4. What resonated with you from the reading last night?
Warm Up
What resonated with you from the reading last night?

5. Where have you seen “the carrot and the stick” type of incentives?
Warm Up
Where have you seen “the carrot and the stick” type of incentives?

6. Nixon’s Presidency
Nixon immediately begins to de-escalate the war in Vietnam in order to appease an increasingly angry public
What is the danger of this action?

7. The Carrot “Peace with Honor” Vietnamization:
Withdrawing US troops slowly in order to allow the South Vietnamese to take responsibility for the war
3 Parts:
Self-Government
Self-Development
Self-Defense

8. Expanded air warfare against North Vietnam
The Stick
Expanded air warfare against North Vietnam
Invasion/Bombing of Cambodia
Invasion/Bombing of Laos
The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer.
The absence of alternatives clears the mind marvelously.
Henry Kissinger

9. The My Lai Massacre 1968: My Lai Massacre takes place
Covered up by US Military
November 1969: News article breaks with details of massacre
120 Us Soldiers from “Company C”
Vietnamese civilians killed
Coverage of the story created new protests against the Vietnam war, leading Nixon to hasten de-escalation

10. The My Lai Massacre
“The brief for the March 16 mission was to prise out the Viet Cong, whose elusive troops were thought to be hiding in My Lai - a hamlet of the Son My village.
Two platoons moved in shortly after 8pm in the morning, while a third held back for "mopping up" duties. Both platoons soon splintered and once the shooting started it seemed to spark a chain reaction.
Soldiers went berserk, gunning down unarmed men, women, children and babies. Families which huddled together for safety in huts or bunkers were shown no mercy. Those who emerged with hands held high were murdered”

11. The My Lai Massacre
Some of the 120 or so soldiers opted out of the killing spree, but troop commander Lt William Calley was not one of them. In one incident, Lt Calley ordered two of his men to fire on a group of 60 civilians they had rounded up. When one refused, Calley took over and, standing 10 feet from the crowd, blazed his gun at them.
Elsewhere in the village, other atrocities were in progress. Women were gang raped; Vietnamese who had bowed to greet the Americans were beaten with fists and tortured, clubbed with rifle butts and stabbed with bayonets. Some victims were mutilated with the signature "C Company" carved into the chest.
By late morning word had got back to higher authorities and a cease-fire was ordered. My Lai was in a state of carnage. Bodies were strewn through the village. The death toll totaled 504.
Only one American was injured - a GI who had shot himself in the foot while clearing his pistol.

12. Reaction
If news like this came out of Iraq/Afghanistan/Syria, how do you think Americans would react?

13. Reaction
1969: Protest of My Lai causes Nixon to give televised speech on Vietnamization
“The more divided we are at home the less likely the enemy is to negotiate at Paris”
1970: Richard Nixon (without Congressional approval) expanded the war to Cambodia
News of Cambodia sparked further protests

14. Kent State
May 4th, 1969: Protests at Kent State University (OH) turn violent
Students burn ROTC building
National Guard sent in to stop protests
Crowds refused to disperse, throw rocks at soldiers
National Guard fires into crowd, killing 4 students
10 days later:
Jackson State College:
Police respond to protests by firing miniguns and shotguns into the crowd, killing 2

17. There’s More!
1971: Pentagon Papers leaked by former Department of Defense official Daniel Ellsberg
New York Times publishes papers, proving that the Johnson Administration deceived the American public and Congress about the status of Vietnam
June, 1971: New York Times v. United States
Supreme Court finds in favor of NYT, citing Free Speech
1970: Congress repeals Gulf of Tonkin
1971: Congress prohibits ground troops outside of Vietnam
1973: War Powers Resolution passed (after Nixon vetoed it)

18. The leading Office of Legal Counsel precedent to have been made public goes back to the 2011 Libya bombing. It says that the president may use force without Congress if the action serves “sufficiently important national interests” to fit under the president’s “authority to conduct U.S. foreign relations” if the action isn’t broad enough in “nature, scope, and duration” to count as a “war” under the Constitution. The Syria attack is isolated and wouldn’t count as a war under the office’s definition. (If you define war as any action that international law would count as an act of war, that’s a different story -- the bombing certainly would qualify.)

20. The Election of 1972
Given the state of the nation in 1972, what should Nixon’s platform be?

21. The Election of 1972
After years of war, Nixon changes his strategy for the election
1972: Nixon (Henry Kissinger) launches new round of peace talks with South Vietnamese leaders after a failed NVA offensive
Nixon declares “peace is at hand” proceeds to dominate the election of 1972

22. Christmas bombings However, peace talks do not go as planned
Nixon responds with the largest bombing campaign of the war
One NVA leader said it was “like living through a typhoon with trees crashing down and lightning transforming night into day.”

23. Paris Peace Accords January 27th, 1973: Paris Peace Accords Signed
Goals:
End the war and restore peace to Vietnam
Establish a cease-fire
Withdraw US troops, release American POWs
Soldiers begin to return home from the war, but upon arrival they are shunned, protested, and ignored.

24. John McCain US Senator (R, Arizona)
Tortured, beaten, interrogated for military information for five years
Solitary confinement for 2 years
Father was commander of US forces in Vietnam (post 1968)
Offered early release from POW camp, refused

25. The Fall of Saigon
Following the Paris Peace Accords, American ground troops were withdrawn from Vietnam
1975: NVA break cease-fire, launches assault on the South
South Vietnam asks President Ford for help, Congress refuses to send ground troops
April 30th: South Vietnam falls

26. Vietnam Assessment
Create a high school textbook/unit outline for the study of Vietnam
Include: Chapter and Section Titles
Resources Used
Topics Covered and Justification
Assessments (What will students do? What questions will be answered?)

27. Vietnam Assessment Suggested Format: Chapter Title Section Title
Topics in the Section (Summary)
Resources Used
Assessment
Chapter Assessment