WASHMUN IX The Cabinet of President Nixon:

The Vietnam War (1970)

Chaired by: Charlotte Gimlin and Alex Biggs

Dear Delegates,

We are absolutely thrilled to have you in our committee for WASHMUN IX! My name is

Charlotte Gimlin. I am a junior at Washington-Lee and this is my sixth year being involved with

Model United Nations. I am co-chairing this committee with Alex Biggs, who is a freshman this

year.

We would like to welcome you to Nixon's Cabinet! It is our job to assist the president and

guide his decision making during these tumultuous times. It is up to us to do what is best for both

our beloved country and the world. Our partial crisis in this specialized committee serves as a

way to update you on the outside world. As you receive news (both domestic and from abroad),

you will need to respond by slightly tweaking your resolutions through edits to clauses and

amendments (rather than with directives as used in full crisis committees).

We hope you will all bring your full attention and best efforts so we can try to tackle the

immensely complicated problems that accompany our involvement in the Vietnam War. I urge

you all to come prepared with adequate research and understanding of the situation so you can

get the most out of committee time. Please remember to write a position paper so we can

consider you for awards. Don't hesitate to contact either Alex or me with any questions, concerns

or clarifications about either the topic or your position. We’re here to help!

Charlotte Gimlin

chgimlin@gmail.com

Alex Biggs

alex.biggs11@icloud.com

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Cabinet History

The delegates assembled at the Constitutional Convention in 1787 decided that a cabinet

made up of the heads of all of the executive departments would be approved by the Senate with

the purpose of advising the president. Despite the passage of time between that first declaration

in 1787 and the job of this cabinet in 1970, one thing has remained constant: the responsibility of

this elite group to oversee the executive branch of the federal government of the United States.

As members of Nixon's cabinet, it is our job to advise our leader on the most pressing issue of

the time: the Vietnam War.

Cabinet meetings serve as a time for the members to share their ideas, and for them to

coordinate on topics of importance. In order to establish and maintain the most effective cabinet

possible, each delegate should be aware of their responsibilities as a member and participate

accordingly. One vital thing to remember is that each cabinet member has a different role and

different expertise they can bring to the committee. A dossier with all cabinet members in this

committee is listed at the bottom of the background guide. Please do not hesitate to contact us

with questions about specific position powers.

Brief War Overview

The conflict in Vietnam started in 1955. American troops came ashore in the year 1965.

The “Tet offensive” began on January 30th, 1968. During this offensive, the North Vietnamese

launched a large-scale attack on multiple strongholds in South Vietnam. Vivid and descriptive

reporting on these attacks, and on the offensive as a whole, shifted US opinion against the war

because news coverage made it clear to the public that the conflict in Vietnam was far from

being won.

By 1969 there were approximately 550,000 American troops in Vietnam . At this point in 1

the war, there have been three involved presidents: Kennedy, Johnson, and now Nixon. We must,

as a cabinet, choose how we wish to move forward in regards to the conflict. Do we push

forward to fight Communism or try to decrease involvement in the area?

1 Spector, Ronald H. “Vietnam War.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 11 Jan. 2018, www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War/De-escalation-negotiation-and-Vietnamization.

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Continuation of the Vietnam War

Introduction

More than a decade ago, the United States began involvement in the civil war of the

South Asian country of Vietnam. Our current president, Richard Nixon, has inherited that war

from his predecessor LBJ, and it is our duty as his cabinet to assist him in making decisions

regarding wartime policy that is best for American and the world. The spread of Communism

during the high tensions of the Cold War, the human rights concerns on both sides, and the views

of the American people all must be taken into account with any advice we give the president.

Vietnam was a French colony since the 19th century. The Vietnamese defeated the

French and won their independence in 1954. The U.S. has financed 80% of the French war

costs; China gave considerable assistance to the Vietnamese side. The peace accords specified

that Vietnam would temporarily be split into North and South at the 17th parallel. In the North,

Vietnamese communists, led by

Ho Chi Minh, who had been a

major force in the war against

the French, came to power. The

United States made a

commitment to support South

Vietnam in order to prevent the

spread of communism. South

Vietnam was led from 1955 to

1964 by the corrupt and

oppressive President Diem.

