19681968

America tears itself apart

Tension Building

• Vietnam

–Antiwar movement becomes more popular• Martin Luther King, Jr• Robert Kennedy• Eugene McCarthy

“Doves” vs.. “Hawks”

The Tet Offensive

• January 1968• NLF and DRV launch

coordinated attacks against major SV cities– NLF wants to convince US to

come to bargaining table

Tet Offensive

• January 1968: 60% of Americans support the war

• March 1968: Only 41%

• Johnson losing the war at home

US Troops fight off Viet Cong at Hue

TV Journalist Walter Cronkite at Hue

My Lai

• March 18, 1968– US Soldiers massacre 347 villagers– After Tet offensive– Soldiers on high alert– Considered revenge killings for Tet Offensive

• Initially covered up, but when story broke support for war diminished sharply

LBJ Withdraws

• March 31, 1968– Eugene McCarthy had just won New Hampshire

primary with 42% of vote

– LBJ announces “de-escalation”

– Also announces that he will neither seek nor accept the nomination for a second term

“LBJ, LBJ, How many kids did you kill today?”

- Popular Protest Chant

Tension Building

• Counterculture

–Hippies• Recreational drugs•Music• “Drop Out”

Tension Building

• Civil Rights– Race riots in Newark and Detroit – Many new civil rights leaders begin to

advocate:• Use of violent protest• Black-only movements

– Black Panthers

King Assassination

• April 4, 1968• Martin Luther King, Jr. killed– James Earl Ray is suspected

assassin

– Stokely Carmichael leads riot in Washington, DC

“When white America killed Dr. King, she declared war on us.”

- Stokely Carmichael

King shortly before assassination

King family at MLK’s coffin

James Earl Ray

Students Occupy Columbia

• April 23, 1968• Mark Rudd– Chairman of Columbia Students

for a Democratic Society (SDS)

• Police crack down– 150 protesters injured, 700

arrested

RFK Assassination

• June 5, 1968• Robert Kennedy wins California primary• After victory speech is shot by Sirhan Sirhan– To protest US support for Israel– RFK dies the following day

Kennedy giving victory speech

Kennedy wounded after shooting

Sirhan Sirhan

Americans become disenchanted and cynical –maybe some things will never change?

Yippie Movement

• Abbie Hoffman– Youth International Party

– Guerilla Theatrics – “Groucho Marxists”

– Hoffman announce Yippies going to Chicago to protest Democratic Convention

“Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger”

- Attributed to Abbie Hoffman

Democratic Convention

• August 28, 1968– Yippies “Festival of Life”

• Mayor Richard Daly orders crackdown on protests– Hoffman and others tried for

conspiracy – found innocent

• Hubert Humphrey becomes Democratic nominee

“With George McGovern as President we wouldn’t have Gestapo tactics in the street of Chicago”

- Sen. Abraham Ribikoff

Nixon Elected• November 5, 1968– Richard Nixon (Republican)• 43.4%

– Hubert Humphrey (Democrat)• 42.7%

– George Wallace (Independent)• 13.5%