10th American History
Unit V – A Nation Facing Challenges
Chapter 19 – Section 3 – 1968: A Turning
Point.
Hey, Hey, LBJ (03:41)
1968: A Turning Point
The Main Idea
As the Vietnam War dragged on and increasingly appeared to
be unwinnable, deep divisions developed in American
society.
Reading Focus
• What was the Tet Offensive?
• What were the effects of the Tet Offensive?
• How did President Johnson try to find a solution to the war?
• How did the election of 1968 illustrate divisions in American
society?
Tet Offensive- 2:04 min
.
The Tet Offensive (07:41)
The Tet Offensive
Tet Offensive
Khe Sanh
The Main
Attacks
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A series of massive coordinated attacks throughout
South Vietnam
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In January 1968 thousands of NVA and Vietcong troops
attacked a U.S. military base in Khe Sanh.
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This and other rural attacks were diversions to draw
U.S. and ARVN forces away from urban areas.
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Main Communist offensive began on January 30, 1968,
at the start of Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.
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Some 84,000 Communist soldiers attacked 12 U.S.
military bases and more than 100 cities across South
Vietnam.
Khe Sahn (00:31)
1968- Tet Offensive
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January- “Tet” lunar new year.
Gen. Westmoreland tells the country
how the war is being won.
The Vietcong and North Vietnamese
84,000, attacked 36 of 44 provincial
towns in addition to 5 of 6
autonomous cities, 72 of 245 district
towns, and many military bases and
airfields on the same day. They even
attack the U.S. embassy.
All is retaken in few difficult weeks.
NLF, Vietcong, are crushed as a
fighting force.
Westmoreland wants 206,000 more
troops and more fighter squadrons.
Graphic film footage of the fighting
reinforced concerns about casualties,
and the fact the offensive took place
undermined the White House's
claims that victory had been in sight.
Did we really win the Tet Offensive?
The Tet Offensive
• What was the Tet Offensive?
• Recall – What took place in Khe
Sanh in 1968?
• Analyze – What was the purpose
of the attack on Khe Sanh?
The Tet Offensive
• Recall – What happened when the
U.S. Embassy in Siagon was
attacked at the beginning of the Tet
Offensive?
• Make Judgments – Do you believe,
as did General Westmoreland, that
the Tet Offensive was a defeat for the
Communists?
Effects of the Tet Offensive
• General Westmoreland called the Tet Offensive a decisive defeat
for the Communists.
– The cities taken by the Communists were retaken.
– About 45,000 enemy soldiers were killed. About 1,100 Americans and
2,300 ARVN troops also died.
– The Communists showed that they were determined to keep on
fighting.
• The Tet Offensive showed that no part of South Vietnam was safe
from attack.
• The Tet Offensive caused many Americans to question whether or
not the war in Vietnam could be won.
• President Johnson announced that he would not seek reelection.
Effects of the Tet Offensive
Growing Doubts
• Walter Cronkite broadcast a
television report in which he gave
his personal assessment of the
situation in Vietnam.
• Major national magazines such as
Time and Newsweek also
expressed doubts about the war
and began to call for its end.
• Public criticism of the
government’s policies grew louder
and more intense.
• Leaders within Johnson’s
administration began to criticize
Johnson’s policies.
• Robert S. McNamara began to
seek ways to end the war.
Democratic Challengers
• Roughly 3 out of 4 Americans
opposed his policies in Vietnam.
• Minnesota senator Eugene
McCarthy challenged Johnson for
the Democratic Party’s
nomination.
• New York senator Robert
Kennedy entered the race.
• Shaken by the divisions within his
party, Johnson announced that he
would not seek nor accept the
office of the presidency.
Effects of the Tet Offensive
• What were the effects of the Tet
Offensive?
• Recall – Who was Walter Cronkite?
• Explain – How did the Tet Offensive
cause many Americans to doubt that
the U.S. would soon win the war?
Effects of the Tet Offensive
• Analyze – How did Robert S.
McNamara’s position on the war
change?
• Evaluate – What role did
electoral politics play in Johnson’s
deciding not to run in 1968?
Credibility Gap
• Johnson did not tell Congress
his intention to escalate the war.
• He did tell Congress how much
it will cost.
• He was worried the the full
truth would hurt the Great
Society plans.
• He wanted to be a leader in war
and a leader of peace.
• Credibility Gap- between what
the President wanted people to
believe and what was really
believable.
• People began to doubt what
their President would tell them.
Searching for Solutions
President Johnson denied General Westmoreland’s request
for 206,000 more ground soldiers.
Johnson’s advisors could not come up with the best course
for the war strategy.
Robert McNamara suggested limiting the air strikes and
reversing the escalation of the war.
Johnson decided to negotiate with the North Vietnamese.
The Paris peace talks stalled over two issues: the United
States wanted all NVA troops out of South Vietnam, and
North Vietnam would not accept a temporary South
Vietnam government that included a U.S.-backed president.
