The Stalemated Seventies

Disorder and Discontent Stagflation Vietnam Minorities and Civil Rights

Images of the Seventies

1968 Richard Nixon Elected President

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Stagflation

High inflation matched with high unemployment Causes

– More women and teens in

work force with less skills

– Deteriorating capital – US regulations

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson’s spending on the Vietnam War and his Great Society program depleted the U.S. treasury

Demand-pull Inflation

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Too much money in people’s hands and too little products to buy.

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U.S. caught by the Japanese and the Germans in industries that the U.S. once dominated: steel, automobiles, consumer electronics.

Oil Imports What was happening?

Nixon’s Poor Record on Civil Rights

•Nixon felt that any effort to

woo the black electorate in the South was a waste of his time

•Nixon denounced busing of

Black students into white school districts, effectively prolonging segregation in the South

Voting Literacy Test

In case the president is unable to perform the duties of his office, who assumes them?______________________ "Involuntary servitude" is permitted in the United States upon conviction of a crime. (True or False)___________ If a state is a party to a case, the Constitution provides that original jurisdiction shall be in_________________ Congress passes laws regulating cases which are included in those over which the United States Supreme Court has____________________________ jurisdiction. I hereby certify that I have received no assistance in the completion of this citizenship and literacy test, that I was allowed the time I desired to complete it, and that I waive any right existing to demand a copy of same. (If for any reason the applicant does not wish to sign this, he must discuss the matter with the board of registrars.) Signed:___________________________________________ (Applicant)

Where is Vietnam?

• During WWII, the

Japanese government took control of much of the area and set up a puppet regime that was eventually forced out by the Vietnamese at the end of that war in 1945.

• After WWII and until

1955, France fought hard to regain their former territories in the region

The French Leave Their Troubles Behind

•The French were

finally defeated at Dien Bien Phu on the 8th of May 1954 by the communist general Vo Nguyen Giap.

•The communist

regime set up its headquarters in Hanoi under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh.

South Vietnam Formed to Flee Communism

Many North Vietnamese left the country and fled south where the self-proclaimed president, Ngo Dinh Diem had formed the Republic of Vietnam.

A US Navy PBR (Patrol Boat, River) gunner en route to Hué, Vietnam, 1968. The city came under intense attack during the Tet Offensive of 68 and was held by NVA forces and the Vietcong for 25 days before retaken by US and ARVN forces. Most of the city was destroyed.

1955 – 1960 – US Advisors go to Vietnam

•

Between 1955 and 1960, the North Vietnamese with the assistance of the southern communist Vietcong, tried to take over the government in South Vietnam

•

November 1963 President Diem was overthrown and executed. The following year, the North Vietnamese began a massive drive to conquer the whole country aided by China and Russia.

How did the US get stuck in Vietnam?

•

Fearing a communist takeover of the entire region, the United States grew more and more wary of the progress of Ho Chi Minh and the Vietcong.

•Americans were

bent on stopping communism from spreading any further.

Corruption in the Army of the Republic of Vietnam

•Corruption was widespread

among officials and the armed forces of South Vietnam, known as The Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN)

•By 1950 the US began

sending their first troops, firstly in an advisory role, which slowly escalated into a full blown commitment .

United States Enters the Frey

•The large-scale

involvement of the US came under President Lyndon B. Johnson and his Gulf of Tonkin Resolution.

An American Navy tango boat on the Sang Haam Luong River, also known as the Lower Mekong River, 1968. South Vietnam's rivers and waterways were a vital part of the military mechanism. The Navy was responsible for keeping the rivers open and provided patrols, reconnaissance and escorts to many missions.

President Johnson did not want to be a “Loser”

•The increasing

involvement and the escalation of troop involvement meant there were more casualties and more problems at home.

•Johnson held the power to

halt the war in Vietnam, but could not face the thought of being regarded as the first president in US history to lose

•He passed it off to Nixon

by deciding not to run for a second term as president American naval hovercraft

Three Air Force F-105 Thunderchief aircraft, en route to bomb military targets in Vietnam

Flying Air Force "gas station.“

•The refueling aircraft is an Air

Force KC-135 Stratotanker, January, 1966.

•The US Air Force was the pre-

eminent air force in the Vietnam War.

