Crisis of Authority: Defeat in Indochina
The North Vietnamese launch a full-scale offensive against the South in March of 1975. Thieu appeals to Washington for assistance. As the North Vietnamese offensive gathers momentum in March and April of 1975, Ford breaks with Kissinger and announce...
Crisis of Authority: Vietnamization and Escalation
Nixon begins his presidency by turning over more of the war to the Vietnamese so the U.S. can withdraw troops and undermine anti-war rhetoric. While there is a visible attempt to set up negotiations, Kissinger is engaged in private diplomacy. By the...
Crisis of Authority: Vietnam--Peace with Honor?
As the 1972 election approaches, the Nixon administration steps up its efforts to end the carnage in Vietnam. Kissinger continues negotiations. In order to pressure North Vietnam, Nixon unleashes B-52 bombs at Christmas, an act that is condemned int...
Nation Torn, A: U.S. Intensifies Involvement in Vietnam
Late in 1964, the situation in Vietnam appears to be getting worse despite the investment of American forces and the bombing of coastal positions in North Vietnam (Gulf of Tonkin). In 1965, Johnson makes a series of executive decisions, endorsed by ...
Nation Torn, A: Disillusionment Spawned by Vietnam Conflict
The Vietnam war and racial struggles at home creates a wedge between the American people and their government. In retrospect journalists like Marvin Kalb feel they were systematically lied to by the U.S. government, and as a result unknowingly misle...
Nation Torn, A: Nation Torn-The Two Vietnams, A
The United States is confident of its abilities to rebuild South Vietnam given its track record after World War II. Ngo Dinh Diem is hand picked as leader of the south. Elections to reunify the country do not take place in 1956. Members of the Commu...
Nation Torn, A: America's Relationship with Ngo Dinh Diem
From 1954 to the 1970s Diem fills jails with people in the South suspected of being Communist. People are tortured and killed. When several Buddhists are killed for demonstrating in 1963, Kennedy sends Henry Cabot Lodge to Vietnam to bring order to ...
Nation Torn, A: Stalemate in Vietnam
There are 500,000 American soldiers in Vietnam by end of 1967, bogged down in a fight they can't seem to win. Critics charge that the military is being asked to fight with one hand tied behind its back. The Pentagon is blamed for not unleashing the ...