The Vietnam War: Tracing America’s Withdrawal

Turning Point: Tet Offensive, 1968 Vietcong attack on over 100 towns and cities, 12 US airbases US General “The Vietcong “lost” the Tet Offensive Widening of credibility gap Saigon Police Chief  Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes a Viet Cong suspect on the street during the Tet Offensive in 1968.

The government was lying to us… “Victory is in sight” – Sec. of Defense McNamara (Feb. 1963) “I have never been more encouraged in my four years in Vietnam” – General Westmoreland (Nov. 1967) “Hanoi has accepted near-total defeat” – Columnist Joseph Alsop (1972) “I am absolutely convinced if Congress made available $722 million in military assistance by the time I asked—or sometime shortly after—the South Vietnamese could stabilize the military situation in Vietnam today” – President Ford (1975)

The Credibility Gap U.S. government’s lack of honesty Television contradicts: Living Room War American deaths: 16,000 by 1961-1967

The Pentagon Papers Daniel Ellsberg, former US Marine and military analyst Proves Credibility Gap is true Releases top secret 7000 paged plan for Vietnam in 1971 to the New York Times JFK okays DIEM overthrow Coastal Bombings of North Vietnam under Nixon Secret Bombing of Cambodia and Laos

3. There was no national consensus… By 1967, Protest movements all over America (+ Vietnam) by all groups of people Students, GI’s, blue-collar, white collar, Catholic Church, government officials, youth Protests centered on: Vietnam as a Civil War South Vietnam no better than Communists Morally unjust (War of Attrition) Draft

Protest “Message” Music Phil Ochs “I aint marchin anymore” Edwin Starr “War” War, it ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker. War, friend only to the undertaker. Peace, love and understanding. Tell me, is there no place for them today. They say we must fight to keep our freedom. But Lord knows there’s got to be a better way. It’s always the old to lead us to the war. It’s always the young to fall. Now look at all we’ve won with the saber and the gun. Tell me is it worth it all?

On American Campuses 1969-1970 School Year: 1,785 Student Demonstrations and building occupations Protest became a part of youth-dominated “counter-culture” Columbia University Protest

Intensified Protest Counter-Culture Movement: hippies, “doves” became more prevalent Haight-Ashbury district in SF Kent State shootings (1970) LBJ, LBJ How many kids did you kill today! Hell No We wont go!

Democratic National Convention of 1968 LBJ announces he will not run again Democratic National Convention of 1968: 5000 demonstrators protest the administration’s war policies (where they are beaten by police) Victory for Republican Party and Richard M. Nixon

Vietnamization 1969: Nixon begins “Vietnamization” 1972: Only 25,000 soldiers left March 29th, 1973: Last US soldiers leave Vietnamese Civil War 1973-1975 Ends in Fall of Saigon War Powers Act: Nov 1973: The President must inform Congress within 48 hours of sending forces into a hostile area. Nixon’s Foreign Policy: “Real Politik” + “détente”

Or DID we learn our lesson? Vietnam vs. War in Iraq