Nixon and Vietnam Unit 4 Section 2 Part 9

A. Richard Nixon, Republican With the Democratic party divided, the Republican party had a good chance of winning Their candidate was Richard Nixon Nixon had a lot of government experience Nixon promised that, if elected, he would bring an end to the war Nixon won the election of 1968 by a large margin

B. Widening the War Nixon had pledged that if elected, he would end U.S. involvement in Vietnam Nixon’s nat’l security advisor Henry Kissinger began secret peace negotiations with North Vietnam Nixon’s plan “Peace with Honor” -U.S. would withdraw troops over time and hand over fighting to the South Vietnamese -also called Vietnamization Nixon hoped that Vietnamization would give southern leaders time to create a stable anti-communist gov’t

C. Laos and Cambodia While withdrawing troops, Nixon at the same time, secretly expanded the war In 1969, he ordered the bombing of Cambodia -trying to hit the Ho Chi Minh trail He also bombed targets in North Vietnam Nixon hid the air strikes from the American public and key members of Congress In 1970, Nixon sent troops into Laos and Cambodia to destroying NVA bases

D. Increasing Protests May 2, 1970 anti war protests took place at Kent State University in Ohio Protestors burned down the ROTC building National guard was sent to stop further protests On May 4, protestors and national guard met Students threw rocks at nat’l guardsmen Soldiers opened fire on the crowd killing 4 students Americans were horrified by the television coverage Professors across the country went on strike Shut down hundreds of colleges across the country

E. Anti-war movement grows More Americans began to disagree with Nixon’s peace plan Before the Kent State protests, 250,000 protestors gathered in a massive protest in Washington DC In 1971, 800 Vietnamese War veterans gathered in Washington to protest -never before had so many returning soldiers protested Most protests were peaceful, however some groups were violent Days of Rage a group called the Weathermen tried to shut down the city of Chicago

F. Troubling Revelations In late 1969, Americans learned of shocking incidents in Vietnam Mai Lai Massacre -Lieutenant William Calley entered Mai Lai -Looking for Vietcong -None were found, but soldiers killed 450 women, children, and elderly men Pentagon Papers -NY times got hold of secret gov’t papers -the papers showed that the U.S. had been planning to get involved in Vietnam since Pres. Truman -proved that the gov’t had been lying to the public for years