By the late 1950s, war broke out again in South Vietnam as the National Liberation Front

(also called the Viet Cong) began an insurgency against the Diem government. The Viet Cong

wanted to defeat Diem and to reunite still-divided Vietnam. By the early 1960s, the communist

government of North Vietnam began providing support, arms, and eventually soldiers to the Viet

Cong in the South. The American military involvement slowly increased during the Kennedy

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administration in the early 1960s, particularly in response to escalation from North Vietnam.

The U.S. provided financing, weapons, and military advisors.

Soon after Lyndon Johnson succeeded Kennedy in 1963, the U.S. involvement in the war

took another major step with the introduction of U.S. soldiers taking an active role in the fighting

alongside the South Vietnamese army. The U.S. also began its bombing of North Vietnam. The

Viet Cong mainly use guerrilla warfare techniques and are considered guerrilla fighters. Their

army is mainly comprised of teenagers and young adults who are adamant about, what they see

as, protecting their ideology and home. The guerrillas would use different tactics from traditional

warfare which gave them the advantage in the jungle-like climate of Vietnam. 2

The Spread of Communism

The Vietnam War began in the context of the Cold War and of the Cuban Missile Crisis,

in which the USSR installed nuclear armed missiles on island of Cuba, just 90 miles away from

the United States. In 1962 President Kennedy reached an agreement with the USSR and they

removed their missiles from Cuba. Meanwhile, the People's Republic of China was supporting

the spread of communism by providing funds and military support for North Vietnam and the

Viet Cong. The United States has been defending against the spread of communism ever since

the Korean war, thus giving them an incentive to help fight with the South Vietnamese. The

United States is trying to prevent the domino effect, first recognised in a Truman speech in 1947,

which was the theory that if one nation becomes a communist nation, then neighboring countries

will swiftly fall to communism too. Because of our experiences in the conflict in Korea and the

United States’s desire to protect and promote democracy, we maintained a strong interest in

supporting South Vietnam.

2 “Vietcong Tunnels .” Wikimedia Commons, Wikimedia Foundation, Cross-sectional diagram of Viet Cong tunnel system used by the communist insurgents during the Vietnam War.

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Human Rights Concerns

During the war there were many human rights concerns, such as the use of Agent Orange

and napalm. Agent Orange is a mix of two different herbicides used to destroy forest cover and

crops; in addition to its damaging effects on the environment, it also leads to many health

problems in people who are exposed to it. Some of these problems include things such as genetic

mutations, various types of cancer, and leukemia. Agent Orange has been used in the Vietnam

War by the U.S. military since 1961. Between 1962 and 1969 the U.S. used almost 20,000,000

liters of Agent Orange. Use of napalm is another humanitarian concern. Napalm is a flammable

liquid that is a mix of a gel and gasoline (petrol) and sticks to anything it comes in contact to and

when ignited, burns for up to ten minutes. Large amounts of napalm and Agent Orange were

spread on the Ho Chi Minh trail, the main travel route into South Vietnam for the Viet Cong, but

the use of these chemical weapons affected civilians.

In 1964, the United States Air Force commenced with “Operation Barrel Roll” where

they would fly over and drop bombs on Viet Cong positions in the South , one estimate putting 3

the total amount dropped at around 2.5 million tons.25 One popular bombing site was the Ho Chi

Minh trail since it was a source of supplies to the Viet Cong. In 1965, the United States air force

started “Operation Rolling Thunder”, another bombing campaign. Both of these bombing

campaigns also dropped a massive amount of bombs on the neighboring (and theoretically

neutral) country of Laos.

In 1968, when U.S soldiers had heard that a small village called My Lai had been

captured by Viet Cong guerrillas, the Charlie Company (part of the American Divisions’ 11th

Infantry Brigade) was sent on a search and destroy mission. The Vietcong used guerrilla warfare

throughout the war which made it difficult for Americans to tell who was a civilian and who was

an undercover Viet Cong fighter. When they got to the village My Lai, they found no evidence 4

of the Viet Cong being there, yet soldiers killed all the villagers and burned the village down.

During the Vietnam War, many of the soldiers either witnessed or perpetrated human rights

3 “Land of a Million Bombs.” Legacies of War, legaciesofwar.org/resources/books-documents/land-of-a-million-bombs/. 4 “guerrilla Tactics: An Overview.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/guerrilla/.

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violations. One example of this was the My Lai massacre. As Nixon's cabinet, we must address

concerns like these regarding reckless action taken by our own soldiers.