The Peace Offensive + Anti-War Protest
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Senators who voted for the Tonkin Gulf Resolution changed their minds.
Anti-War Teach-ins
Protest marchers in Washington D.C.
December 23, 1965- LBJ halts the bombing- “a peace offensive” to explore
diplomatic avenues to end the war.
Fall of LBJ
• Anti-War activists challenged
LBJ for the Democratic
nomination for President in
1968- Robert Kennedy and
Eugene McCarthy
• LBJ’s advisors and other world
leaders thought the war was
being handled badly and the
U.S. should get out.
• Mar. 31, 1968- LBJ resticts
bombing and calls for peace
talks.
• “I shall not seek, and I will not
accept the nomination of my
party for another term as your
president.”
• Peace Talks begin in May of
1968 and drag on for months
without success. Our longest
war.
Johnson Seeks a Solution
• How did President Johnson try to
find a solution to the war?
• Explain – Why did Westmoreland
request additional troops?
• Elaborate – Why were many
Americans outraged by
Westmoreland’s request?
Johnson Seeks a Solution
• Recall – What alterations to
President Johnson’s policies in
Vietnam did McNamara suggest?
• Analyze – Why did peace talks
between the U.S. and North
Vietnam stall so quickly?
The Presidential Campaign (03:19)
The Election of 1968
The Democratic Primary Fight
– Vice President Hubert Humphrey entered the race
and defended the administration’s policies in
Vietnam.
– Senator Eugene McCarthy called for a rapid end to
the war.
– Senator Robert Kennedy also called for an end to
the war and won primaries in Indiana, Nebraska, and
California.
• Kennedy was shot leaving a Las Vegas hotel by Sirhan
Sirhan, a Jordanian immigrant who didn’t like Kennedy’s
support for Israel.
The Second Kennedy Assassination (05:55)
June 5, 1968 (03:15)
The Democratic Convention
Delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago
debated between McCarthy and Humphrey.
Outside the convention, protesters from around the country
demanded an immediate end to the war.
Chicago mayor Richard Daley sent troops to maintain order
but violence soon broke out.
Television crews captured violent scenes between protesters
and police.
The chaos was one symptom of a growing “generation gap”
over government, politics, and the Vietnam War.
Rebellion and the Democratic Convention
of 1968
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Before the convention- King assassinated,
RFK assassinated, and countless anti-war
demonstrations.
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For the Democratic party, Chicago '68
doomed the candidacy of Hubert Humphrey
and set off shock waves of reform.
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For the Left (antiwar), Chicago '68 hastened
the demise of SDS and intensified the
revolutionary fervor that would spawn street
violence and bombings.
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Jerry Rubin and Abbie Hoffman- leaders of
the Youth International Party (YIPPIES) came
to Chicago
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For the media, Chicago '68 created a deep
suspicion of the state and its minions.
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For Chicago, Chicago '68 weakened support
for the last of the big-city bosses and fanned
the flames of political reform.
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In the end 8 police charged and 8 civilians
charged (“Chicago 8”- later the “Chicago 7”
Other Contenders in 1968
Richard Nixon
George Wallace
• Republican
• Independent
• Won the nomination at the
Republican National
Convention
• Former Alabama governor
• Chose Spiro Agnew as his
running mate
• Appealed to the patriotism of
mainstream Americans
• Promised “law and order”
• Claimed to have a secret plan
to end the war “with honor”
• Nominated by the American
Independent Party
• Opposed the civil rights
movement and school
desegregation and war
protesters
• Appealed to conservative
Democratic white southerners
and working class whites
The Election of 1968
The Campaign
The Results
• Nixon led the polls for most of the
campaign.
• The election was very close—just
510,000 votes separated Nixon
and Humphrey.
• Humphrey made gains when he
said the bombing in Vietnam
should be stopped and that the
South Vietnamese should
shoulder more of the war’s
responsibilities.
• The peace talks in Paris made
some progress when the North
Vietnamese agreed to include
South Vietnamese
representatives.
• Johnson announced an end to the
bombing in Vietnam a few days
before the election.
• Nixon won 43.4 percent of the
votes cast to Humphrey’s 42.7
percent.
• Nixon won 301 electoral votes to
Humphrey’s 191.
• Wallace was one of the most
successful third party candidates
in U.S. history (46 electoral votes
and 13.5 percent of the popular
vote).
• Nixon’s electoral margin provided
him with a mandate to rule that
allowed him to escalate the war in
Vietnam.
Election of 1968
• How did the election of 1968 illustrate
divisions in American society?
• Identify – Who was Hubert
Humphrey?
• Contrast – How did the policies of
McCarthy, Kennedy, and Humphrey
differ?
Election of 1968
• Identify – Who was Richard Daley?
• Explain – Why did protestors gather
outside the Democratic National
Convention?
• Predict – If Kennedy had not been
assassinated, how might the election
of 1968 turned out differently?