1. 39.5 The Nixon Landslide in 1972

2. Information
Despite Nixon’s promise to end the Vietnam war, the war escalated to alarming levels in 1972 when North Vietnam was dominating the battle with advanced weapons and foreign tanks.
South Dakota Senator George McGoven received a nomination from the democrats as a large supporter of racial minorities, feminists, and leftists.
Nixon continued to emphasize his campaign by promoting the fact that he had wounded down the war in vietnam from 540,000 troops to around 30,000.
12 days before the election, Nixon’s campaign got an added boost when it was announced that “peace is at hand” in vietnam

3. Information Nixon won the election in a landslide
Despite the claims that peace was at hand, Nixon launched two weeks of bombing in North Vietnam
North Vietnam negotiators agreed to cease-fire arrangements nearly three months after peace was prematurely declared.
The United States withdrew 27,000 troops
The North Vietnamese were still able to keep 145,000 troops in South Vietnam
The “peace” seemed to just be a disguise for American retreat.

4. Source 1 O- Leominster Enterprise C- News Paper
P- Announces to the public that Nixon has decided to cease-fire
V- Portrays Nixon as a hero for ending the war
L- Does not take into consideration what had to be done before the war had ended, only shows Nixon in a good light- Bias

5. Source 2 O- Capital Times C- News Paper Article
P- Announce that people of high regard disagree with Nixon’s war methodology
V- Emphasizes the public’s feelings towards Nixon and his decisions about the war
L- Photo portrays Nixon as disoriented and confused, bias against Nixon

6. Source 3 O- Detroit News ‘72 C- Political Cartoon
P- Portray the fact that Nixon had control of what could happen with the war, however he chooses to play his odds and is just taking a chance with the hole thing.
V- Suggests the fact that Nixon did not understand the reality of war and was approaching it as though it was a game.
L- Shows a very significant bias against President Nixon

7. Comparison: Source 1 & 2 Both source 1 and 2 are newspaper articles
Source 1 suggests that ending the war was a main priority, similarly source 2 suggests that ending the war was of high priority as well.
In the same way that source 2 points out that Nixon is persuaded to end the war, source 1 glorifies Nixon for ending the war
Source 1 suggests that Nixon is of high regards and is glorified for ending the war while source 2 suggests that Nixon is to blame for the war in general
Source 2 disagrees with source 1 by not portraying Nixon in a good light
Source 1 goes further to suggest that Nixon was a positive public figure while source 2 makes the public out to be more against him

8. Discussion Questions
How do you think the war could have ended differently if Nixon had pulled out of the war earlier?
What kind of impacts did the perspective of citizens back home have on the progression of the war in Vietnam?