JFK, Nixon, Watergate, and LBJ

Nixon

* republican from CA


* congressman (HAUC)
* senator
* 8 year vp under Eisenhower
* lost to JFK in 1960

Foreign Policy accomplishments

* SALT 1 treaty
* detente
* ping pong diplomacy

SALT 1 treaty

* strategic arms limitation treaty
* USSR and US agreed to limit their production of weapons

detente

easing of tensions

Ping Pong diplomacy

* American ping pong team sent to china
* first time there was interaction between china and the US in years (treated very well)
* Nixon went to China to visit
* first time a president went to china

Burglary

* Nixon plans to run for re-election
* June 17, 1972: 5 men arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee Headquarters (DNC)
* wanted to bug the office and listen in to convos to help Nixon win
* connections to Nixons re-election campaign (CREEP)
* Nixon denied that the White House was involved in the “bizarre incident”
* Nixons campaign committee has a secret “slush fund” of $350,000

Mark Felt

* Deep Throat
* FBI agent who said to “follow the money” to lead to the source
* secret informant revealed in 2005

Reporters

* Woodward and Bernstien

\-broke the story and were responsible for taking down the president

\-Washington post reporters suspected some high-level officials were involved

Jaworski

* special prosecutor
* fired by Nixon

Archibald Cox

* hired by attorney general Richardson (resigned)
* asked for tape recordings Nixon made
* was fired

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James McCord

* one of the burglars
* told the investigators that they were hired by the White House and would get paid hush money to plead guilty and stay quiet

John Dean

* lawyer for the White House who publicly accused Nixon of covering up info

Senator Sam Ervin

* held televised hearings

Agnew

* Nixons VP
* was accused of accepting bribes from construction companies while governor of MD
* overwhelming evidence against him
* resigned as VP in oct, 1973 after pleading “no contest” to tax evasion
* Gerald Ford becomes next VP

Nixons tapes

* Nixon first refused to show tapes when asked by Cox
* eventually released with 18.5 mins erased
* in 1974, Jaworski requested other tapes but Nixon refused
* Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Nixon had to supply the tapes
* Grand Jury named him an “unindexed co- conspirator”

Ben Bradlee

* editor and Chief of the Washington post
* makes decisions on articles

Elliot Richardson

* attorney general
* appointed special prosecutor to handle the case (cox)
* ends up resigning

Ford

* New VP chosen by Nixon
* became president when Nixon resigned
* pardons Nixon so he didn’t have to go to jail

Leon Jaworski

* new special prosecutor
* not happy with the missing 18.5 min of tape film

3 men indicated of perjury and obstruction of justice

* Nixons aides
* John Mitchell- Head of CREEP, attorney gen
* Haldeman- chief of staff
* John Ehrlichman- former White House attorney

Resignation

* in July 1974, judiciary committee began televised hearings
* 3 articles of impeachment against Nixon
* Nixon reluctantly turned her transcripts of tapes
* overwhelming evidence of his involvement in the cover up
* on Aug 8, 1974, Nixon appeared on TV
* “I shall resign the presidency effective at noon tomorrow”

Results

* 19 people were indicted- some jail, some fined
* brought down prez Nixon and made people distrust the gov even more
* the Watergate scandal had far-reaching consequences for American politics and gov
* it led to greater public distrust of gov officials and insistutions

USA and Vietnam vs. Japan

* French Indochina (1887-1941)
* a lot of Catholic and French influence in Vietnam
* the French lose control during WW2 to Japan
* US supported Ho Chi Minh’s revolt against Japan
* Ho Chi Minh is the leader of the Communists in Vietnam
* Ho Chi Minh declares Vietnam independent but France had other plans

First Indochina war

* France vs. Viet Minh
* Viet Minh refuse French control
* 1954 Dien Bien Phu- French lose control over Indochina
* president Eisenhower refused to intervene on behalf of France (Korea just ended)

Geneva Accords (1954)

