Protests, controversy, and the end of the war The War Winds Down Protests, controversy, and the end of the war

Nixon Moves to End the War Once president, Nixon worked to end the war in Vietnam Appointed Henry Kissinger to work on bettering relations with Russia and China, trying to get them to stop supporting N. Vietnam Nixon also instituted Vietnamization –the gradual removal of troops while leaving S. Vietnamese troops more in charge Started secretly bombing Vietcong sanctuaries in Cambodia

The My Lai Massacre A brigade of soldier lead by William L Calley were told there were Vietcong in My Lai and to destroy the town When they got there, there were only women children and old men They still rounded up all of the civilians and raped, tortured, and killed hundreds of them It was covered up and when it did finally come to light, Calley was the only of 14 men sentenced for his crimes at My Lai Calley was sentenced in 1971 to life in prison but seen as a scapegoat, it was reduced to 20 years then 10, and he was paroled in 1974

Kent State Shooting After Nixon announced that the U.S. had sent troops into Cambodia to destroy Vietcong bases, many people began to protest Students at Kent State protested and even lit the ROTC building on fire The National Guard was sent in to try to regain order On May 4th, 1970 the National Guard fired into a crowd killing 4 students

Jackson State Shooting Jackson State University was a predominately African American school The students were protesting and had started fires Firefighters called in police support 75 police units showed up to control and disperse the crowd For unclear reasons officers opened fire on a dormitory In 30 seconds at least 140 rounds were fired by 40 officers using shotguns Two students were killed

The U.S. Works to Get Out of the War Congress worked to reduce the president’s control of the war - 1970 they repealed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution The Pentagon Papers were leaked by Daniel Ellsberg showing that there were efforts to expand the war Americans wanted out of the Vietnam war more than ever Kissinger said that his secret negotiations with the North were resulting in peace resulting in the reelection of Nixon

Christmas Bombings The peace negotiations Kissinger had achieved quickly broke down In December 1972 the most destructive bombings of the war occurred over 11 days Negotiations resumed and a peace agreement was made America withdrew The Domino Effect took effect and Cambodia and Laos soon fell to Communism

Legacy Of Vietnam 58,220 Americans were killed in the war 300,000 were injured About 1 million North and South Vietnamese soldiers were killed Millions of civilians were killed When the soldiers came home it was not to a hero’s welcome Americans were so against the war that they didn’t care and in some cases hated the veterans Many vets had a very hard time readjusting to life

The War’s Impact on the Nation There are a lot of POWs and MIAs and those families still haven’t gained peace In 1973 Congress passed the War Powers Act which put more restrictions on the executive power Americans started questioning America’s foreign policies and lost faith in the government

Vietnam Today When the U.S. pulled out of Vietnam the North invaded the South and took control of it Today Vietnam is Communist but doing well economically Relations between America and Vietnam are pretty good