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The 1960's- A Nation Torn

Added Mar 24, 2013 •

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new decade of the 20th century. during images the 1960s the decade begins with the election and then the traumatic assassination energetic young president who captures the imagination homes information it follows with the dramatic. Of political Innovations prison the Great Society by President Lyndon but it also brings to the surface problems and grievances that have no easy solutions at home or abroad Cold War by the 1950s it started to evolve into up war of words certainly of nuclear weapons that the Hot Wheels would be fought by proxy throughout Latin America and Asia 4 p.m. Kennedy ministration realized it was time for an effort to be made to make sure that we could try to win the hearts and minds and stomachs of these less developed countries Kennedy many ways was a realist and foreign policy in idealist and domestic policy and so he believed that America's young talented crew Ematic and energetic you could solve any problems gives you the Peace Corps but it also gives you Special Forces Green Beret the different sides of the same coin is idealistic thinking that Americans are inherently good and can do good most of these third will Nations than have any Illusions about the Peace Corps of the United States might be at times a generous Nation but Elsa goes in there with interest in this case not so much business interest but American National Security interest so what Kennedy was doing with the Peace Corps disguises keep sending in our young best and brightest around the world into these impoverished areas will give not only how are you this defense of mission help but will also win these people over to the American way of life and will help us in the Cold War in April of 1961 a small group of armed Cuban Exiles lands on the shores of Cuba's Bay of Pigs hoping to reclaim the island local Cubans support from the United States nothing works out if they plan there is no supporting 2 days in the Grim aftermath of the Bay of Pigs Kennedy travel to Vienna Sylvia Premier Nikita Khrushchev I thought that this young man had blundered in Cuba and that he really wasn't up to the job who shot told Kennedy at Vienna secret shop was going to sign a peace treaty with East Germany whether the American liked it or not and that led to a very serious Plantation between the United States and the Soviet Union over Berlin in the summer and fall of 1961 the two sides came establos what really change relations between the United States and the Soviet Union was the Cuban Missile Crisis sneak medium-range missiles with nuclear warheads in Cuba and he does this over the course of the summer of 1960  a u.s. YouTube Spy aircraft the time of Secret Mission Plaza takes pictures of discovers these missiles in Cuba what's before they become operational Kennedy then executive committee of the National Security Council into a private week of deliberate to figure out what to do almost all the members of the middle name strongly in favor of attacking the first stay II paid the last state they finally make a decision Kennedy announces us further on shipments to Cuba and insist that the missiles to be withdrawn many of Kennedy's advisors the blockade was bound to fail getting tracked failed as we saw by the end of the week because cruise ship just push the head got the missiles to become operational then comes the second week which there's the eyeball to eyeball eventually the other guy bolts and in the end skip agrees to withdraw the missiles after it comes up with a public plan not to invade Cuba give me social with Chron something Kennedy was prepared to do with a private ultimatum with Bobby Kennedy his brother gives to the sub best Freeman that says get those missiles out within 48 hours or we're not going to talk to me anymore we can connect  in recent years what are you tapes of the deliberations shed new light on the crisis  Kennedy explains the price of some Cuba was about Berlin Soviet placement of missiles in Cuba with tilt of Berlin crisis that then was approaching it's a store climax once you realize that the Cuban Missile Crisis stop Berlin then you begin to realize in some ways why he acted the way he did in a way that revises all the standard interpretations we learn for instance the crisis was more dangerous than we thought because a chimney done too much he could have started a nuclear war but had you done too low he would not have avoided him your prices he would have simply had another nuclear crisis begin next month in Berlin they moved toward a tree which would limit the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere and in outer space there's already had enough where are the Nina and hate and oppression and what does play was intended to do was set in motion a relaxation of tension when later was to be called Date aunt it's one of the great tragedies and sadnesses of Kennedy's death that this movement toward better relations with the Soviet Union was cut and then the Johnson Administration wasn't able to make good on that promise because of course Johnson became so deeply embroiled in the war Vietnam Lyndon Johnson enters the presidency with even less experience in international Affairs than Kennedy in his initial days in office the come foreign policy is dominated by The Bitter civil war in Vietnam at first it appears to be little more than a third world struggle in which the u.s. is tip the balance for the West the French came to Vietnam in 1858 looking for an Asian drool to the cloning of crown and almost immediately there was resist the French colonial rule in Vietnam but it took until the 1920s really for one of the Nationalist groups the Marxist organized effectively against the French and then the 19 46 Ho Chi Minh Vietnam declared official war on France and they worked in a set pitch battle will 1954 when it Dan band Foo forces forming jobs around as the French and the French realized it could not maintain their Global commitments and win in Vietnam so they sued for peace the conference at Geneva convened