1968- Year of Infamy

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1968- Year of Infamy
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Tet- (Review)

• Height of American Troop involvement
• General Westmoreland had misled the public
• the end begins to come into view
• Tet Holiday- end of January

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• 70,000 VC and NVA launch massive attacks
• U.S. embassy in Saigon
• City of Hue
• Attacked more than 100 towns

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___________ victory for the U.S., but a
________________nightmare!
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New Info-

• Art Buchwald and Walter Cronkite (famous TV news
  anchors) turned against the war.
• - it is unwinnable
• LBJs popularity slipped

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1968 was also an election year
Robert Kennedy
Eugene McCarthy
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LBJ Decided Not to Run for Reelection

• Anti-war democratic senator Eugene McCarthy
  almost won the first primary (New Hampshire)
• Why so startling?
• This encouraged anti-war senator Robert Kennedy
  to enter the race
• LBJ announced his decision not to seek the 1968
  democratic presidential nomination
• Why so startling?
• http//www.youtube.com/watch?v2-FibDxpkb0 (start
  at 415)
• Hubert Humphrey (LBJs VP, LBJ light)
• kinda anti-war, but not really

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As the 1968 Campaign Continued, America Descended
Into Chaotic Hell

• 1960s Civil Rights
• Assassinations
• Anti-war Protests
• The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago

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Civil Rights

• 50s and 60s were an explosive time in the African
  American struggle for equal rights
• Prompted by distinguished black service in WWII
• Tuskegee Airmen
• Benchmarks
• Rosa Parks
• Brown v Board of Education
• Watts Riots
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• March on Washington
• I have a dream
• Rioting in Selma and Montgomery
• Black children killed in a firebombing of a
  church in Birmingham
• (more on Civil Rights in a later unit)

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Civil Rights in 1968 (cont.)

• Orangeburg Massacre
• Police broke up a protest at an all-white bowling
  alley in South Carolina
• 3 black students were killed
• Howard University shut down by black militants
• Claim America is the black mans battleground
• Double burden

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Civil Rights (cont.)

• Shootout in Oakland between police and Black
  Panthers
• Black militants shoot it out with police in
  Cleveland, Ohio
• Black American Olympians stripped of medals after
  black power salute

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Assassinations
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MLK assassinated

• Led to riots throughout the country

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Robert Kennedy Assassinated
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Anti-War Protests Swelled
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Riots on Columbia Campus

• Protests against University ties to
  Military-Industrial Complex (making napalm, etc.)

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Vietnam War Protests (cont.)

• The Catonsville Nine entered Selective Service
  offices Maryland, took dozens of draft records,
  and burned them with napalm

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Democratic Convention in Chicago
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Democratic National Convention- Context

• It became clear that the Democratic Convention
  was going to become a flash point for pro-anti
  Vietnam War sentiment
• Convention would be selecting either a pro-war
  candidate (Humphrey) or an anti-war candidate
  (McCarthy)
• It was expected that hundreds of thousands of
  protestors would make their way to Chicago

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• Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley publicly
  criticized the cautious handling of the riots
  that followed King's assassination. He said he
  was giving the police specific instructions "to
  shoot to kill any arsonist and to shoot to maim
  or cripple anyone looting.
• Denied permits to protestors
• Protestors came anyway

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Cointelpro

• FBI program to keep tabs on dissidents
• Tapped MLK and tried to blackmail him into
  stopping his marches
• Infiltrated anti-war groups
• Sometimes even inspired them to MORE radical
  action. Does this makes sense?
• Gives police an excuse to crack down on protest

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Violence at the Convention is Caught on Cameras
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Humphrey (LBJs VP) is Nominated

• The Convention showed that the Democratic Party
  was in poor shape.
• Nixon won the election in Nov.

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Nixon

• Nixon campaigned on a "law and order" theme
• appealed to many voters afraid of the far left
  (goddamned hippies!) and concerned about the
  riots and demonstrations that had accompanied the
  Civil Rights movement and the anti-war movemen
• Nixon also said that he had a secret plan to end
  the Vietnam War
• ???

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Hansen Name ___________________Vietnam
1968- Year of Infamy! Note-taking Guide

• Tet Review
• Art Buchwald and Walter Cronkite
  (______________________) turned against the war.
• - it is _____________
• LBJs _____________________________
• LBJ Decided Not to _____________________________
• Anti-war democratic senator ___________________
  almost won _____________________ (New Hampshire)
• Why so startling? _________________________
  _________________________________________
• This encouraged anti-war senator
  ___________________ to enter the race
• LBJ _______________________________________ not
  to seek the 1968 democratic presidential
  nomination
• Why so startling? ________________________
  ______________________________________
• Hubert Humphrey (LBJs VP, _______________)
• ____________________________________
• As the 1968 Campaign Continued, America Descended
  Into _____________________________________
• 1960s Civil Rights
• Assassinations
• Anti-war Protests
• The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago
• Civil Rights
• _______________________________________________
  time in the African American struggle for equal
  rights

• March on Washington
• I have a dream
• Rioting in Selma and Montgomery
• Black children killed in a firebombing of a
  church in Birmingham
• Orangeburg Massacre
• Police broke up a protest at an all-white bowling
  alley in South Carolina
• ________________________________________
• Howard University shut down by _______________
• Claim _________ is the black mans battleground
  
• Double burden - ___________________________
• Shootout in ________ between police and Black
  Panthers
• Black militants shoot it out with police in
  ______________
• Black American _______________________________
  after black power salute
• Assassinations
• MLK assassinated
• ________________________________________
• ___________assassinated
• Anti-War Protests Swelled
• Riots on _________________________________

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• It was expected that hundreds of thousands _____
  ________________ would make their way to Chicago
• Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley publicly
  criticized ______ ________________________________
  _____________ ____________________________________
  __________. He said he was giving the police
  specific instructions "to shoot to kill any
  arsonist and to shoot to maim or cripple anyone
  looting.
• ___________________________________________
• Protestors came anyway
• Cointelpro
• FBI program to keep tabs ____________________
  ________________________________________
• _____________________ and tried to blackmail him
  into stopping his marches
• Infiltrated anti-war groups
• Sometimes even inspired _____________
  _____________________________. Does this makes
  sense?
• Gave police __________________________
  ___________________________________
• Violence at the Convention is Caught on _________
• ________________________________ Nominated at
  Convention
• The Convention showed that the Democratic Party
  was ___ __________________________________________
  _____
• _________________ won the election in Nov.
• Nixon
• Nixon campaigned on a ______________________"
  theme
• appealed to many voters afraid of the far left
  (_________________________!) and concerned about
  the ____________________________ that had
  accompanied the Civil Rights movement and the
  anti-war movemen
• Nixon also said that he had ________________
  _____________________ to end the Vietnam War
• ??? - _________________________________
  ______________________________________