Kennedy, Johnson and the War in Vietnam

President John F. Kennedy

“And so, my fellow Americans - ask not what your country can do for you- ask what you can do for your country.” Inaugural Address Jan 1961

John F. Kennedy 1961-63

•35th president •Kennedy Mystique –Youngest elected president

–Addison’s disease

–war hero

•1960 election was first that featured TV and Kennedy used this visual element to his advantage

•Key events: Berlin Wall, Aug. 1961; Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962

•Most who watched the televised debate felt JFK won. Those who listened on the radio felt Nixon won.

•The most common influencer today in ‘electability’ is ‘looks presidential’

N i x o n o v e r radio sounded i n f o r m e d , e x p e r i e n c e and confident but on TV he l o o k e d uncomfortable and nervous

Camelot• Much of Kennedy’s fame is wrapped up in his visual appeal to many Americans.

• It was often said that the White House was a new version of Camelot –The Eisenhower’s were old and private. The Kennedy’s had young children - they were a young family in the era of young families.

• A hollywood family in the era of television. TV allowed Americans a medium to connect

Space Program• Oct. 4,1957 - Sputnik launches from USSR

–only 184 lbs but it orbited the globe every 92 mins. • Nov, 1957 - Sputnik II (which weighed 1,120 lbs) carried measuring equipment and Laika - the world’s first astro-mutt?

• The Kennedy Administration concentrated on trying to close the aerospace gap that emerged during the 1950s between the US and USSR. Funding for NASA would establish the Apollo program with astronaut training

• 1958 - NASA is formed

• 1961 - Yuri Gagarin first person to orbit Earth

• 1963 Apollo program started

• Results in six moon walks (starting 1969)

Oh little Sputnik With made-in-Moscow beep, You tell the world it’s a Commie sky And Uncle Sam’s asleep

Space Program• 1961 - Alan Shepard Jr. first American in space • 1962 - John Glenn first American in orbit • 1969 - Armstrong and Aldrin first to land on the

Moon

“not because its easy but because its hard” - Pres. John Kennedy

The Bay of Pigs InvasionCuba

–Fidel Castro overthrows Fulgencio Batista, Jan. 1959

–Bay of Pigs plan is set into motion Fall of 1960 **(Eisenhower still President)

Kennedy – April 17-20, 1961 CIA sponsored invasion of Cuba •1200 armed militants; poorly armed and organized

•Failure embarrasses Kennedy Admin. and emboldens USSR push in the West.

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• Advisers recognized that Soviet missiles on Cuba altered the balance of power in the arms race –1962 -

•U.S. had 140 ICBM’s (intercontinental ballistic missiles)

•USSR had 40 ICBM’s –With missiles on Cuba, Soviets could strike the U.S. with only a few minutes warning

•Oct 22 - Evidence of missiles in Cuba results in Kennedy ordering a naval blockade or “quarantine” of Cuba. Spat with Krushchev

•Early Discussion - air strikes to take out the missiles –Ruled out for a number of reasons 1.Could not destroy all missiles

2.Had not located all missile sites

3.Death of Soviet troops = WWIII

Decision = Blockade

The Cuban Missile Crisis

Naval & Air Blockade

• While the Soviet Union honored the blockade, they refused to remove the already existing missiles from Cuba

• Finally on October 26, Khrushchev promised to remove the missiles on three conditions: –U.S. ended its blockade –U.S. promised never to invade Cuba –U.S. removed its missiles from Turkey

The Cuban Missile Crisis

•Publicly the U.S. honored all except the last

•Secretly, JFK promised Khrushchev he would remove the missiles from Turkey –JFK did not want to worry U.S. allies in Europe

•Oct 28 - Crisis Ends with Krushchev’s public concession. In the public, the Soviet Union loses. Soon after, Krushchev is forced out of power by Soviet led hardliners

The Cuban Missile Crisis

• October 27 1962, was the most dangerous day in history. • An American spy plane had been shot down over Cuba while another U2 was lost in Soviet airspace

• With tension already high an American destroyer, the USS Beale, began to drop depth charges on the B-59, a Soviet submarine armed with a nuclear weapon.