* Vietnam split 17th parallel
* elections held in 2 years
* North Vietnam- HO Cgi Minh (the democratic republic of Vietnam)
* communist
* South Vietnam, Ngo Dinh Diem (the republic of Vietnam)(Anti-communist)
* his reforms makes things worse (Hamlets)
* people moved away from their villages and put in communities to be watched to make sure they are doing the right thing

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Viet Cong

* Primarily in the South- people who do what they can to support communist
* attack Vietnamese and American people
* hide in the Ho Chi Minh trail

Protest of Diem government

* president in the south who was corrupt
* ends up being assassinated
* didn’t let monks practice their religion

Ho Chi Minh trail

* trail in the jungle that the Viet song used to travel back and forth from North and South Vietnam
* hid in the jungle and put booby traps
* hard to bomb because you can’t see anything

Eisenhower and Kennedy points of view

* both had the same thoughts
* domino theory, if one country falls to communism so will the rest of them

Guerilla warfare

* energy could be anywhere and could be anyone

Napalm

sticks to people and blows up

Agent Orange

* chemical sprayed to kill vegetation
* caused cancer

weapons

land mines- bomb that when stepped on, explodes

Punji stick- throw bomb

Escalation

* Johnson sends ground troop
* remembers Trumans “loss” pf China → Domino Theory (falling yo communism)

Advantages

* US had superior technology: infrared sniper scopes
* well supplied

Disadvantages

* Viet Cong and North Vietnamese fighting on familiar ground
* jungle provides excellent cover
* very difficult for US airstrikes to hit Viet Cong

General William Westmoreland (in charge)

* asked for more troops
* gave an overly optimistic view of progress ‘
* bomb North Vietnam- operation Rolling Thunder- failed to destroy infrastructure
* March, 1965 US ground troops see action at Battler of Da Nang
* Fight against North Vietnam and Viet Cong

Pentagon papers

* revealed the government was lying about everything all along in Vietnam

Tet offensive

* Jan 30, 1968
* negative turning point
* 70,000 Viet Cong and North Vietnam launched a major offensive
* coordinated attacks on 100+ cities and towns in South Vietnam
* American news coverage
* no end to the war in sight
* Major psychological victory
* US troop deployments to Vietnam started slow and built up
* African Americans and poor people drafted
* McNamara resigned as Secretary of Defense
* MLK- Great Society ruined by Vietnam war
* LBJ decides not to run in 1968

My Lai massacre

* American soldiers told there are Viet Cong Soldiers hiding throughout My Lai village
* they slaughter everyone there, even children (500 +)
* 14 officers charged
* Interview with Seymour Heasrh who broke the story
* Calley apologizes 41 years later

Invasions of Laos and Cambodia

* Nixon secretly bombed Cambodia and invaded
* said he was pulling troops out and use Vietnamization- grail reduction of troops
* he lied to them and invaded
* didn’t want the US public to know that they were losing the war and people do not want war

Kent state shooting

* college students throwing rocks and trying to burn down ROTC to protests the invasion and escalation of war

Hippies

* Rejected conveniences of modern life, thought that many people were too focused on consuming and materialistic, loved drugs (LSD, pot) eastern religions, peace. Free love, most hippies aren’t around anymore because you need money to liveReactions at home
* Secual morals changing
* Birth control pill
* Generation gap (kids don't understand adults, adults  don’t understand kids)
* “Never trust anyone over 30”
* Alternative lifestyles
* Peak was about 1967 to 1973

reactions at home

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* Hawks (fight on, tend to be old and conservative) vs Doves (make peace, tend to be young and liberal)
* First “living room war”, televised news, and photos every night
* Walter Cronkite- opposed war after tet offensive, news announcer most respected and famous US news reporter
* President Johnson- “If I have lost Cronkite, I’ve lost the American people”, decides not to run again
* Cronkite went to Vietnam and reported right from the battlefield
* Television shapes this war and people’s attitudes towards war
* Draft card mutilation Act of 1965: resistance against draft, some people burned their draft cards
* Anti War support grows

SDS

* students for a democratic society
* increasingly militant youth movement
* marches and protests against Vietnam
* occupied admin officers in college