Chapter 27 Section 3

Election of 1968 Increasingly the American people came to perceive the “Credibility Gap”, i.e. they no longer believed that LBJ was telling them the truth about events in the war  In 1968, LBJ chose not to run for president, but his Vice- President Hubert Humphrey did  In Chicago at the Democrat National Convention things went really bad with people protesting the war and the police beating people with clubs & fists  Republican’s nominated Richard M. Nixon who ran on a platform of “Peace with Honor”  Nixon wins in 1968

Nixon wanted the South Vietnamese to play a greater role in the war, a policy he labeled as Vietnamization in 1969 July 1969 first U.S. combat troops come home (25,000 in August) By April 1970 more come home (150,000 in April) In spite of that, he continues carpet bombing Hanoi and orders a secret invasion of Cambodia

Kent State Attacks on Cambodia results in new protests back home This was intensified after the Kent State Massacre National Guardsmen opened fire on student protestors in Ohio, killing four, and by Senator William Fulbright’s (Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee) admission that the war was a “mess” A second incident occurred at Jackson State College in Jackson, Mississippi leaving two dead and 12 injured

The Quest For Peace Nixon relied on the diplomacy of Henry Kissinger to achieve peace and/or an American withdrawal Kissinger was talking secretively with the North Vietnamese leader and withdrawal troops 1972 – just before election Kissinger declared “Peace is at hand”, but South Vietnam rejected the agreement More bombings of Northern Vietnam ordered by Nixon to get North Vietnam back to bargaining table The US does manage to end the fighting on Jan. 27, 1973, with the Paris Peace Accords U.S. combat troops were all out by March 1973

The Final Years American involvement ended in 1973 and almost immediately the Communists took over Late 1974 North Vietnamese launched air strikes on South Vietnam and capture Hue March 1975 the North Vietnamese capture or kill much of the South’s forces Many civilians die too in what was called the Convoy of Tears

VIETNAMESE CIVIL WAR, The North Vietnamese Army easily defeated the South by 1975; the South had appealed to Nixon for aid, which had been promised, but by 1975 Nixon was embroiled in the domestic Watergate Crisis, and he was in essence a “lame duck” April 29, 1975 – United States tried a helicopter evacuation when Communist forces were marching in (1,000 American workers & 5,500 South Vietnamese supporters were rescued) Many others left by boat to get out in any way they could 1975 – the US abandoned its embassy in Saigon, which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in the newly unified and communist Vietnam ietnamese_boat_people#/medi a/File:35_Vietnamese_boat_pe ople_2.JPEG

Vietnam Balance Sheet First war America lost 58,000 Americans died 300,000 wounded $200,000,000,000 spent Veterans treated poorly by American public War Powers Act 1973 resulted (No president can send troops for more than 60 days without Congress approval) 26 th Amendment – voting rights 1982 – Vietnam Memorial