Another one of the outcomes of war are cognitive dangers like “gross stress reaction.”

Gross stress reaction and depressive reaction are major problems for soldiers returning from war.

From studying the Korean War veterans, we observed that 21% of all soldiers contracted either a

prolonged stress reaction or depression upon their return home. The soldiers in the war, and the

Vietnamese people who were also subject to these traumatic conditions, are at risk of developing

gross stress reaction or depression . 5

Public Opposition

Since the war started, opposition back home has been growing. By 1967, the number of

U.S casualties had reached 15,000 and the number of wounded was at about 109,000. There were

different stages to the protests. At first, the protests were composed mainly of left-wing activists

who were protesting U.S involvement overseas. By the mid-1960s, opposition to the war was

spreading, and anti-war groups organized demonstrations, protests,

and “teach-ins.” One of the most successful ways of informing the

public of the situation was the college campus sit-ins and more 6

detailed news coverage of the conflict. It was not just students who

opposed the war; the leaders of the civil rights movement were also

opposed to the war. By 1967, the antiwar movement was gaining

increasing support, particularly when validated and supported by

famous figures. Muhammad Ali openly opposed the draft and

Martin Luther King Jr., opposed the war , delivered a speech 7

stating “we have no honourable intentions in Vietnam” and “we

5 Katona, Cornelius. “Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Context of Human Rights Abuse.” Frontiers, Frontiers, www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/2853/complex-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-the-context-of-human-rights-abuse. 6 Kindig, Jessie. “Vietnam War: Student Activism.” Vietnam: Students, 2008, depts.washington.edu/antiwar/vietnam_student.shtml. 7Garrow, David J. “When Martin Luther King Came Out Against Vietnam.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Apr. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/opinion/when-martin-luther-king-came-out-against-vietnam.html.

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have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam.” Martin Luther King Jr.

called for all men who were drafted into the war to declare themselves conscientious objectors.

He also called for the U.S. to stop bombing Vietnam and make a cease-fire until the U.S. can

“make what reparations we can for the damage we have done.”

One of the most famous protests was in 1967 when 100,000 people met at the Lincoln

Memorial and marched to the Pentagon. There were also protests across the country. In New 8 9

York and California protesters tried to stop the draft induction centers. Thousands of people

dodged the draft . There are ways to avoid the draft legally by claiming conscientious objector 10

status based on religion, being a student , having a medical or psychological problem, or having 11

a government job.

Back in Vietnam, many monks were protesting the war by self-immolation, the practice

of setting oneself on fire. The most widespread and well-known example of this is the burning of

Thích Quảng Đức , who set himself ablaze at a intersection in the middle of Saigon to protest 12

the suppression of the rights of buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. The photograph

of him taken by Malcolm Browne won a Pulitzer Prize and caused further outrage at US support

of a religiously restrictive government.

Political Popularity

The Vietnam War was a large factor in the 1968 elections . The candidates’ strategies 13

towards how the war should be approached greatly influenced their popularity. When the race

had just started, Lyndon B. Johnson as sitting president was slated to be the Democratic

8 History.com Staff. “Vietnam War Protests.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests. 9 Mettler, Katie. “The Day Anti-Vietnam War Protesters Tried to Levitate the Pentagon.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 Oct. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/19/the-day-anti-vietnam-war-protesters-tried-to-levitate-the-pentagon/?utm_term=.deb670e486f2. 10 Valentine, Tom. “Vietnam War Draft.” The Vietnam War, The Vietnam War, 25 July 2015, thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-draft/. 11 “The Student Movement and the Antiwar Movement.” Khan Academy, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-8/apush-1960s-america/a/the-student-movement-and-the-antiwar-movement. 12 “Thích Quảng Đức.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%ADch_Qu%E1%BA%A3ng_%C4%90%E1%BB%A9c#Self-immolation. 13 Goodman, Bonnie. “How Many Elections Has Vietnam Played a Role in?” History News Network, Colombian College of Arts and Sciences , 10 Mar. 2004, historynewsnetwork.org/article/7729.

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nominee. However, a senator named Eugene McCarthy announced that he was running against

LBJ to be the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party. The main point of focus for the

McCarthy campaign was to end the bombing of North Vietnam and negotiate peace talks.

