Lesson 24: Vietnam 1968 Election

Gulf of Tonkin

1964 naval incident involving U.S. ships

catalyst for the escalation of U.S. military involvement in Vietnam

USS Maddox

U.S. destroyer that was involved in the Gulf of Tonkin incident

OPLAN 34-A

U.S. program that authorized secret and covert raids against North Vietnam

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

gave President LBJ broad authority to increase military involvement and make military decisions to protect U.S. interested without a formal war declaration

Operation ROLLING THUNDER

U.S. aerial bombing campaign against North Vietnam to degrade enemy and boost morale of South Vietnamese government.

Teach-ins

educational protsts held on college campuses where students and faculty came together to criticize the Vietnam War

Draft

System of mandatory military conscription used to raise troop numbers

resistance throughout the war provoked protestors to go to extreme measures like burning draft cards

Fragging

soldiers attacking their own officers

reflected intense stress, racial tensions, and low morale among troops in Vietnam

Tet Offensive

massive organized suprise attack by North Vietnamese forces in early 1968

shifted public perception of the war towards realizing the war was actually a stalemate

Walter Cronkite

CBS news anchor who initially supported war but reported negatively on it by 1968 as an unwinnable stalemate which significantly impacted public perception

MLK Assassination

April , 1968 in Memphis Tenessee

triggered riots in over 100 cities

James Earl Ray

man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr.

Robert Kennedy (RFK)

democratic presidential candidate who was assassinated in LA June 5, 1968

Sirhan Sirhan

man who assassinated Robert Kennedy

Richard Nixon

republican candidate who won the 1968 election

campaigned a “secret plan” to end the war

appealed to the “Silent Majority”

“Secret Plan”

Nixon’s campaign promise to end the war in Vietnam

used to attract voters who were dissatisfied with the current handling of the conflict

Hubert Humphrey

democratic presidential candidate in 1968 who was nominated at the Chicago convention

ran with Edmund Muskie

George Wallace

third-party candidate in the 1968 election who was populist and segregationist to capture the support of the South

Curtis LeMay

retired Air Force general who served ran with George Wallace as VP in 1968

Chicago 1968 Democrat Convention

political gathering most notable for massive anti-war protests and violent conflicts between demonstrators and Mayor Daley’s police force