• The captain of the B-59, Valentin Savitsky, had no way of knowing that the depth charges were non-lethal "practice" rounds intended as warning shots to force the B-59 to surface.

• The Beale was joined by other US destroyers who piled in to pummel the submerged B-59 with more explosives.

• The exhausted Savitsky assumed that his submarine was doomed and that WWIII had broken out. He ordered the B-59's ten kiloton nuclear torpedo to be prepared for firing.

• With no contact to the Kremlin it was the sub commanders that decided whether or not to launch. In the sweltering control room of a submarine, the launch was approved by two of the three - Arkhipov was alone in refusing permission.

The Man Who Saved the World: Vasili Arkhipov

Foreign Policy: Flexible Response

•A shift to US expansion: flexible response - –Kennedy moved away from Eisenhower doctrine of massive retaliation (brinkmanship) after Cuban Missile Crisis

–Used conventional troops instead of nuclear assault

–Unfortunately, the first move is sending US troops to South Vietnam, a decision that troubled him.

Domestic Policy - New Frontier•JFK’s Domestic Program was centered around an ambitious civil rights platform.

•Bobby Kennedy (attorney general) repeatedly protected civil rights protesters by using federal troops.

•Civil Rights Act of ’64 was negotiated primarily by Kennedy’s staff.

•Growth of educational aid (FAFSA programs and P.E. and AP/Honors programs.)

•Also established the Peace Corps and added additional funding for elderly care.

JFK Assassination/Reaction •Campaigning for Re-Election in the South.

•Death caught on film and seen by countless witnesses.

•Lee Harvey Oswald shot Kennedy on November 22, 1963

•Oswald is later killed by Jack Ruby

•Conspiracy theories about JFK’s murder

•Mafia? CIA? LBJ? •Because of the TV news reporting, people felt a strong emotional connection to his death.

•For many Americans the death of Kennedy struck close to home.

•A nation grieved - newscasters broke down on live TV. Time stood still.

•“Where were you…”

•His death was the start of a tumultuous decade that torn at the fabric of American Life.

“Magic Bullet Theory” in JFK

“Magic Loogie Theory” in Seinfeld

Lyndon B. Johnson and the Great Society

Lyndon Baines JohnsonEarly Life/Career

• Born in Texas and grew up with significant financial hardship.

• Initially worked as a teacher near the Texas/Mexico border in the 1930s.

• Worked his way up from every level in government from: Congressional Aid, to State Rep, to House of Rep, to Senate.

• Served and nearly killed in WWII

• A notorious workaholic who practically lived in his office. Johnson gained a reputation for bi-partisan negotiation

Election of 1964Senator Barry Goldwater

•Goldwater attacks LBJ policies as continuation of New Deal

•“In your heart, you know he’s right!” - slogan

LBJ

• Johnson portrays Goldwater as a crazed war-monger

•“In your guts, you know he’s nuts!”

Daisy Ad - 1964

1964 Win Earns Him “Landslide Lyndon”

•LBJ wanted to be viewed as a great reformer, like FDR.

• Was deeply affected by JFK’s death and felt loyal to the civil rights campaign that both had worked hard to accomplish.

• “Let us continue” and “We can do everything. We can solve everything” - slogans, 1963 & ’64

• In his State of the Union Address in 1964 announces a “War on Poverty” through his Great Society program.

Domestic Policies Continued• 24th Amendment, January of 1964 banned the

use of poll taxes

• July 1964 signs the Civil Rights Act of ’64

• a. He authorized the Attorney General to bring suits against school districts not in compliance with Brown v Board

• b. Outlaws race discrimination in employment

• Post 1964 election, LBJ uses the landslide victory as political leverage in his ‘war against poverty’ campaign.

