The anti-war movement and Getting OUT AKA, why did Americans hate the Vietnam War so much?

Anti-war demonstrations By 1967, daily occurrences at American universities “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” Escalating troops= more casualties Not a “good war” Television images Black leaders (like Dr. King) find the war unfair

Violence at home and abroad 1968 Presidential Election Bobby Kennedy (JFK’s brother) assassinated Dr. King assassinated Richard Nixon elected president My Lai Massacre: journalist uncovers U.S. massacre of 200 villagers (women, children, elderly men) in March of 1968. Lieutenant eventually found guilty of murder of 109 villagers Cambodia bombings: Nixon oks bombings of communist sections of Cambodia and Laos (neutral countries) Kent State: May 4, 1970 An anti-war protest turns violent as protestors attack an ROTC building National Guard called in, 4 students killed

A losing battle 1968: the height of the war Tet Offensive 500,000 troops (35,000 killed) 1.2 million tons of bombs 130,000 Vietnamese civilian deaths per month Tet Offensive Supposed to be a truce on Vietnamese New Year 70,000 communist forces launch a surprise attack in South Vietnam, capture capital U.S. eventually “wins,” but makes it seem like we don’t know what we are doing Johnson decides not to run for re-election Cost of war led to $6 billion in domestic cuts

The end of the war Nixon announces “Vietnamization,” transferring fighting to the S. Vietnamese 1973: U.S. and N. Vietnam sign a cease-fire agreement; N. Vietnam allowed to keep 150,000 troops in S. 1974: North launches attacks on South; April 30, 1975, S. Vietnam surrenders to communist forces. 1975: Khmer Rouge (communists dictator Pol Pot)take over Cambodia; communist forces take over Laos