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 ..
Nation Torn, A: Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1962 a U-2 spy aircraft discovers Russia is installing medium-range missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba just 90 miles from the U. S. mainland. President Kennedy convenes the Executive Committee of the National Secu..
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 ..
Nation Torn, A: History of the Vietnam Conflict
Lyndon Johnson enters the presidency with even less experience in international affairs than John F. Kennedy. In his initial days in office, the country's foreign policy is dominated by the bitter civil war in Vietnam. A..
Nation Torn, A: Influences on U.S. Foreign Policy
The enduring images of the 1960s depict problems that have no easy solutions, at home or abroad. The Kennedy administration attempts to win the hearts and minds of less developed countries by initiating the Peace Corps, ..
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 ..
Nation Torn, A: Presidential Race of 1968
In 1968 demonstrations and violent reactions occur within and without the Democratic convention in Chicago. Ultimately, the 1968 presidential election is a contest between the current and former vice president, Hubert Hu..
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 b..
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 exec..
National Conventions and Presidential Elections
Former Secretary of State James A. Baker talks about some of the changes that have occurred since he served as the campaign manager of the Ford campaign in 1976. He points out that the Reagan challenge to Gerald Ford tha..