The Vietnam WarAPUSH – Spiconardi

I don’t see that we can ever hope to get out of there once we are committed…I am not going to be the president who saw Southeast Asia go the way China went. ~Lyndon B. Johnson (1964)

The Antiwar Movement• As casualties mounted and it became apparent that the U.S.

government was misleading the public, the antiwar movement strengthened

The Antiwar Movement• The Draft• Young men were burning

their draft cards of fleeing to Canada to avoid conscription

• There was a disproportionate number of poor and black drafted• 76% of men sent to

Vietnam were from working class or lower middle class backgrounds

• In 1965 & 1966, blacks accounted for 20% of American casualties

The Antiwar Movement• Vietnamization • Nixon’s policy to equip

and train South Vietnamese forces to take an increasing combat role in the war

• Called for reduction in U.S. ground combat troops

• However, increased U.S. Air Force bombings in Vietnam and Cambodia

The Antiwar Movement• Veteran Opposition• Vietnam veterans

testified before the Senate to explain their opposition to the war.

• In 1971, thousands deserted the army

• Some soldiers experimented with heroin

• Many soldiers refused orders from superior officers

The Antiwar Movement• Kent State• In the spring of 1970, more than 350 college campuses experienced

strikes• At Kent State, four students were killed by the Ohio National Guard

during an antiwar demonstration.

The Antiwar Movement• My Lai Massacre• The New York

Times published details on the My Lai Massacre of 1968 in a 1969 report

• The report detailed the killing of 350 South Vietnamese civilians by American troops

The Antiwar Movement• The Pentagon Papers• In 1971, the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers, which

were classified documents from the Department of Defense• It showed how the U.S. was involved in Vietnam going back to World

War II• Revealed how Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, and

Nixon misled the American people about involvement in Vietnam

The Antiwar Movement

• New York Times Co. v. The United States• Nixon claimed executive authority in

hopes of halting publication of the documents

• Supreme Court ruled that the New York Times was protected under the First Amendment and Nixon’s national security claims were unfounded• Justice Brennan reasoned that since

publication would not cause an inevitable, direct, and immediate event imperiling the safety of American forces, prior restraint was unjustified

The War Powers Resolution [Act]

• To prevent another Gulf of Tonkin, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973

• The president had to seek congressional approval in order to commit American troops overseas

• In 2014, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) proposed repealing the War Powers Resolution and replacing it with a stricter one• U.S. last declared war in 1941, but had committed troops

overseas several times

The End of the Vietnam War• In 1973, Nixon’s Secretary of State,

Henry Kissinger was able to negotiate a cease fire

• Legacy• First war the U.S. definitively lost• Americans killed: 58,000• Cost: $100 billion• American’s lost confidence in the

government and American institutions

• American ideals and long-standing beliefs were challenged

“…we didn’t know our ally. Secondly, we knew even less about the enemy. And, the last, most inexcusable of our mistakes, was not knowing our own people.” ~ Gen. Maxwell Taylor