1968 A Turning Point

Khe Sanh Late 1967, the US military noticed increasing traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail Jan. 1968, the NVA & VC struck Khe Sanh After the 77-day siege, the US held Khe Sanh *The real purpose was to distract the US from the urban areas where major strikes were planned Do you think this would be an effective strategy?

Tet Offensive Tet Offensive was… A Vietcong (VC) attack on several cities & the U.S. Embassy in South Vietnam It was a series of massive, coordinated attacks through South Vietnam It occurred during the New Year which in the past had been celebrated with a cease-fire The North Vietnamese Army (NVA) & VC took advantage of the surprise *It became a critical point in the Vietnam War war-history/videos/tet-offensive-surprises-americans war-history/videos/tet-offensive-surprises-americans

Main Attacks Tet Offensive 84,000 Communists attacked 12 U.S. military bases & 100 South Vietnamese cities The goal was to inspire the South Vietnamese to rise up against the government but it failed In fact, because the VC killed US supporters, civilians turned against the VC After 1 month of fighting, the areas were retaken by the US forces

Effects of the Tet Offensive Effects US military realized that no part of South Vietnam was safe from attack General belief that the US would achieve a quick victory was shattered Walter Cronkite (CBS Anchor) expressed his frustration & doubt causing LBJ to say “If I’ve lost Cronkite, I’ve lost middle America” Americans became critical of the government & McNamara who had shaped US policy McNamara saw the lack of success & started leaning toward a peace negotiation Review: What was the Tet Offensive?

Review In 1964, LBJ won with commercials like this: g g However by 1968 LBJ wasn’t willing to continue

Democratic Challengers As LBJ considered re-election in 1968, several events happened… ¾ Americans opposed LBJ’s policies in Vietnam Eugene McCarthy finished 2 nd in the Democratic primaries (behind LBJ) Robert Kennedy (RFK) entered the race for president Because of the division within the party, LBJ announced that he would not run again Os7BjZrgqY Os7BjZrgqY

Johnson Seeks a Solution Escalation LBJ’s policy of increasing troops & supplies to Vietnam LBJ considers peace negotiations Peace Talks Stall because: US wanted all NVA out of South Vietnam but they refused North Vietnamese would not accept a temporary South Vietnamese government with a US-backed President (Nguyen Van Thieu)

Election of 1968 Candidates LBJ’s Vice President Hubert Humphrey entered the race Vietnam is a hot issue RFK gained ground & won the crucial CA primary However he is assassinated in CA /watch?v=lmc2EzkRDkI /watch?v=lmc2EzkRDkI

Democratic Convention Humphrey & McCarthy debate inside convention at Chicago Outside, chaos erupts as 10,000 protestors gathered to demand an immediate end to the war & “Peace Now!” Violence continues as police club demonstrators with rifle butts & clubs … some bystanders are injured tch?v=7_9OJnRnZjU tch?v=7_9OJnRnZjU

Convention continued TV captured the violence Viewers were shocked Humphrey wins the nomination *Chaos = symptom of growing ‘generation gap’ over the government, politics, & Vietnam Teens & young adults were at odds with their parents

Richard Nixon Republicans had the advantage due to the division of the Democratic Party Former Vice President Nixon easily won the Republican nomination Choose Spiro Agnew as VP He appealed to patriotism He wanted to “End the war honorably”

Election of 1968 Candidates Hubert Humphrey (Democratic) Richard Nixon (Republican) George Wallace (Independent) Former Alabama governor Gained national attention for staunch opposition to civil rights movement Election was close Nixon got 43.4% of popular vote vs. Humphrey’s 42.7% Electoral vote was not as close: Nixon 301 vs. Humphrey 191 Nixon emerged a confident leader