•The US Army controlled more

aircraft (mainly helicopters) and the Navy and Marine Corps performed many of the same missions, but the US Air Force dropped more destructive energy than all of the others combined.

•

The type of aircraft illustrated (F 105 Thunder chief) is credited scoring the first MiG kill over Vietnam.

Support troops from the US 25th Division take cover from the force of a US helicopter's rotor wash as it lands near Duc Co, Vietnam, 1965.

The red soil of the country was infamous among the soldiers, the fine sand/dust would penetrate everything leaving a red color everywhere. The soldiers considered it the pits; it was "numbha ten" as they called anything bad in slang. The soldiers in Vietnam defined their own terminology for many things based on a mixture of Vietnamese, French and American. For instance, all new soldiers were considered FNG's (Fuc*ing New Guy), until they knew the lingo.

US Soldiers Participating in Operation Thayer II

•

W alking the high ground that outlines rice paddies, members of the 1/12th, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry go through the paces of a search and destroy maneuver.

•The U.S. troops were

participating in "Operation Thayer II," which took place in North Qui Nhon, South Vietnam.

1968 – Poised for Conflict – My Lai Massacre

•My Lai lay in the South

Vietnamese district of Son My, a heavily mined area where the Vietcong were deeply entrenched.

•Numerous members of

Charlie Company had been maimed or killed in the area during the preceding weeks.

•The agitated troops, under

the command of Lt. William Calley soon degenerated into the massacre of over 300 apparently unarmed civilians including women, children, and the elderly.

Calley ordered his men to enter the village firing.

• Calley ordered his men to enter

the village firing, though there had been no report of opposing fire.

• According to eyewitness reports

offered after the event, several old men were bayoneted, praying women and children were shot in the back of the head, and at least one girl was raped and then killed.

• For his part, Calley was said to

have rounded up a group of the villagers, ordered them into a ditch, and mowed them down in a fury of machine gun fire.

1969 Native Americans Seize Alcatraz

•The occupiers held the island for

nearly eighteen months, from Nov. 20, 1969, until June 11, 1971, reclaiming it as Indian land and demanding fairness and respect for Indian peoples.

•It was an effort to restore the

dignity of the more than 554 American Indian nations in the United States.

•Historians and other experts say

the occupation-though chaotic and laced with tragedy-improved conditions for the 2 million American Indians and Alaska Natives alive today.

Nixon’s Policy - Vietnamization

•540,000 American troops

would be pulled out of the Southeast Asian nation.

•South Vietnamese would

slowly fight their own war, and the U.S. would only supply arms and money

•Called the Nixon

Doctrine.

1st Division troops destroy a rice cache found at a Michelin Rubber Plantation, 1969.

•

The Vietcong used elaborate tunnel systems to store food and ammunition as well as housing medical and combat facilities.

• The largest tunnel systems in

South Vietnam (some under US bases) could be as vast as 200 kilometers (125 miles) long and were built to withstand bombings, explosions, poison gas etc.

•Many of the systems were built

using forced labor from surrounding villages.

•Special US soldiers called “Tunnel

Rats” would crawl through the systems to find the enemy

The Vietnam War Enters Cambodia

•North Vietnamese had

been using Cambodia as a springboard for funneling troops and arms

•April 29, 1970, Nixon

suddenly ordered U.S. troops to invade Cambodia to stop this. Riots occurred at Kent State University and at Jackson State College.

A moved US soldier from the 9th Division at Tan An, Vietnam 1968. He has received three

Purple Heart

decorations.

Two months later, Nixon withdrew U.S. troops from Cambodia

•Cambodian incident

even more split the “hawks” and the “doves” (war vs. peace).

•U.S. Senate repealed

the Tonkin Gulf Resolution

Cambodian mercenaries wade through a marsh at Boxoai, Vietnam, 1968.

• Cambodia played seesaw with its

alliances shifting allegiance between the US and China.

• The US was granted permission to

bomb North Vietnamese strongholds within Cambodia during so called "hot pursuits".

War Extends into Cambodia

• Nixon actually used this agreement

as an argument for extensive bombing campaigns on Cambodia, as the communist Khmer Rouge were assisting the North Vietnamese to hide, transport and launch attacks from within Cambodia.

