Chapter 29
War at Home, War
Abroad, 1965—
1974
"I don¹t see why we need to stand by and watch
a country go communist.”
Henry Kissinger
[About President Salvadore Allende's 1973 Chile]
“...I knew from the start," Johnson told Miss Doris Kearns, "that
I was bound to be crucified either way I moved": If I left the
woman I really loved - the Great Society - in order to get
involved with that bitch of a war on the other side of the
world then I would lose everything at home... Kirkpatrick,
Jeane J.
Part One:
Introduction
This chapter covers the Vietnam conflict, the longest and least
successful war in American history. The period of the greatest
involvement was from 1965 to 1974 and because of their policies, it
became known as Johnson’s war and Nixon’s war. The war and
actions against it diverted the domestic agendas of President
Johnson and the student groups. Ironically President Nixon
proved not to be as conservative as expected in some social
reform areas. He was also able to make a major foreign policy
change with China and subsequently with the Soviet Union.
The civil rights movement spurred other groups from college
students to gays, women, Latinos, Asian Americans and Indians.
Both the war and the agendas of the various groups dominated the
politics of both the 1968 and 1972 presidential elections. 1968
would be a turning point with the Tet offensive, which while won by
the Americans, shocked the nation because of the gap it illustrated
between rosy predictions of winning and the actual fact. Martin
Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy were assassinated. The
1968 Democratic Convention would be surrounded by great
violence. The national mood was dismal and the events of the Nixon
administration and Watergate did not rebuild any national community
consensus.
Chapter Focus Questions
• How and why was U.S. involvement in the war in
Vietnam widened?
• What was the “sixties generation” and what was its
role in the antiwar movement?
• How did poverty contribute to the urban crisis?
• What characterized the election of 1968?
• What contributed to the rise of “liberation”
movements?
• What characterized the Nixon presidency and how
did the Watergate conspiracy arise?
Chronology
1964 President Lyndon Johnson calls for "an unconditional war on
poverty" in his State of the Union Address
Tonkin Gulf resolution, authorizing president to use military force in
Southeast Asia, passes Congress
The Economic Opportunity Act establishes the Office of Economic
Opportunity
Free speech movement gets under way at University of California at
Berkeley
Pres. Johnson defeats conservative Barry Goldwater
1965 President Johnson authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder, the
bombing of North Vietnam
Teach-ins begin on college campuses
First major march on Washington for peace organized
Watts uprising is the first of the major rebellions in black communities
1966 J. William Fulbright publishes The Arrogance of Power
Uprisings break out in several cities
Black Panther Party is formed, the boldest expression of Black Power
National Organization for Women (NOW) is formed
1967
1968
1969
Antiwar rally in New York City draws 300,000
U.S. supports Israel in Six-Day War
Vietnam Veterans against the War is formed
Uprisings in Newark, Detroit, summer violence
“Che” Guevara killed in Bolivia
"Summer of Love" exemplifies hippie rebellion
More than 500,000 U.S. ground troops in Vietnam
Tet Offensive in Vietnam, followed by international protests
against U.S. policies
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated; riots break out in
more than 100 cities
Vietnam peace talks begin in Paris
Robert Kenny is assassinated in LA, CA
Democratic National Convention, held in Chicago,
nominates Hubert Humphrey
Richard Nixon elected president
American Indian Movement (AIM) founded
Woodstock music festival - high tide of the counterculture
Stonewall Riot in Greenwich Village sparks the gay
liberation movement
Apollo 11 lands on the moon
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
U.S. incursion into Cambodia sparks campus
demonstrations; students killed - Kent State & Jackson State
Women's Strike for Equality moves the fiftieth anniversary of
the woman suffrage amendment
Lieutenant William Calley Jr. is court-martialed for the My
Lai Massacre
New York Times publishes Ellsberg’s Pentagon Papers
President Nixon visits China and USSR
Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) limits offensive
intercontinental ballistic missiles
Intruders attempting to "bug" Democratic headquarters in
the Watergate complex are arrested
Nixon is reelected in a landslide
Nixon orders Christmas Day bombing of North Vietnam
Paris Peace Agreement ends war in Vietnam
FBI seizes Indian occupants of Wounded Knee, S. Dakota
Watergate burglars on trial; hearings on Watergate
CIA destabilizes and overthrows elected Chilean gov’t
Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew resigns
House Judiciary Committee adopts articles of impeachment
against Nixon -- Nixon resigns the presidency in August
Concepts
