turning the fighting over to the

South Vietnamese while pulling out the US troops (sound familiar?)

• He hoped this would create a solid defense long enough to keep from the humiliation of defeat

• The process of troop withdraw was slow in 1969 there were 540,000 troops in Vietnam. Three years later 24,000 troops remained

continuedcontinued• At the same time the Vietnamization was

happening Nixon was planning to involve neutral Cambodia

• Cambodia contained the North Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh supply trail

• Nixon ordered the wide spread bombing of Cambodia wanting to show the Vietcong that the US was still willing to use force

• Nixon and Kissinger concealed the air strikes of Cambodia from the US public, congress, and key military leaders

Antiwar protest increaseAntiwar protest increase• Because of the invasion of Cambodia the

antiwar protesters were outraged • This protesting was especially pronounced on

College Campuses • At Kent State in Ohio protesters set fire to the

ROTC building on campus and the Governor vowed to “eradiate” the protesters

• May 4, 1970 National guard troops sent to control demonstrators fired into a large group of students killing four students

• 10 days later 2 students were killed by state police at Jackson State College

The War ContinuesThe War Continues• Congress was also upset by the invasion of

Cambodia and repealed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution

• Nixon claimed that this did not affect his authority to carry on the war

• Congressional leaders made plans to stop the war by cutting off funding for the war

• The Pentagon Papers revealed that the Govt had frequently misled the American people about the course of the war

• This led to the further boosting of the antiwar movement

ContinuedContinued• As many others had Nixon miscalculated the

opposition and the war grew more fierce• In order to reveal the weakness of Nixon’s

Vietnamization the North sent troops deeper South

• This led Nixon to increase the amount of bombs being dropped in the North

• Despite all Nixon had wanted to do in Vietnam the opposition now held more territory in the South than ever