In 1970, Nixon ordered an attack on Cambodia, Vietnam’s neighbor.

Passers-by stop to watch as flames envelope a young Buddhist monk, Saigon, October 5th, 1963. The man sits impassively in the central market square, he has set himself on fire performing a ritual suicide in protest against governmental anti-Buddhist policies. Diems government blamed the incident on the Vietcong and never admitted responsibility. The Buddhist leadership quickly organized demonstrations that eventually led to seven monks burning themselves to death. I guess you must eventually become immune - the man behind the monk is still trying to find a light for his cigarette.

Repatriation Ceremony in Vietnam Remains of American GIs, killed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, are carried by an honor guard to a plane at Hanoi's No Bai International Airport during a repatriation ceremony. The remains are flown to Hawaii to be identified.

1970

Shootings at Kent State and Jackson State On May 4th, 1970, U.S. National Guardsmen opened fire on students demonstrating at Kent State University in Ohio. The National Guard had been sent in to prevent riots and regain control of the campus but began shooting after some of the students began throwing rocks. More than 60 shots were fired and when the dust had settled four students were dead and nine wounded.

1971 New York Times publishes Pentagon Papers In 1971, the 26th Amendment, lowering the voting age to eighteen, was also passed. New York Times published a top-secret Pentagon study of America’s involvement of the Vietnam War Papers had been leaked by Daniel Ellsberg, former Pentagon official—which exposed all the deceit used by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations.

There would be no Pentagon Papers without Robert S. McNamara

•,

Secretary of Defense from 1961 through early 1968.

•Promoted the escalation of

the Vietnam War from advisers to more than 500,000 American troops engaged in a difficult war

• McNamara quietly left the

government in early 1968.

•Before doing so, however, he

ordered a small staff in the Department of Defense to undertake a secret study of U.S. decision-making about Vietnam since the end of the Second World War .

Classified top secret

•The study consisted of 47

volumes and about 7,000 pages

• Only 15 copies of the study

were made and distribution of the copies was controlled.

•Two copies of the study,

however, went to the RAND Corporation, which did considerable work for the military.

•Daniel Ellsberg, believed the war

was wrong and that the government was not being honest with the public about the war

•He copied it and leaked most of

it to Neil Sheehan, a New York Times reporter who had been in Vietnam.

58,000 men and women had died in the war

•The conflict in Vietnam lingered

past Nixon’s reelection in 1972 until the spring of 1975

•The Communist-aided North

finally broke through weakened South Vietnamese lines and took Saigon

•The War Powers Act of November

1973 required the president to report all commitments of U.S. troops to foreign exchanges within 48 hours

•Congress began an all volunteer

army

1972 Nixon Visits China

•He made the historic

journey to China in February of 1972.

•

Traveled to Moscow in May 1972, and the Soviets, wanting foodstuffs and alarmed over the possibility of a U.S.-China alliance against the U.S.S.R., made deals with America in which the U.S. would sell the Soviets at least $750 million worth of wheat, corn, and other cereals, thus ushering in an era of détente, or relaxed tensions.

Yom Kippur War of 1973

•

The Arab attack during the Yom Kippur holiday took Israel by surprise

•

Initially Egypt and Syria regained some of their lost territory, then lost it again to the Israeli counterattack

•

UN troops stationed on borders of the Sinai Peninsula and Golan heights helped stabilize the region.

1972 - Watergate Begins

•Early in 1972, Nixon’s aides

proposed an elaborate scheme to wiretap various leaders of the Democratic Party and use gained information to disrupt their nomination process in the upcoming election

•The wire tappers were arrested

and every member of the Nixon administration was suspected

John Dean III Rats Out the President

•The lengthy unraveling of the facts took

several years and led to the eventual resignation of Nixon

•Lengthy hearings proceeded, headed by

Senator Sam Erving, and John Dean III testified about all the corruption, illegal activities, and scandal that took place

1973 Watergate Hearings in Congress .

Tapes had recorded conversations that could solve all the mystery in this case, but Nixon, who had explicitly denied participation in this Watergate Scandal earlier to the American people, refused to give them to Congress.

• Vice President Spiro

Agnew was forced to resign in 1973 due to tax evasion.