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Mario Salvio and the Free Speech Movement
Tom Hayden – SDS, Campaign for Economic Democracy, Port Huron
Statement [1962]
Jane Fonda
E. Howard Hunt, G. Gordon Liddy, CREEP
Daniel Ellsberg, The Pentagon Papers
Salvadore Allende, Anastazio Somoza [Nicaragua]
Kent State, Jackson State University
CSNY – “Ohio,” and “Chicago”
Black Panthers, Huey Newton & Bobby Seale
Timothy Leary "tune in, turn on, drop out"
The Weathermen/Weather Underground – “You don’t need a weatherman to
know which way the wind blows.” – lyrics by Bob Dylan
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, 1964
Johnson-Westmoreland strategy
Lt. William L. Calley, My Lai
Bobby Ray, Ernie Dominguez, Bob Burns [EBHS, died during the war]
Sources
Todd Gitlin, The Sixties: Years of Hope, Days of Rage [1987]
George Herring, America’s Longest War: The United States and
Vietnam 1950 – 1975 [1986] and The Pentagon Papers [1993]
Seymour Hersh, Price of Power
Walter Isaacson, Kissinger [1992]
Neil Sheehan, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America
in Vietnam [1988]
Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, The Final Days [1976] and All
the President’s Men [1974]
Port Huron Statement of the Students
for a Democratic Society, 1962
Introduction
We are people of this generation, bred in at least
modest comfort, housed now in universities, looking
uncomfortably to the world we inherit.
When we were kids the United States was the wealthiest
and strongest country in the world: the only one with the atom
bomb, the least scarred by modern war, an initiator of the
United Nations that we thought would distribute Western
influence throughout the world. Freedom and equality for each
individual, government of, by, and for the people -- these
American values we found good, principles by which we could
live as men. Many of us began maturing in complacency.
As we grew, however, our comfort was penetrated by events
too troubling to dismiss. First, the permeating and victimizing fact
of human degradation, symbolized by the Southern struggle
against racial bigotry, compelled most of us from silence to
activism. Second, the enclosing fact of the Cold War, symbolized
by the presence of the Bomb, brought awareness that we
ourselves, and our friends, and millions of abstract "others" we
knew more directly because of our common peril, might die at
any time. We might deliberately ignore, or avoid, or fail to feel all
other human problems, but not these two, for these were too
immediate and crushing in their impact, too challenging in the demand
that we as individuals take the responsibility for encounter and
resolution.
While these and other problems either directly oppressed us
or rankled our consciences and became our own subjective concerns,
we began to see complicated and disturbing paradoxes in our
surrounding America. The declaration "all men are created equal
. . . rang hollow before the facts of Negro life in the South and the
big cities of the North. The proclaimed peaceful intentions of the
United States contradicted its economic and military investments
in the Cold War status quo.
We witnessed, and continue to witness, other paradoxes. With
nuclear energy whole cities can easily be powered, yet the
dominant nationstates seem more likely to unleash destruction
greater than that incurred in all wars of human history. Although our
own technology is destroying old and creating new forms of social
organization, men still tolerate meaningless work and idleness.
While two-thirds of mankind suffers undernourishment, our own
upper classes revel amidst superfluous abundance. Although
world population is expected to double in forty years, the
nations still tolerate anarchy as a major principle of
international conduct and uncontrolled exploitation governs
the sapping of the earth's physical resources. Although mankind
desperately needs revolutionary leadership, America rests in
national stalemate, its goals ambiguous and tradition-bound instead
of informed and clear, its democratic system apathetic and
manipulated rather than "of, by, and for the people."
Part II:
American
Communities
Uptown, Chicago, Illinois
• In 1964, a small group of college students tried to
help residents in a poor Chicago neighborhood.
• The activists were members of Students for a
Democratic Society.
• Founded by white college students, SDS initially
sought reform and grew by 1968 to have 350
chapters and between 60 and 100,000 members.
• Efforts to mobilize the urban poor were unsuccessful,
but SDS members helped break down isolation and
strengthened community ties.
• By 1967, SDS energies were being directed into
protests against the widening war in Vietnam.
• Tom Hayden, Newark, NJ, Port Huron Statement
Part III:
Vietnam: America’s
Longest War
Johnson’s War
• Although pledging not to send American soldiers into
combat, he manipulated Congress into passing a
resolution that was tantamount to a declaration of
war. When bombing failed to halt North Vietnamese
advances, Johnson sent large numbers of troops
into Vietnam to prevent a Communist victory.
