19.2: Vietnam Divides 19.2: Vietnam Divides the Nationthe Nation

A. An Antiwar Movement Emerges

1. Support for containment: 1965

a. 66% in favorb. 24% opposed

2. Educational hearings – informing the Senate on military strategy.

3. General Westmoreland:“enemy’s hopes are bankrupt”

a. Wanted large # of troopsb. by 1967 >500,000 c. Living room war:

Media and credibility gap effect Americans

d. George Kennan – American diplomat: Vietnam not strategically important to US

4. “Teach-ins”

a. Students and teachers skipped class

b. Gather to discuss the wrongs of the wari. Civil warii. Supporting a

dictatorship

5. Vietnam Soldiers & the Draft

a. Draft implemented; most in combat units

b. avg. age 19; 21-26 WWIIc. Disproportionately AA,

Latino, and poord. MLK criticizes high # of

AA (13%, 10%, 20%)e. “White man’s war”f. Returning soldiers protest

5. Vietnam Soldiers & the Draft

g. Burn draft cardsh. Leave countryi. Serve jail timej. 26th Amendment – voting rights for 18 y/o.

6. Doves vs. Hawks

a. Opposed war & wanted troops to withdraw from Vietnam

b. Should continue & increase force in Vietnam

B. 1968: B. 1968: The Pivotal YearThe Pivotal Year

The worst year of the 1960s!

The Tet Offensive

1. The Tet Offensivea. Vietnam’s New Years b. Week-long peace

agreementc. Funerals being held

during this time = easy attack

d. Deaths due to attacks:i. Vietcong - 32,000ii. US - 3,000

e. Victory? For who? How?

f. Americans realize war is a unwinnable

Walter Cronkite

2. Public Opinion on Wara. Before Tet Offensive

i. 28% Dovesii. 56% Hawks

b. After Tet Offensivei. 40% Dovesii. 40% Hawks

c. 60 % war mishandledd. 50% mistake to go in

3. A Season of Violence (1968)

a. March: Johnson announces he will not seek a second term

b. April: MLK assassinated; AA communities responded

with riots; 46 deadc. June: Robert Kennedy

assassinatedd. August: Democratic National

Convention; Chicago; Mayor Daley

Mayor Richard J. Daley

Presidential Election 1968

Hubert Humphrey (D) Richard M. Nixon (R)