Vietnamization, the Counterculture, and Reform, c. 1968-1975

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

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. 1968 Democratic Primary
McCarthy vs. Kennedy vs. Humphrey

5. Mainstream vs.

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

7. 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

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

9. Jackson Pollock

11. 1950’s Beatniks  1960’s Hippies

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

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

14. • Summer of Love, San Francisco, CA, 1967

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

18. The Student Revolt
• 1964: Student protest
movement launched at
Berkeley
• Grew from Civil Rights
Movement
• Students for a Democratic
Society (SDS)
• October, 1967: 100,000
protesters besieged the
Pentagon

19. 1968 Democratic Primary
McCarthy vs. Kennedy vs. Humphrey

20. 1968 Democratic
National
Convention

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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.)

26. “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) *

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

28. 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

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

30. 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

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

32. 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

33. 1966: National Organization
for Women (NOW)
1968: Miss America Pageant
protest
1968: Shirley Chisholm elected
first black congresswoman.

34. 1969: California No-Fault Divorce law

35. 1972: Equal Rights
Amendment (ERA) for
ratification
1972: Shirley Chisholm wins
three states in Dem. Party
Pres. primaries

36. 1972: Gloria Steinem
published Ms. magazine

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

38. 1973: Roe v. Wade declares laws prohibiting abortion are
unconstitutional.

39. 1974: Phyllis Schlafly forms
STOP ERA
1978: more women than men
enter college
1978: Pregnancy
Discrimination Act bans
employment discrimination
against pregnant women

40. 1979: Margaret Thatcher
first female PM of UK
1982: ERA falls three states
short of ratification

41. Chicano Movement
• 1962: Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta
= United Farm Workers

42. Chicano Movement
• Brown Berets
• La Raza Unida

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

44. 1961 article linking defections to the Soviet Union to homosexuality
Gay Liberation Movement
• 1940s-1960s Cold War-era Lavender Scare = homosexuals
considered subversive communist-sympathizers

45. Gay Liberation Movement
• 1950: Mattachine Society for gay rights
• 1955: Daughters of Bilitis (DOB) for lesbian rights
• The Ladder magazine, 1956-1972

46. Left: A group of youth posed during a lull in
the second night of rioting.
Right: Police forced people outside the
Stonewall Inn.
Gay Liberation Movement
• Stonewall Inn riots, 1969

47. Gay Liberation Movement
• Stonewall Inn riots, 1969

48. Gay Liberation march June 1970. Left poster reads “Transsexuals Unite.”
Center poster reads “Gays Unite.”
Gay Liberation Movement
• Christopher Street Parade, 1970