Vice President Gerald Ford

• Gerald Ford was nominated

for new vice president

• “Saturday Night Massacre”

(Oct. 20, 1973), in which Archibald Cox, special prosecutor of the case who had issued a subpoena of the tapes, was fired and the attorney general and deputy general resigned because they didn’t want to fire Cox.

SO Who Fired Archibald Cox?

The Constitution Works

Gerald Ford becomes first “unelected” president

•On July 24, 1974, the Supreme Court

ruled that Nixon had to give all tapes to Congress.

•Those already given showed Nixon

cursing and swearing. Bad.

•July 1974, the House approved its first

article of impeachment for obstruction of the administration of justice.

•On August 5, 1974, Nixon finally released

the three tapes that held the most damaging information—the same three tapes that had been “missing.”

•On August 8 of the same year, he

resigned, realizing that he would be convicted if impeached, and with resignation, at least he could still keep the privileges of a president.

•Lesson: the Constitution works.

A New Team on the Supreme Bench Nixon nominates four justices

•Earl Warren was

appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

•He headed many

controversial but important decisions:

– Griswold vs.

Connecticut (1965) struck down a state law that banned the use of contraceptives, even by married couples, but creating a “right to privacy.”

Legal Counsel and Civil Rights

– Gideon vs. Wainwright

(1963) said that all criminals were entitled to legal counsel, even if they were too poor to afford it.

– Escobedo (1964) and

Miranda (1966) were two cases in which the Supreme Court ruled that the accused could now remain silent.

Escobedo's brother-in-law, a convict from Chicago, was shot and killed in 1960 . Escobedo was arrested without warrant early the next morning and interrogated. However, Escobedo made no statement to the police and was later released that afternoon. A witness in custody told the police that indeed Escobedo fired the fatal shots because the victim had mistreated Escobedo's sister. Escobedo was arrested again, asked to speak to his attorney, but the police refused. His attorney went to the police station and repeatedly asked to see his client, but was repeatedly refused access. Police interrogated Escobedo for 14 1/2 hours and repeatedly refused his request to speak with his attorney. Escobedo made statements implicating his knowledge of the crime. After conviction for murder, Escobedo appealed on the basis of being denied the right to counsel.

School Prayer and Cows?

•

Engel vs. Vitale (1962) and School District of Abington Township vs. Schempp (1963) were two cases that led to the Court ruling against required prayers and having the Bible in public schools, basing the judgment on the First Amendment, which separated church and state.

•Reynolds vs. Sims (1964) ruled

that the state legislatures, both upper and lower houses, would have to be reapportioned according to the human population, irrespective of cows.

1975 – South Vietnam Falls to Communists Farm workers Gain Right to Bargain with Growers

•There had been secret bombing

raids on North Vietnamese forces in Cambodia that had occurred since March of 1969, despite federal assurances to the U.S. public that Cambodia’s neutrality was being respected.

•Cambodia was taken over by the

cruel Pol Pot, who committed genocide by killing over 2 million people over a span of a few years .

Presidential Election of 1976 Gerald Ford vs Gov Jimmy Carter

•September 17, 1978, President

Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel signed some accords at Camp David.

•Mediated by Carter after

relations had strained, this was a great success. 1978 - Camp David Accords

1979 – US Hostages Seized in Iran

•Iran’s shah Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, who had been

installed by America in 1953 and ruled as a dictator,

•The exiled Ayatollah Khomeini returned to Tehran in

February 1979 and whipped popular discontent into rabid anti-Americanism.

•When the Shah came to America for cancer

treatment in October, the Ayatollah incited Iranian militants to attack the U.S.

• The Shah was overthrown and succeeded by the

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

•On November 4, 1979, Iranian militants stormed the

United States Embassy in Tehran and took approximately seventy Americans captive.

•This terrorist act triggered the most profound crisis

of the Carter presidency and began a personal ordeal for Jimmy Carter and the American people that lasted 444 days.

Iranian Hostage Crisis 444 Days

At first Carter tried economic sanctions, but that didn’t work. Later, he tried a daring commando rescue mission, but that had to be aborted, and when two military aircraft collided, eight of the would-be rescuers were killed.

Hostages Released

The stalemate hostage situation dragged on for most of Carter’s term, and was never released until January 20, 1981—the inauguration day of Ronald Reagan.