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41 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Nixon as a Policymaker
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Practices triangular diplomacy- exploits the sino-soviet split to extricate the US from Vietnam
One of the more intelligent and experienced presidents in American history but also inclined to put personal political advancement ahead of principles |
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Kissinger's Realpolitik
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brings apragmatic, hard-headed calculus to the craft of diplomacy- a major break in the messianic Cold War liberalism of the early 60's.
Consideres the vietnam war a foolish investment- American credibility demands a face-saving conclusion Joins with Nixon in an attempt to circumvent the State Department bureaucracy and make foreign policy an exclusively executive enterprise |
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Nixon's Vietnam War
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5 options:
- Withdraw American troops immediately: unacceptable; will lead to a communist victory in vietnam - continue with Johnson's strategy: Pointless, has already failed numerous times - Turn the war over to vietnamese- attractive; leaves other options open - escalate the bombing and invade North Vietnam: A possibility, if more moderate measures fail - Use nuclear weapons: Unacceptable; morally V and may lead to a nuclear counterattack by the Soviets or Chinese |
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Vietnamization- worst of all possibly worlds
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- war drags on for 4 more years
- inflation skyrocketed in the US - America is wracked by even greater dissension - Laos and Cambodia are devastated by an expanded and secret U.S. bombing campaign. |
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Two- track strategy
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Iron fist:
Nixon attacks north vietnam supply routes in Cambodia, increases the bombing of North Vietnam, arms South Vietnam to the teeth 2) The Velvet glove- Begins withdrawing U.S. troops from Vietnam Promises further troop withdrawals if peace negotiations at Paris proceed smoothly |
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Historical reasons for Military Demoralization
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- overwhelming defeat - Italian army at caporetto WWI
- Massive and pointless casualties- French army at Verdun - Unendurable living conditions- French army during napoleon in russia -incompetent or corrupt leadership- Russian army on eastern front- WWI |
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Exceptions to the rule
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- Union army absorbs numerous annihilating defeats in the civil war without collapsing
- both northern and southern forces suffer cataclysmic casualties in battles like Shiloh and Gettysburg - Revolutionary soldiers come through the nightmare of valley forge with INCREASED morale - The incompetence of Civil War commanders like burnside and hooker does not undermine strength and cohesion of the Union Army |
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What Happens in Vietnam?
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Nixon's policy of withdrawal and vietnamization makes the war appear a no-win situation to many soldiers- short-timers FEVER results.
- Dissent on the American HOME FRONT saps soldier morale - RACIAL discrimination pervades the U.S. armed forces exacerbating tension between blacks and whites - permissiveness of SIXTIES culture- especially disrespect for authority is not conducive to military discipline - Soldiers in Vietnam may have easy access to a broad range of DRUGS from MJ to heroin -nature of combat or rather LACK of combat with the enemy drains soldiers physically and psychologically; a high percentage of U.S. casualties result from mines and booby traps - inadequate LEADERSHIP at the noncommissioned officer and junior officer level poisons relations between officers and men; many soldiers resent officers' six month tour of duty- revile them as ticket punchers Lower moral manifests itself in COMBAT REFUSAL to fraggings, search and evade |
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A mad theory for a mad time
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Nixon's foreign policy mirrors America's domestic dementia
- impending defeat in vietnam worsens divisions in the US envenoms Americans on both sides of the political spectrum |
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Days of Rage
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Series of protests in 1968 organized by SDS and weather underground under the slogan: Bring the war home- became extremely violent- split of SDS & Weather underground.
led to guerrilla warfare between police and protestors |
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Chicago eight
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eight protestors charged with conspiracy to riot among other charges in relation to the protests at the democratic convention of 1968
Make a mockary of the judge and courtroom coming in costumes and arguing that the sentence was bullshit charges were eventually overturned in high courts- |
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Bobby Seale
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Co-founded the black panthers
Judge Hoffman sentenced him to 4 years in jail for contempt for disorderly conduct reducing the Chicago 8 to 7 he was ordered bound and gagged in the courtroom |
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Spiro Agnew
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Nixon's VP- ran on platform of law and order
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COINTELPRO
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Counterintelligence program
Vastly expanded under nixon |
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Cambodia under Sinhanouk
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manages to walk the tightrope of neutrality while much of southeast asia is convulsed by cold-war induced violence
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Lon Nol
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Overthrows Sinhanouk- Pledge to pursue vigorous anti-communist campaign; Nixon rewards him with massive US aid
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US attack on cambodia
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American troops join with South Vietnamese soldiers in major attack on communist sanctuaries in cambodia
- positive resuls; myth of cambodian neutrality is finally punctured- US and SOuth vietnamese seize large amounts of military equipment and food stalling NV's efforts for a year Negative- invigorates antiwar movemnt- nixon's anouncement of hte incusion- not our power but our will and character is being tested tonight spurs protests on college campuses |
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Senate repeals the Gulf of Tonkin resoluion
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overturns the original justification for the introduction of teh US ground forces into vietnam
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Cooper Church Amendment
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marked the first time that the congress had restricted the deployment of troops against a president's wishes
proposed an end to funding to retain us troops in laos and cambodia end american support for republic of vietnam forces outside of vietnam barred airspace operations in Cambodia without congressional approval |
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McGovern Hatfield Amendment
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proposed amendment in 1970 that would have required the end of US military operations in South Vietnam and the return of all troops by June
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Kent State
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Riots convulse the campus of Kent State University