Senator McCarthy’s effort changed the political landscape. He won 42% of the votes in the

primaries, and though he did not win, he highlighted major weaknesses in the strength of LBJ’s

campaign. Senator Robert F. Kennedy of New York then entered the race against LBJ. With

rising opposition to the war and the Tet offensive, LBJ stepped down as a candidate for

re-election. Kennedy would have most likely won the Democratic nomination, had he not been

assassinated that June. Finally, at the Democratic Convention in August 1968, Hubert Humphrey

was chosen to be the representative of the Democratic party in the general election. The

Republican Convention easily chose Richard Nixon for the nomination. Richard Nixon ran as 14

the voice for the “silent majority” whose voices were not heard in radicalism and cultural 15

liberalism. During his campaign, Nixon claimed to have a “secret plan” to end the war in

Vietnam that would please the liberals and conservatives. This “secret plan” of his to end the war

was one of the underlying reasons he won the popular vote. Now, we must find a way to

organize and put plans into action in a way that will best benefit both our President and our

nation.

United Nations Involvement

The United Nations did not have a very large role in the Vietnam war. The main reason

for this is that the permanent nations in the Security Council are the U.S., Soviet Union, China,

France, and the U.K. The U.S was supporting the South in the battle against Communism, while

China and the Soviet Union were supporting the North and the Viet Cong. Each of the members

of the Security Council have the power to veto any resolution. That meant that any resolution

brought up that would support the South would be vetoed by China or the Soviet Union and vice

14 Farrell, John Aloysius, et al. “Yes, Nixon Scuttled the Vietnam Peace Talks.” POLITICO Magazine, POLITICO, 9 June 2014, www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/yes-nixon-scuttled-the-vietnam-peace-talks-107623. 15 “Nixon's ‘Silent Majority’ Speech.” Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, chnm.gmu.edu/hardhats/silent.html.

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versa. In 1967, however, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee strongly advised L.B.J to call

an emergency session of the U.N Security Council to consider proposals to end the war.

Status of the War, 1970

When Richard became president in January 1969, more than 500,000 U.S. military

personnel were stationed in Vietnam. Nixon’s major new policy for Vietnam was called

“Vietnamization.” The idea was to gradually reduce the involvement of American soldiers in

front-line fighting and for South Vietnam’s military to take increased responsibility for

continuing the war. Phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam began in mid-1960 and

continued into 1970. Morale of the hundreds of thousands of soldiers remaining in Vietnam

declined. The My Lai massacre was made public at the end of 1969. At the same time, U.S.

bombing of North Vietnam increased. General Creighton Abrams took over for General William

Westmoreland as U.S. military commander in Vietnam. A joint U.S.-South Vietnamese force

invaded Cambodia in 1970. Peace talks in Paris with the North Vietnamese were making no

apparent progress.

Massive anti-war protests took place in November 1969 and again in the spring of 1970.

Four students were shot at an anti-war protest at Kent State University in May 1970.

Dossier

Vice President Spiro Agnew

Secretary of State: William P. Rogers

Secretary of Treasury: David M. Kennedy

Secretary of Defense: Melvin R. Laird

Attorney General: John N. Mitchell

Postmaster General: William M. Blount

Secretary of Interior: Walley Joseph Hickle

Secretary of Agriculture: Clifford M. Hardin

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Secretary of Labor: James Day Hodgson

Secretary of Commerce: Maurice Stans

Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare: Elliot Richardson

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: George W. Romney

Secretary of Transportation: John A. Volp

Chief of Staff: H.R. Haldeman

Office of Management and Budget: George P. Shultz

Administrator of the EPA: William Ruckelshaus

Head of US forces in Vietnam: Creighton Abrams

National Security Advisor: Henry Kissinger

15th Chief Justice of the U.S.A: Warren E. Burger

Military Chief of Staff: General Westmoreland

Questions To Consider

1. What strategies should the U.S. government adopt for ending the war in Vietnam? What

should be the U.S. policy regarding the peace talks in Paris? Regarding Vietnamization?

Regarding the bombing campaigns in North Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos?

2. What ways could we reduce the amount of mental trauma in soldiers and victims of the

war? What should be done about declining morale?

3. What should be done to appease protesters and regain public support?

4. Should changes be made to the military draft?

5. In the fight for democracy, how far should the United States be willing to go? Do the

ends justify the means in the case of Vietnam?

