1968-1975: Vietnamization, the Counterculture, and Social Reform

1. 1968-1975: Vietnamization,
the Counterculture, and Social Reform

2. The Tet Offensive,
January 1968
 Massive N. Vietnamese
& Vietcong attack in
South
 U.S. retaliates BUT…
seen as an American
defeat by the media

3. “…I shall not
seek, and I will
not accept, the
nomination of
my party for
another term as
your President.”
March, 1968: Johnson announces

4. Counterculture
Late 1950s/early ’60s:
Beat Generation of NYC and
San Francisco
Reaction against:
conservative 1950’s,
the Cold War,
and fear of nuclear war

5. • Non-conformist, rejected materialism
• Experimented with jazz, drugs, sex, Eastern religions
• Mainly literary movement - idealized energetic,
uncensored expression

6. Jackson Pollock

8. 1950’s Beatniks  1960’s Hippies

9. Mainstream vs.

10. • Individual
• Competition
• Achievement
• Conformity/obedience
• Materialism and money
• Authoritarianism
• Militarism/imperialism
• Community
• Cooperation
• Equality & social justice
• Freedom
• Spiritualism
• Democracy
• Diplomacy/sovereignty
Mainstream vs.

11. • Influenced
‘psychedelic’
art & music
• Made illegal
in 1966

12. • Timothy Leary, LSD
• Jerry Garcia, Grateful
Dead
• John Lennon, The
Beatles
• “The Merry Pranksters”

13. • British Invasion
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
The Who
• Jimi Hendrix-use of
the electric guitar
1964
1967
1968
1969

16. Altamont Free Concert, 1969
Manson Murders, 1969
Joplin, Hendrix, and Morrison
OD
Kent State Massacre,1970
Vietnam War winding down
Counterculture values becoming
part of accepted culture
"Mr. and Mrs. America … I am not … a hippie cult leader. I am what
you have made me and the mad dog devil killer fiend leper is a
reflection of your society … In my mind's eye my thoughts light fires in
your cities." - Charles Manson

17. 1968 Democratic Primary
McCarthy vs. Kennedy vs. Humphrey

18. 1968 Democratic
National
Convention

21. Nixon on Vietnam
 Nixon’s 1968 Campaign: Peace with Honor
 “Silent Majority”, law and order, southern
strategy
 Vietnamization
 Expansion of war 
The “Secret War”
 Cambodia
 Laos

22. The War In Cambodia
• 1970: US dropped over
500,000 tons of ordinance
on Cambodia
• ~ 600,000 Cambodians
killed
• Led to rise Khmer Rouge
and Cambodian genocide,
1975-1979; 1.4-2.2 million
(20-30% of pop.)

23. “Pentagon Papers,” 1971
 Daniel Ellsberg
leaked LBJ era docs
to NY Times
 Docs LBJ admin misled Congress & US public
 Fighting not to eliminate communism, but to
avoid humiliating defeat.
 NY Times v. US (1971) *

24. The Ceasefire, 1973
 Peace is at hand 
Henry Kissinger, 1972
 N. Vietnam attacks
 Largest U.S. bombing
retaliation
 1973: Ceasefire signed

25. The Ceasefire, 1973
 Conditions:
1. U.S. to remove all troops
2. N. Vietnam troops in S. Vietnam remain
3. N. Vietnam to resume war
4. U.S. POWs/MIAs remain
 1973: Last U.S. troops left S. Vietnam
 1975: N. Vietnam defeats S. Vietnam
 Saigon renamed Ho Chi Minh City

26. The Fall of
Saigon
America Abandons Its Embassy
April 30, 1975

27. The Impact
 26th Amendment: 18-yr olds vote
 Nixon abolished draft all-volunteer army
 War Powers Act, 1973
 Pres. must notify Congress w/in 48 hrs of deployment
 Pres. must withdraw forces unless he gains
Congressional approval within 90 days
 Disregard for Veterans  seen as “baby killers”
 POW/MIA issue lingered

28. Clean Air Act (1970)
Clean Water Act (1973)
Endangered Species Act (1973)
Three Mile Island (1979)
Superfund (1980)

29. Women’s Movement
1949: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
1961: birth control pill
1963: Equal Pay Act
1964: The Feminine Mystique by Betty
Friedan
1964: Civil Rights Act bans employment
discrimination on account of sex

30. “A woman needs a man like
a fish needs a bicycle.”

31. 1966: National Organization
for Women (NOW)
1968: Miss America Pageant
protest
1968: Shirley Chisholm elected
first black congresswoman.

32. 1972: Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) for
ratification
1972: Shirley Chisholm wins
three states in Dem. Party
Pres. primaries

33. 1973: Roe v. Wade declares laws prohibiting abortion are
unconstitutional.

34. 1974: Phyllis Schlafly forms
STOP ERA
1978: more women than men
enter college
1978: Pregnancy
Discrimination Act bans
employment discrimination
against pregnant women

35. 1979: Margaret Thatcher
first female PM of UK
1982: ERA falls three states
short of ratification

36. Gay Liberation Movement
• Stonewall Inn riots, 1969
• Christopher Street Parade, 1970

37. American Indian Movement (AIM)
• Alcatraz prison occupation, 1969-1971
• Wounded Knee incident, 1973

38. Chicano Movement
• Cesar Chavez,
United Farm Workers
• Brown Berets
• La Raza Unida