1. Vietnam: Americanization & Protest

2. Americanization & Escalation
1965: change in US strategy  “Americanization”
More US troops + more limited role for S. Vietnamese
1965: 184k troops; 1968: >500k
Johnson most assoc. w/ escalation
Airstrikes: 6 million tons of bombs btwn 65-73
Napalm– jellied gasoline
Agent Orange– herbicide
Search-and-destroy missions to kill Vietcong
Napalm is a jellied gasoline which was dropped in large canisters that exploded on impact, covering large areas in flames. Clung to anything it touched, difficult to extinguish
Agent Orange is an herbicide meant to kill plant life. Almost half of S. Vietnam’s forested areas sprayed at least once – devastating ecological impact. US forces used it to defoliate countryside, disrupt enemy’s food supply. Many scientists believe that Agent Orange causes cancers & other physical probs

3. Vietcong Tactics Guerilla warfare Tunnels, ambushes Booby traps
Resupplied via “Ho Chi Minh Trail” from N. Vietnam through Laos, Cambodia into S. Vietnam

4. Sinking US Morale Could not win war outright – little exposure
Friend vs. foe? Hard to tell
S Vietnamese – indifferent? Hostile?
Seemed to US soldiers that they were dying to defend a nation whose people were unwilling to die to defend themselves
“Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation”

5. Growing Doubt at Home
People expected quick victory & Johnson admin kept asserting US victory was close
Hurt economy: had to cut back on Great Society to pay for Vietnam
1967: beg of division --- hawks (supported war) vs. doves (against war)
Fulbright Hearings (67-68): public hearings as platform for critics
Senator William J. Fulbrieg, chairman of Senate Foreign Relations Committee
Democrat, supported Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. Soon came to believe that war in Vietnam was national civil war, not a Cold War conflcit

6. AntiWar Protests Increase
By 1965, most troops were draftees
Deferments, etc  most men who served were poor/ minorities
Disproportionate burden/ casualty rate for Afr Ams
Colleges: centers of antiwar sentiment
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), U-Mich

7. Credibility gap
“Living room war” --- watched on TV
Unlike WWII, no clear path to victory
Officials claimed to be making headway / N. Vietnamese on brink of defeat…. Then see photos/ videos on TV
Enemy body counts often exaggerated
“Credibility gap” btwn what gov’t was telling ppl & what was actually happening
Quagmire

8. Tet Offensive: Turning Point
Winter 1968: N. Vietnamese Army + Vietcong launched massive campaign (Tet Offensive) – coordinated assault on 30+ US targets, US Embassy, etc.
Tactical victory for US – pushed back forces
Strategic loss – showed communists still had will & ability to fight  US public support plummeted

9. Cronkite: Vietnam War Editorial Program Recording -- http://www. wbur
Cronkite: Vietnam War Editorial Program Recording -- words-cronkites-vietnam-commentary Transcript

10. 1968 Presidential Race March 68: Johnson won’t run for reelection
April: MLK assassinated /// June: RFK (Dem candidate) assassinated
Dem Hubert Humphrey (LBJ’s VP)
Nixon – Repub – “peace with honor”
“Silent majority” of non-demonstrators
“Southern strategy” – more conservative S. voters