• Search-and-destroy missions combined with
chemical warfare wreaked havoc on the people and
the land.
• LBJ was committed to a war of attrition to wear out
and destroy Vietnam.
• 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
The Credibility Gap
• Johnson kept his decisions from the American public and
distorted accounts of military actions.
• News media increasingly questioned the official descriptions of
the war.
• As casualties mounted, more Americans questions LBJ’s
handling of the war.
• In Congress, Democratic senators led by J, William
Fulbright opposed Johnson's handling of the conflict.
[John Kerry, Bill Clinton link to LBJ’s former friend
Sen.“Halfbright”]
• [Jeff Jackson’s comment about Nevada airbase during the
Vietnam War]
Part IV:
A Generation in
Conflict
“The Times They Are AChangin’ ”
• People of all ages protested against the war, but young
people stood out.
• Early campus protests at Berkeley centered on
students’ rights to free speech. Many felt that the
university had become a faceless bureaucratic
machine.
• In 1967, San Francisco attracted thousands of
young people for the “Summer of Love.”
• Events like the Woodstock festival spoke to many
young Americans’ desires to create a new sense of
community or counterculture.
Campus Protest in Global
Perspective
From Campus Protests to
Mass Mobilization
• College students organized protests that questioned
the war effort and universities' roles in war-related
research. [“teach-ins]
• Student strikes merged opposition to the war and other
community issues.
• Public opinion polarized.
• Massive anti and pro-war rallies occurred.
• Nonviolent and violent protests erupted at draft boards.
Controversial
photo of US
coffins coming
home – April 22,
2004
Teenage Soldiers
• The cultural attitudes of protesters were even found
among their equally young GI counterparts.
• Working-class Latinos and African American young
men made up a disproportionate share of the
soldiers.
• Many soldiers grew increasingly bitter over
government lies about their alleged victories and
the inability of society to accept them once they
returned home.
• “Fragging”
Part V:
War on Poverty
An American Profile: Life
Expectancy
• A racial divide existed on life expectancy.
An American Profile: Infant
Mortality
• Poverty helped create a racial divide on infant
mortality
An American Profile: Poverty
• Spurred by books like Michael Harrington’s The
Other America, American awareness of the
problems of poverty greatly increased.
• LBJ called for “an unconditional war on
poverty.”
The Great Society
• Johnson established the Office of Economic Opportunity to
lead the war on poverty. [KCEOC}
• The Job Corps failed, but agencies focusing on education
were more successful.
• Community Action Agencies threatened to become a new
political force that challenged those in power. The Legal
Service Program and Head Start made differences in the
lives of the poor. [Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance –
Carey Scott]
• The Great Society was opposed to income redistribution.
• Most social spending went to the non-poor through
Medicare.
• A 1970 study concluded the war on poverty had barely
scratched the surface.
Crisis in the Cities
• Cities became segregated centers of poverty
and pollution with large minority populations.
• Urban black frustrations resulting in over 100
riots in northern cities between 1964 and
1968. [Watts, CA – cousin Dan, National Guard]
Urban Uprisings in Perspective
• A presidential commission blamed the rioting on
white racism, poverty, and police brutality and
recommended massive social reforms.
Part VI:
1968
The Tet Offensive
• On January 30, 1968 the North Vietnamese
launched the Tet offensive, shattering the
credibility of American officials who had been
predicting a quick victory.
• Despite the military victory, media reports triggered
antiwar protests.
• LBJ declared a bombing halt and announced he
would not seek re-election.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
• By 1968, Martin Luther King had broken with
LBJ on Vietnam and had announced a massive
Poor People’s Campaign.
• He was assassinated in Memphis. Rioting broke
out in over 100 cities.
The Democratic Campaign
• Polarization split the Democratic Party. Robert
Kennedy and Eugene McCarthy both sought the
anti-war vote.
• Kennedy appeared unbeatable, but was
assassinated.
• Hubert Humphrey won the nomination from a
bitterly divided party.
• The Democratic convention was the scene of a
major confrontation between protesters and
police.
Part VII:
The Politics of
Identity
Protests Movements in the
1960s
Black Power
• Generational divisions marked the civil rights
movement as younger African Americans turned to
Black Power.
• Groups like the Black Panthers reflected the
growing militancy and the calls for community
autonomy.
• Racial pride grew during the late 1960s, affecting
numerous segments of the African American
community.