to settle the number of Asian issues including the Korean conflict is already underway Vietnam is added to the list and they are China and the Soviet Union put tremendous pressure on the Vietnamese communist to allow France of face-saving defeat they did not want to give United States and excuse come in to Asia with a provocative piece so the deal was set that it would divide Vietnam at the 17th parallel and hold elections in 2 years 1956 to reunify country in almost immediately the United States tried to create a counter-revolutionary alternative South 17th parallel the United States field Khan if its ability to rebuild the nation given his track record after World War II so there was a tremendous enthusiasm about our ability to not only swipe next to use our development to create new nations were no Nation had existed before and so no denzium who was a Catholic who had a lot of anti-communist support within the Senate you can pick to be the leader and he presides over the birth in 1955 with this new nation the Republic of Vietnam better known to us as Soundview but elections to reunify Vietnam not take place in 1956 the mediate response but it comes party wasn't violence do a split what's up with the party began to pressure the party to move to more militant wine eventually Southerners convince Northerners in the party the only way to Liberation is through violence and the National Liberation Front born we know the better as the Viet Cong South Vietnam continues to receive both Technical and Military Support from the United States there are fewer than 1,000 advisors in the Country Canada song that number reaches 16 South the time of his assassination the role of the American advisory was to train the Bernie is the Republican Vietnam to take the offensive and what that meant by the end of 1962 was that American officers were accompanying Vietnamese military forces into the field to try to find the Vietcong engaged and fight the American advisers were much more eager to fight than the Vietnamese advice it's never really an effective fighting force for a lot of reasons one is that the people inside the Army didn't necessarily think much better government in Saigon the most other people did some people join the arvind with mixed feelings and mixed emotions but it's never used as an instrument of power in Vietnam in a way that would make legitimate Force little North Carolina what escalates the level of conflict DM putting people in jail in the. 1954 1960 Hempfield jail with suspected Communists and he passed a series of laws in the south is that you could hold someone who suspected Communists indefinitely Sail Without formally charging them in the jails are not fun places people were tortured people died everyone in the South new friend who had family members who had this is sodium's policy in many ways created more interest Indiana left and probably his couldn't have on film and Kane I had in May of 1963 and there were some demonstrations among the Brutus to objecting to the government forbidding them to fly manners government forces fired on the Buddhist and several were killed and then a Buddhist monk came down to Saigon from the north city of clay and poured gasoline over himself and burn himself to death  to bring some order to the situation President Kennedy newly appointed Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge do we have now  the first thing that Lodge did when he got the Saigon August 1963 was put himself squarely in the middle of a plot on the part of some Vietnamese officers over throw them over the next couple of months Kennedy found some very strong signals to VM that he had to his ways but in early November both GM and his brother are killed in a coup for the next 3 weeks in November the Kennedy administration scrambled to come up with a new United States policy toward Vietnam with this new government of course exactly three weeks later candy and self was Mark Johnson as president should Bizer's regarding Vietnam should this commitment be maintained almost to a man these advisers thought that the United States need skip prevent a communist victory in Vietnam as Johnson said in his very first days in office I'm not going to be the next president to lose a war elected in Israel right in 1964 Johnson found that the situation was getting worse despite the investment Spike the fact of the United States have bomb Coastal positions in North Vietnam in what was called the Gulf of Tonkin incident so then in 1965 Johnson took a series of very fateful decisions to make the war in Vietnam American War  congress not only doesn't check it openly endorse its Johnson's use of executive powers to lead the nation into war do you remember condoms reveal cost you to getting up and say I think the president's raw is it probably should have really behind this muscular internet Listen and talk with the Communist and took it up inside I think we're going down the wrong path even if you can write it would have been politically very costly Syndicate members of Congress send the Gaylord Nelson one stumbling over each other to see who could say Yaga loudest  pressured by their comrades stop  we don't really see these forces on the ground until fall of 1965 when's their capital in 65 the Communist Party makes the decision to move to a protracted War which means they'll pursue a diplomatic track but also a millet play track same time the perfect strategy for understood that we would grow tired morally economically politically militarily to a protracted War I need to sleep Century March 1965 the Johnson ministration decides it's going to put in his first round trip essentially to check the air bases assume these defensive forces become a hundred thousand from 200,000 and we two are going to fight a protracted war of attrition except our supply lines are 9000 miles long and we have man power issues constantly by the end of 1967 there are over 500,000 American soldiers in Vietnam  ear worms in cats ground combat forces are bogged down in the fight they can't seem to win your do they understand why so you'll learn too much and just going out off and with a group of the