6. How do we view Communism in terms of a human rights concern? Consider great famine

of Communist China 1958-62.

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Position Paper Guidelines

Preparing a position paper is essential to being fully prepared for any conference. At

WASHMUN, delegates must submit a position paper if they wish to be considered for awards.

We suggest that position papers follow this format:

● A cover page with your name, school name, position title, and country/state flag

● About 1-2 pages written in response to each topic, including background

information, past action, and suggested solutions

● Suggested solutions should be the most in-depth section of the paper

● Bibliography

Do not forget to cite your sources in a bibliography. Under WASHMUN conference

policy, any paper without citations will be considered plagiarized.

Bibliography

1. “Martin Luther King, Jr., Speaks out against the War.” History.com, A&E Television

Networks,

www.history.com/this-day-in-history/martin-luther-king-jr-speaks-out-against-the-war.

2. Garrow, David J. “When Martin Luther King Came Out Against Vietnam.” The New

York Times, The New York Times, 4 Apr. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/04/04/opinion/when-martin-luther-king-came-out-against-vietna

m.html.

3. Valentine, Tom. “Vietnam War Draft.” The Vietnam War, The Vietnam War, 25 July

2015, thevietnamwar.info/vietnam-war-draft/.

4. “Opposition to United States Involvement in the Vietnam War.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia

Foundation, 12 Feb. 2018,

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_United_States_involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War

#Students.

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5. Zimmerman, Bill. “The Four Stages of the Antiwar Movement.” The New York Times,

The New York Times, 24 Oct. 2017,

www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/opinion/vietnam-antiwar-movement.html.

6. History.com Staff. “Vietnam War Protests.” History.com, A&E Television Networks,

2010, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests.

7. Kindig, Jessie. “Vietnam War: Student Activism.” Vietnam: Students, 2008,

depts.washington.edu/antiwar/vietnam_student.shtml.

8. “The Student Movement and the Antiwar Movement.” Khan Academy,

www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-us-history/period-8/apush-1960s-america/a/the-stu

dent-movement-and-the-antiwar-movement.

9. Mettler, Katie. “The Day Anti-Vietnam War Protesters Tried to Levitate the Pentagon.”

The Washington Post, WP Company, 19 Oct. 2017,

www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/10/19/the-day-anti-vietnam-war-prot

esters-tried-to-levitate-the-pentagon/?utm_term=.deb670e486f2.

10. Gallagher, Brendan. “The Vietnam War and the Civil Rights movement2.” The Vietnam

War and the Civil Rights Movement, 20 Feb. 2014,

www.americansc.org.uk/Online/Vietnam_Civil_Rights.htm.

11. Harrison, Benjamin T. “Impact of the Vietnam War on the Civil Rights Movement in the

Midsixties.” Taylor Francis Online, 9 Jan. 2008,

www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10576109608436009?journalCode=uter20.

12. “The Vietnam War.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association,

www.ushistory.org/us/55.asp.

13. Goodman, Bonnie. “How Many Elections Has Vietnam Played a Role in?” History News

Network, Colombian College of Arts and Sciences , 10 Mar. 2004,

historynewsnetwork.org/article/7729.

14. Katona, Cornelius. “Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in the Context of Human

Rights Abuse.” Frontiers, Frontiers,

www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/2853/complex-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-in-the-

context-of-human-rights-abuse.

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15. “The ELECTION OF 1968 .” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,

www.pbs.org/johngardner/chapters/5a.html.

16. “1968 Presidential Election.” Presidential Election of 1968,

www.270towin.com/1968_Election/.

17. Farrell, John Aloysius, et al. “Yes, Nixon Scuttled the Vietnam Peace Talks.” POLITICO

Magazine, POLITICO, 9 June 2014,

www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/yes-nixon-scuttled-the-vietnam-peace-talks-1

07623.

18. “Nixon's ‘Silent Majority’ Speech.” Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media,

Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, chnm.gmu.edu/hardhats/silent.html.

19. “Episodes.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,

www.pbs.org/kenburns/the-vietnam-war/episodes/.

20. Anderson, David L. The Military and Diplomatic Course of the Vietnam War.

www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/anderson.htm.

21. “guerrilla Tactics: An Overview.” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service,

www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/guerrilla/.

22. “Land of a Million Bombs.” Legacies of War,

legaciesofwar.org/resources/books-documents/land-of-a-million-bombs/.

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