22.4 A BAD YEAR, 1968. TET OFFENSIVE Jan.1968, North Vietnamese & Vietcong sneak attack our...

22.4 A BAD YEAR, 1968

TET OFFENSIVE

• Jan.1968, North Vietnamese & Vietcong sneak attack our forces during the Tet holiday

• We beat them back a month later

• But this event proved that the Communists in Vietnam would not give up.

• This turned many Americans against the war

1968 DEMOCRATIC ELECTION• Eugene McCarthy was the anti-war

Democrat seeking the Presidency

• LBJ dropped out of the race in March 1968

• June ’68: Robert Kennedy was assassinated after winning the California primary

• Democratic race came down to Hubert Humphrey and Eugene McCarthy

1968 DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION

• Protesters were not happy with the Democratic bosses choosing Humphrey as the party’s candidates

• Protestors felt Humphrey wouldn’t end the war• They took to the streets in Chicago (at the

Democratic Convention)• They were brutally beaten by Chicago’s police

1968 ELECTION

• A three way race:

• Nixon (Rep) 301• Humphrey (Dem) 191• Wallace (American

Independent) 46• A.k.a. the racism

party…