2. Tet Offensive
• Tet Offensive
– Vietcong assault on U.S. Embassy & major
cities in S. Vietnam
– During lunar >
surprise
• * : critical year in war
3. Election of 1968
• Democrats
– won’t run for re-election
– Robert Kennedy (
– E (students)
– Hubert Humphrey (
– Democratic Party split
• Republican
– Richard Nixon (
4. Vietnamization
• “Peace with honor”
– Nixon & NSA plan
secret peace negotiations
• Vietnamization
– Turn fighting over to S. Vietnamese
– G
– Secretly expanded war > bombing
5. Protests
• Nixon policy
– April 1970 announced troops in Cambodia > protests
• K
– May 1970
– Students set fire to ROTC
– 4 killed, 9 injured
• J
– 9 days later
– 2 killed, 9 injured
• Public reaction
– Shocked & horrified
6. My Lai Massacre
• March 1968
– Lt. William Calley led troops on a
– No Vietcong found
• Massacre
– US troops killed women,
children, elderly men
7. Pentagon Papers
• NY Times 1971
– Published secret government documents tracing US
military in Vietnam since Truman
– Revealed
– Leak angered & embarrassed Nixon
• D
– Leak (Dept. of Defense)
8. Election of 1972
• Nixon v. George McGovern
• McGovern
– Outspoken critic of war
–
• Voting age reduced from
9. End of U.S. Involvement
• Peace talks stalled
• C
– Around-the-clock bombing of N. Vietnam cities
– Called off without major results
• Settlement Jan ’73
– US withdraw troops &
– Both sides release POW’s
10. Legacy
• N. Vietnam
– (2 years after
US troops left) > N.
Vietnam invades S. &
captures Saigon
– US rushed to evacuate
Americans working in
city
– April 30, 1975 South
Vietnam surrendered
– C
• Cambodia
– 1975 Communist
forces (
controlled Cambodia
– Killed
(1/4 population)
– Border dispute >
Vietnam invaded in ’79
– Installed puppet gov’t
– Vietnam occupied until
’89 when UN peace-
keeping forces came
11. Effects on Vietnam
• S. Vietnamese soldiers
killed
• S. Vietnamese civilians
killed
• Vietcong troops killed
• Severe environmental damage
12. Effects in US
• US troops killed
– Survivors exposed to dangers defoliants
– Not welcomed upon return
– Trouble readjusting
• $
– Increased national debt & inflation
• War Powers Act 1973
– Affirmed Congressional constitutional right to declare
war
– Gave President on committing
troops without special authority or declaration of war
