2. Ch 19 sec 3

3. I. The Tet Offensive  The Tet Offensive was a large, coordinated attack on several South Vietnamese and U.S. military targets by the Vietcong and the NVA. It started on Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.  Before the offensive began, the NVA and Vietcong attacked the U.S. base at Khe Sanh. They laid siege to the base for 77 days, but the base held out.

4. I. The Tet Offensive  The Khe Sanh attack was a decoy to prevent detection of the true attacks that started on January 30 th. Normally the troops had a cease-fire for Tet, but in 1968 the NVA used that day to attack all across South Vietnam.  Over 100 cities were attacked, including the capital Saigon, and over 84,000 troops were involved. The North hoped to inspire the South Vietnamese to rise up and join the Communists, but they killed many civilians whom they thought worked for the U.S.

5. I. The Tet Offensive  The North Vietnamese took over many areas, but after a month the U.S. was able to retake those areas and drive back the Communists.  General Westmoreland proclaimed the Tet Offensive as a defeat for the Communists, but the offensive showed they were willing to continue the fight at any cost.

6. II. Effects of the Tet Offensive  People in the U.S. had been told that the U.S. was winning the war, but after the offensive people openly questioned if the war could be won.  Walter Cronkite, the most respected man on television, told the country that he doubted the war could ever be won. This spread to other news organizations as newspapers and magazines all started to call for an end to the war. Walter Cronkite

7. II. Effects of the Tet Offensive  Public outcry increased, and people began to picket in front of the White House to end the war. Leaders in the government also began to doubt, and they called for peace negotiations.  1968 was also a presidential election year, but because of the public’s reaction to Vietnam, Johnson decided not to run for reelection.

8. III. Johnson Seeks a Solution  General Westmoreland thought that all he needed was more troops and he could crush the Communists. He asked Johnson for 200,000 more troops, but when word of that became public, Johnson denied his request.  Johnson needed to reassess the war strategy, but his advisors could not agree on what to do next. Some thought he did not go far enough, some thought he went too far.

9. III. Johnson Seeks a Solution  Johnson opened negotiations with North Vietnam, but two issues ended those talks. The U.S. wanted all NVA troops out of South Vietnam, and the North would not accept a temporary government in the South headed by Nguyen Van Thieu.

10. IV. The Election of 1968  Since Johnson was not running for reelection, the Democratic nomination was up for grabs. Hubert Humphrey, the vice- president, entered the race. Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy also joined in.  Kennedy entered a little later than the others, but he quickly gained momentum. He won primaries in Indiana and Nebraska, and then won in California.

11. IV. The Election of 1968  After he won California, that made him the favorite to get the nomination. He gave a victory speech in Los Angeles, and as he was leaving the hotel he was shot by Sirhan Sirhan. He died the next day.  At the Democratic Convention in Chicago protestors gathered outside to demand an end to the war. Mayor Richard Daley sent in police and the national guard to disperse the protestors.

12. IV. The Election of 1968  The police used excessive force on many of the protestors, and the crackdown was all broadcast live on tv. The story spread all around the world, and helped split apart the Democratic Party.  Richard Nixon won the Republican nomination, and promised to restore law and order in the country. He appealed to the patriotism of the older generations, who viewed the protestors as problem children.

13. IV. The Election of 1968  Nixon claimed to have a secret plan to end the war, but would not discuss it so that Johnson’s efforts would not be hindered.  George Wallace entered the presidential race as an independent. He had fought against desegregation and civil rights as the governor of Alabama. Republicans were afraid he would take Southern votes away from Nixon.

14. IV. The Election of 1968  Nixon was winning in polls leading up to the election, but Humphrey narrowed the gap near the election because peace talks were going well.  Nixon ended up winning the election narrowly in the popular vote, but overwhelmingly in the electoral vote. He used the electoral results to justify pushing his policy for Vietnam.

15. IV. The Election of 1968  Nixon’s Vietnam policies would actually cause more problems at home than everything that had happened before.

16. In your notebook  Half-page summary of the lecture today.