1968: A Tumultuous YearThe Worst Year in American

History?

TET

• Tet is the Vietnamese New Year

• Both sides had pledged “no fighting” during Tet

• Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army attacked dozens of cities simultaneously

• Eventual USA victory, but level of sophistication and number of combatants exposed an enemy with plenty of life left

Light at the end of the tunnel.

TET

• For months USA government had been saying, “we’re winning, we’re winning”; “There’s light at the end of the tunnel”; “The VC are near collapse and ready to surrender.”

• Tet proved this was not true

• Our government was lying

My Lai Massacre

• March 1968• This is what you've been waiting for -- search

and destroy -- and you've got it," • As the "search and destroy" mission unfolded, it

soon degenerated into the massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly

• News coverage looks bad• Implicated Lt. William Calley

My Lai Massacre

• According to eyewitness reports offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped and then killed. For his part, Calley was said to have rounded up a group of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire.

• Calley, an unemployed college dropout, had managed to graduate from Officer's Candidate School at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1967. At his trial, Calley testified that he was ordered by Captain Ernest Medina to kill everyone in the village of My Lai. Still, there was only enough photographic and recorded evidence to convict Calley, alone, of murder. He was sentenced to life in prison, but was released in 1974, following many appeals. After being issued a dishonorable discharge, Calley entered the insurance business.

LBJ Refuses to Run

• March 31, 1968

• Lyndon Johnson announces to the nation that he will not seek, nor will he accept his party’s nomination for another term.

• Shattered morale of troops

• Shocked the nation

• Admission of guilt?

Martin Luther King JR.

• April 4, 1968

• Martin Luther King was assassinated by James Earl Ray

• Anguish, anger, disillusionment

• Riots

Robert Kennedy

• June 3, 1968

• Bobby Kennedy, brother of JFK, was assassinated after California primary

• Would have been Democratic nominee

• Shot by Sirhan Sirhan

Riots

• The summer of 1968 was filled with riots and violence in American cities

"Incessant agitation and propaganda on the part of communists and other subversives and extremists have definitely contributed to Negro unrest and fomented violence." — FBI, 1967

1968 Democratic Convention

• Chicago

• Massive protests, anti-war rallies

• Disrupted the convention

• Mayor of Chicago, Richard Daley, called on Police and National Guard to use tear gas, night sticks, dogs, etc. to disburse the protesters

• Thousands of arrests

“The whole world is watching”

1968 Election

• (R) Richard M. Nixon

• (D) Hubert Humphrey

• (AIP) George Wallace

• A Liar, A Wussy, A Racist

Richard Nixon

• Richard Nixon ran on and said the following …– We need to restore “law and order”– We need “peace with honor” in Vietnam– “I have a secret plan to end the war”

His running mate (for VP) was Spiro Agnew

Agnew: Gov. of MD, seen as moral leader

Birth name: Anagnostopolus

Hubert Humphrey

• Hubert Humphrey had been VP under LBJ• Was content to follow LBJ policies but

hinted at pulling out … maybe• Indecisive

Running Mate was Edmund MuskieMuskie: Senator form Maine

Birth Name: Edziu Sixtus Marzcisewski

George Wallace

• George Wallace had been governor of Alabama• He hated blacks. He was a racist and a

segregationist– “I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow,

segregation forever!”

Running mate was General Curtis Lemay

“Bomb Vietnam back into the stone age”

Willing to “use the bomb in Vietnam”

In 1972 George Wallace was shot during an assassination attempt. He lived, but was paralyzed and confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life. “Stand up for America? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Nixon Wins!

• Nixon won a plurality (he had enough electoral votes and more popular votes, BUT he did not have a majority … 43%)

Party: REPUBLICANHome State:  PR: NY; VP: MDElectoral Votes: 301Pop. Vote: 31,710,470 (43.4%)

Party: DEMOCRATICHome State:  PR: MN; VP: MEElectoral Votes: 191Pop. Vote: 30,898,055 (42.3%)

Party: AMERICAN INDEPENDENTHome State:  PR: AL; VP: OHElectoral Votes: 46Pop. Vote: 9,446,167 (12.9%)

Party: SEVERALElectoral Votes: 0Pop. Vote: 965,512 (1.3%)

Total electoral votes - 538 (from 50 states and D.C.)Majority needed to win - 270

Total popular vote - 73,020,204

Richard MilhousNIXONSpiro Theodore Agnew

    

Hubert HoratioHUMPHREYEdmund Sixtus Muskie

    

George CorleyWALLACECurtis Emerson LeMay

    

Other CandidatesPeace and Freedom, Socialist Labor, Socialist Workers , etc.

1968

• TET• My Lai• LBJ does not run• MLK assassinated• RFK assassinated• Riots• Democratic Convention, Chicago• 1968 Election• Nixon Wins