• A renewed interest in African heritage and customs
arose.
• Stokely Carmichael and SNCC
Sisterhood is Powerful
• During the early 1960s, many women began to
demand equal rights.
• By the late sixties the influence of civil rights and
New Left appeared as women identified their
movement as one of liberation.
• In thousands of communities, women formed small
consciousness-raising groups to examine the power
dynamics in their own lives.
• A diverse and comprehensive women’s rights
agenda emerged, though the movement remained a
bastion of white middle-class women.
Gay Liberation
• The gay community had gained visibility during
WWII and several openly gay organizations had
emerged.
• The “Stonewall Riot” in New York City in 1968
galvanized a “Gay Liberation Front.”
• Gradually changes in public opinion led to more
accepting attitudes and a large minority of
homosexuals “came out” of the closet.
The Chicano Rebellion
• Mexican Americans articulated a sense of Chicano
pride and nationalism, initiating a series of protests.
• Throughout the Southwest Mexican Americans
organized to push for land and social reforms as well
as political power.
• Cesar Chavez successfully organize Chicano
agricultural workers into the United Farm
Workers in Delano, CA
Red Power
• Indian activists, led by the American Indian
Movement, organized protests such as taking over
Wounded Knee. [Dennis Banks, Russell Means]
• An Indian Renaissance led to many new books
about Indian life.
The Asian American Movement
• Like Black Power and Latino activists, Asian
Americans embraced a nationalism that
emphasized ethnic pride and cultural survival.
Part VIII:
The Nixon
Presidency
The Election of 1968
• In 1968, Richard Nixon's campaign:
– appealed to voters hostile to the protests and
counterculture of the young
– pledged to undercut liberal program and roll back the Great
Society
• Nixon narrowly defeated Hubert Humphrey and
George Wallace.
Nixon’s War
• Nixon promised to bring “peace with honor” to
Vietnam.
• Nixon and National Security Advisor, Henry
Kissinger, believed that a military defeat would
destroy United States global leadership.
• Nixon spoke of a phased withdrawal of American
troops, but widened the war by invading Cambodia.
• Massive protests led to four deaths at Kent State
and two at Jackson State.
• Nixon accepted a peace settlement that led to the
fall of South Vietnam.
• Seymour M. Hersh - Price of Power: Kissinger in
the Nixon White House
Foreign Relations
• Nixon opened relations with the Communist
government in China.
• Relations with the Soviet Union improved as he
negotiated a grain deal and signed an arms
control agreement.
• Nixon’s last diplomatic effort was to send
Kissinger to the Middle East where he negotiated
a temporary lull in the ongoing war.
Domestic Policy
• Despite his conservatism, Nixon:
– supported a guaranteed income to replace
welfare
– imposed a wage and price freeze to hold
down inflation
• He appealed to conservatives in his
opposition to school bussing and Supreme
Court appointments.
Part IX:
Watergate
Bush “43” and Watergate
Comparison
• John Dean’s 2004 book, Worse Than Watergate:
The Secret Presidency of George W. Bush [John
Dean was one of Nixon’s attorneys during
Watergate.]
• Dick Tut, trickster – Chinese fortune cookies,
Chinese sign, flagged train, “the people have
spoken, the b…….”
• Auntie Peg and Clair Jane Nixon [wife of Don] and
cousin James at Trish’s wedding.
• Herb Klein as golfing partner at Lake Arrowhead
between 1962 Nixon defeat and 1968 campaign.
Conspiracy and Dirty Tricks
• Nixon’s foreign policy included a wide range of
secret interventions that propped up or
destabilized regimes in Asia, Africa, and Latin
America.
• Domestically, Nixon formed an inner circle to keep
information from the public and to plug leaks.
• In 1972, Democrats nominated George McGovern,
representing the liberal wing of the party.
• The Nixon re-election committee ran a dirty-tricks
campaign to confuse the Democrats, including a
break-in at the Democratic headquarters at the
Watergate apartment complex.
The Fall of the Executive
• The White House tried to cover up its Watergate
involvement, but two reporters followed the
evidence back to the Oval Office.
• Nixon fired the special prosecutor who sought
secret tapes Nixon had made of White House
conversations.
• After a congressional investigation, Nixon finally
resigned to avoid impeachment.
• Barry Goldwater – you can probably count on about
3 votes of support.
• Vice President had already resigned – therefore,
Gerald Ford became president and he appointed vp
Nelson Rockefeller.