Chapter 29 Section 3 The Vietnam War Riddlebarger 1968 A Turning Point Chapter 29 Section 3 The Vietnam War Riddlebarger

Khe Sahn Khe Sahn

Tet Offensive- Goals/Outcome

The Tet Offensive

“In all honesty, we didn’t achieve our main objective, which was to spur uprisings throughout the south. Still, we inflicted heavy casualties on the Americans and their puppets, and that was a big gain for us. As for making an impact in the United States, it had not been our intention- but it turned out to be a fortunate result.” Tran Do Vietnamese General, head of Communist Party ideology dpt.

With North Vietnam's Tet Offensive beginning, Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnam's national police chief, was doing all he could to keep Viet Cong guerrillas from Saigon. As Loan executed a prisoner who was said to be a Viet Cong captain, AP photographer Eddie Adams opened the shutter. Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for a picture that, as much as any, turned public opinion against the war. Adams felt that many misinterpreted the scene, and when told in 1998 that the immigrant Loan had died of cancer at his home in Burke, Va., he said, "The guy was a hero. America should be crying. I just hate to see him go this way, without people knowing anything about him.” www.cs.brown.edu/.../ cs024/imagesHistoric.html

Walter Cronkite Respected news anchor for CBS Tet changes his views on the war “We have been too often dis- appointed by the optimism of the American leaders…For it seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in a stalemate.”

Democratic Challengers

not accept, the nomination of my Shaken by divisions within his own party & his own performance in the New Hampshire primary, LBJ makes a surprising announcement: “With America’s sons in the fields far away, with America’s future under challenge right here at home …I do not believe that I should de- vote an hour or a day of my time to any personal partisan causes… accordingly, I shall not seek, and will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as President.” LBJ withdraws from the race.

Sec. of Defense Robert McNamara: “The picture of the world’s greatest superpower killing or seriously injuring 1,000 [civilians] a week, while trying to pound a tiny backward nation into submission on an issue whose merits are hotly disputed is not a pretty one.” Some in the military feel the administration is not doing all it can to win the war LBJ decides to try negotiating

Gen. William Westmoreland Tet devastating to enemy? Request of 206,000 Public response LBJ response Negotiations

Democratic Primary 1968

Robert F. Kennedy, March 16, 1968 “The reality of recent events in Vietnam has been glossed over with illusions…I have tried in vain to alter our course in Vietnam before it further saps our spirit and our manpower, further raises the risks of wider war, and further destroys the country and the people it was meant to save. I cannot stand aside from the contest that will decide our nation’s future and our children’s future.” Robert F. Kennedy, March 16, 1968

Juan Romero, busboy @ Amabassador Hotel- family moved from Mexico when he was 10. Gave rosary to RFK, who couldn’t hold it so he wrapped it around his thumb. As he was about to shake RFK’s hand, Sirhan shot just over his shoulder.

George Smathers- Florida, Orange- Stephen Young, Purple-RFK, Green- McCarthy

1968 Democratic Convention

Violence Erupts Mayor Daly Protesters ‘Generation Gap’?

Richard Nixon, Republican Law & Order Peace With Honor

George Wallace, Independent

Richard Nixon wins