Governor Rhodes summons the National Guard, declares martial law and forbids students to assemble Protesters stage a rally in defiance of the ban, refuse to disperse when called upon to do so Guardsmen open fire, killing four students and wounding fourteen Reactions from the highest echelons in government and from the Average American indicates how deep and unbridgeable the division in US society have become |
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My Lai
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Hawks: Liutenant Cally and Charlie Company were simply doing their job- making the tough decisions that need to be made in a guerrilla war- they have unjustly demonized by a liberal press
Doves: luitennet crandall- Calley and his men are the tip of the iceberg- minor representatives of a much larger crime which is the vietnam war itself- it is wrong ot make these common foot soldiers into scapegoats for America's barbaric foreign policy |
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Laotian incursion
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Army of the republic of vietnam invade laos without help of US
North Vietnam ambuses them, only the intervention of US helicopters prevents a massacre |
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Pentagon Papers
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McNamara created the Vietnam study task force to write an encyclopedia of vietnam
Daniel Ellsberb begins leaking it to the NYT proved that all US presidents since Kennedy had misled the public about the extent of America's involvement in the war Nixon's attempt to stop the publication is fruitless- goes to the supreme court but they rule that it is our constitutional right. |
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The Easter offensive
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military campaign conducted by North Vietnam against South Vietnam and the US
struck on three fronts simultaneously April- NV forces attack and gain land May- Equilibrum June- South Vietnam fights back- regains some lost territory biggest air bombing campaign since tet offensive NV gains strategic land in SV and a better bargaining position for the paris accords |
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Hanoi concents to peace terms
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1. mutual cease fire and an end to american bombing
2. complete withdrawal of American troops 3. exchanges of pOWs 3. Agreement to allow vietcong, NV and SV troops to remain in place in SV 5. recognition of the communist provisonal revolutionary governemnt and the government of SV as both legitimate political entities in SV 6. Creation of a national council of concord and reconciliation in south vietanm - 1/3 neutral, 1/3 thie 1/3 communist to arrange elections |
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Thieu rejects terms and demands
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1. withdrawal of all NV soldiers form south
2. recognition of the demilitterized zone along the 17th parallel as a sovereign international boundary 3. US repudiation of the legitimacy of the communist provisional government |
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Christmas bombing
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Kissenger agrees to escalate bombing in order to assure Thieu that US had his back and to let NV know the US strength
destroys NV economy- nothing else left to bomb. American public is shocked no military purpose- target is ally- terror bombing |
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Contendng views of the christmas bombings
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Hawks: the bombings are conducted with great caution to spare civilian lives and accomplish their goal- to compel the NV to return to the conference table
73 doves: bombings are a war crime that do nothing to sway NV it is the SV that nixon wants to compel to accept terms that Hanoi already agreed to |
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Paris Peace accords: second korean armistence?
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no-
Korean settlement leaves 60,000 us troops in korea- none left in SV KS leaves no communist troops in south koea- VS leaves 200,000 commies in SV KS enforces the 38th paralell as a heavily fortified dividing line- Vietnam's 17th parallell is easily permeated by communist troops SK government is free of communist influence after 1953 Vietnam's government is one-third communist after 73 signed Jan 27th |
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Prelude to fall of south
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Nixon's pledge to Thieu becomes meaningless after watergate undermines his authority
WHile nixon fights to stay in the white house Soviet Union increases bombing by 400% |
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War Powers Resolution
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July 73
1. president must report to congress within 48 hours if he commits american forces to foreign conflict or increases number of trops in a foreign country 2. unless congress approves presidents actions after 60 days the commitment will have to be terminated |
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Arab embargo
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weakens american economy and prompts congress to scale back the amount of money and war material sent to SV - reduces aid from 3.2 bllion to 1.1
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Fall of south V
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Van Tien Dung approves a final offense- Phuoc Long falls Ban Me thuot holds for 2 days- no US reaction
Thieu orders a strategic retreat- abandons central highlands to enemy Convoy of tears results in highway 7 only 1 in 4 reach coast Ford pledges for aid to SV but congress only approves 300 million for humanitarian relief |
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Ho Chi Minh campaign
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Thieu resigns turns government over to Minh
Ho Chi Min campaign begins - V storms towards saigon May 1st 1979- saigon fell NV take formal possession of saigon unifying VIetnam under communist rule |
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Opperation babylift
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metaphore for the whole war
CSA transport plane with vietnamese orphans crashes basic humanitarian gesture ends in failure shown on tv - 3.5 millon americans view it |
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Impact of Vietnam war on foreign policy
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- regan doctrine echoes the rhetoric of earlier cold warleaders but cannot inspire the smae respons either from the american people or the US congress
When he attempts to launch an anti-communist counterinsurgency capaign in nicaragua cogress refuses - leads ot iran contra scandal |
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Secretary of defense Weinberger
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denounces regan doctrine - lays down rigid conditions for combatting us forces to a foreign war
only with a publci & deocratic support and clear objectives |
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Gulf war
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fulfills weinberger's conditions- licked the vietnam syndrome but defeats in somali haiti and former yugoslavia indicate that hte vietnam syndrome is far from licked
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Vietnam demolishes the imperial presidency
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- war making power relinquished when truman takes the US to war in korea without a declaration of war
- power of the purse is essentially unusable when boys are in combat - only in the very last stages of vietnam does congress deny the presidential funds - power of oversight and investigation- true death of the imperial presidency as played out in watergate and Iran -contra scandal |
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Impact of Vietnam on US domestic policy
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- surge of liberal legislation in american history- great society comes to a close and nixon's elections mark the contraction of american liberalism
- popular distrust of government = drop in voter turnout - political activism declines - amerca's economy becomes enfeebled in the wake of vietnam- staglation |
