Vietnam Divides the Nation The Vietnam War Vietnam Divides the Nation

Vocab 38 P 406 CH 17 -Credibility Gap -Teach-Ins -Dove -Hawk -Tet Offensive ( P 408) -Who dies in 1968? (P 409)

I. Background 1) Vietnam is the first war... we lose ...on television ...opposed by the masses 2) Until 1968- most americans (70%) supported the war. *** we are TOLD that we are ABOUT TO WIN THE WAR!!*** 3) The Draft (young men forced to go to war) was very unpopular Affected the young and uneducated more because college enrollment deferred draft enforcement Many men burned draft cards & moved to Canada to avoid imprisonment 3,000 Draft Dodgers sent to jail for avoiding Draft

Famous Draft Dodgers

II. A Nation Split: 1) Doves - want US out of Vietnam mainly students and african americans 2) Hawks - wanted to stay and fight Saw communism as threat Afraid USSR spread like nazi germany As the nation debated… things got worse:

III. The Tet Offensive 1) 1/30/1968: Vietnamese New Year - the North Vietnamese launched surprise attack killing 10,000s of Americans / S Vietnamese Americans shocked that enemy, “so close to defeat”, could launch such a large attack American Media declares “Vietnam War effort doomed” 2) Now a large credibility gap between american Public and Lyndon B Johnson

Tet Offensive Vid

IV. 1968 - Very Sad Year 1) Dr. Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis 2) Robert Kennedy (Brother of JFK, running for President) assassinated 3) Anti-War Protesters and Policemen begin fighting Students will be killed in protests in Chicago violence is on TV for nation to see

RFK on MLK death

Bye bye RFK :(

V. A review: 1) We are in this war because of a fake incident (the Gulf of Tonkin Incident) 2) We never declared war, instead, advisors were attacked and we increased troops/bombs 3) We end up sending millions of kids and spending $100 Billion to eventually lose a war people dont want 4) The Tet Offensive is proof that the president is lying to us BUT IT GETS WORSE. Here comessss NIXON!