Johnson’s Great SocietyImmigration Act of 1965 Civil Rights Act of 1964 Voting Rights Act of 1965 Housing Act of 1965 Thurgood Marshall to SC

•Medicare •Medicaid •Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) •Head Start •Food Stamps •Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) •National Foundation for the Arts and Humanities •Public Broadcasting Corp. •Elementary and Secondary Education Act 1965

“The Johnson Treatment”• LBJ was notorious for his methods of

intimidation. He used his physical size, vulgarity and lack of shame to gain leverage.

• Took great pleasure from others’ discomfort and had a need to dominate mostly other men in competitive situations.

• Was a flasher

• FDR wading pool

• Car in the water trick

• Lady Bird Johnson - was mostly oblivious to his actions due to the Secret Service covering it all up.

Containment leads to Vietnam•French Indochina consisted of Vietnam,

Cambodia and Laos

•1940 with the fall of France, the colony is turned over to Japan.

•The US proceeded to aide anti-Japanese groups in Vietnam, including the Nationalist group the Vietminh and their leader Ho Chi Minh

Containment Fails and Leads to War• Dec. 1946, French try to reclaim French Indochina

• Initially US against, however opts to assist financially

• In 1950 Bao Dei (Vietnamese royal family) recognized by US

• By 1954, US paying for 80% of the war

• Dien Bien Phu falls in May, 1954

• Geneva Accords, May, 1954

• 17th parallel and DMZ

• Ngo Dinh Diem (1956-63)

• assassination of Diem leads to direct military involvement

Escalation of the war ’64 to ’68

•Gulf of Tonkin, Aug.7, 1964 •Privately, LBJ did not believe that the war was winnable •“I don’t think it’s worth fighting for and I don’t think we can get out”- LBJ • “quagmire” of Vietnam •Two part military strategy, 1965 • Air power “Operation Rolling

Thunder” • Ground troops •Gen. William C. Westmoreland

Escalation of the war ’64 to ’68

•Domino Theory was at the center of LBJ’s rationale for the war.

• “If we should lose in South Vietnam, we would lose Southeast Asia. Country after country on the periphery”

•By late 1967, Johnson had increased troop numbers to over 550,000

• “Credibility Gap” leads to a rise in anti-war protests at home

nEarly years (1960-1966)—professional soldiers and volunteers.

nLater years (1966-1973)—the Draft. (Selective Service System—WWI)

nBy December 1966, the draft call was up to 40,000 men each month.

nBy 1973, 2.15 million (total had served)

Which young men* were drafted?nLower income nNo college degree nAfrican Americans and Latino Americans made up 31% of all combat troops at the beginning of the war. qThey were much more likely to see heavy combat throughout the war.

nOver half of the 234 sons of Congressmen and Senators received deferments, only 28 were sent to Vietnam – none were killed

n*10,000 women served as nurses and other support roles.

Tet Offensiven“We have got our opponent almost on the ropes. We are confident that we are winning the war...” - Westmoreland Nov. 1967

nJanuary-June of 1968 nhighly coordinated attack by Viet Cong on 36/44 strongholds

nEnds as military victory for U.S., but psychological victory for North Vietnamese

nAmerican public begins to doubt U.S. can win war.

Bodies of VietCong

Execution in Saigon 1968

My Lai Massacre• March 16, 1968

• American squad led by Lt. William Calley rounded up and beat, raped and executed local villagers.

• Approx. 350 killed

• A soldier present happened to work for a news source and pictures later leaked worldwide.

My Lai Massacre, March 1968

Bodies on Roadside after My Lai Massacre

Napalm

nNapalm—an incendiary liquid made of jellied gasoline that sticks to surfaces while burning.

nCountless people were badly burned or completely incinerated by Napalm runs.

Phan Thị Kim Phúc, age 9

She would later move to Canada and currently is a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador to help victims of war receive medical and psychological assistance.

Agent Orange• OperationRanchHand,1962-1971• 19milliongallonsofherbicideweresprayed

• AgentOrangewasadefoliantusedbythegovernmenttoclearbrushareasofVietnam.TheaftereffectshavebeentraumatizingforpeopleinVietnamandtheUS.

Effects of Agent Orange

The Legacy of Agent Orange