of young people in a battle and knowing that when you came back to the bigs some of the soldiers weren't they with you in the world  some critics charge that the military is being one hand tied behind back to the Pentagon just in the military like that's a historical flies in the face of War Theory which is tell me when Vietnam begin with just enough for student ministry will be continued to struggle but we won't kill one more than we need to That's the basis of limited War except this wholeheartedly and so we see in 1965 the United States and Vietnam are on Parallel tracks they're both escalating both attractive War of Attrition and it's a no-brainer they're going to win they can fulfill their commitments on the battlefield much easier if they have in roads in Sevilla so in many ways I think 1960 63 and 65 those dates is filled then we get into a military stalemate in 1967 cat is always thrown out as a huge turning point where I think it's almost meaningless  by the end of 1967 it is apparent that volume concerns over the war in Vietnam and the racial struggles at home are creating a wedge between the American people and their government  during the Vietnam I spent most of my time trying to cover from the Washington at it and it was incredibly difficult  government systematically lie to the reporters and the reporters then we're in a position of having to mislead the American people as horrible as a terrible turn a list to be involved with the realize years later that you said that it's hard to say who snaps first in this is it really the students who are of draft age and who have the prospect of going to this battle is it the liberal critics of Johnson who create this is it the soldiers themselves who come back and say I don't know what I'm doing there all these things happen at the same time and it feeds on itself because Johnson becomes a kind of character and the more he says the more it makes people is against it  Johnson was at the end of his rope almost he saw enemies everywhere how could it be he said that the very who is said the Johnson's policy in Vietnam was the right one now turned against him the first time in America policy didn't seem to live up to Twin colors of the foundation of our foreign policy which is always been to stop aggression and support democracy in clearly weren't doing that in Vietnam Smith thought we were stopping aggression no one thought that the war was about creating a democratic South did not even The policymakers Who and ourselves, see inevitable that it's going to still over into the streets with spillover result in more than disillusioned it has Economic Consequences as well the president of the couldn't ask for higher and higher taxes but at the same time he felt he couldn't abandon the war effort in Southeast Asia so here were caught in this fundamental Paradox that most Economist I think would argue is responsible for the end of post World War 2 prosperity in the ladder 660 during World War 1 World War II and Korea the US government found a balanced strategy taxation borrowing direct way Shanaynay goods and services to help pay for these War efforts Kason Vietnam no such strategy was implemented President Johnson Chelsea was forced to either borrow money and or simply run up the Federal deficit pay for what was an ever-expanding were afraid insanity by 1966-67 the wheels are coming off  in 1968 all the trauma and turmoil of the decade team to confirm  fried in so many ways the year the dream died the year the sixties and the year of the barricades in all of those terms are I think appropriate in some way or another of course the year was punctuated by the cats in Vietnam which really showed to all Americans that the light at the end of the tunnel was actually oncoming train driven by the North Vietnamese the end of the war was nowhere in sight that the enemy was still capable of hacking almost at will and so the major opinion leaders much of the American populations willingness to support the war effort has Johnson had run it drained with the sight of those Commandos actually fire good mortgage we need you to the US Embassy in Saigon the most visible symbol of the u.s. 7 Vietnam  Challenge from all Johnson schedules and address to the nation on the evening of March 31st 1968  denomination my party for another term as your present Johnson's decision to step down to not run for reelection in the spring of 1968 almost everybody even people very close to him despite the fact that so many things had been unraveling and that he had just been dealt some serious challenges contenders for the Democratic nomination in more than anything else it was the war in Vietnam that unraveled the Johnson president and that would compromise his great legacy and domestic policy this battle Johnson it didn't battle people in the right they understood from the beginning that the problem was law and order it was increasing Groundswell of support for politicians like George Wallace promise to restore Law and Order regardless of attention to civil liberties or civil rights and discourse undermines for the anti-poverty programs for the domestic agenda of the Johnson Administration he put it vividly himself that b**** of a war kill the lady I really love the Great Society even Johnson's withdraw from the presidential race in March does not put in is the pain 1968 rank on the twin horrors of the assassination of Martin Luther King jr. and Memphis and in the major eruptions of violence racial consultations that even comes to Washington DC with in box of the White House and some National Guard troops protect the White House from citizens of the United States itself and then in that time of extreme need and hope menu change to the figure of Bobby Kennedy to rescue us essentially from this horrible situation and then in June of 1968 to see Bobby Kennedy himself likewise slain by an Assassin's bullet Democratic National Convention dates and even within the convention hall itself holidays demonstrations and violent reaction for going on in the park to Chicago outside members of the democratic party were stepping up and criticizing each other senator Abraham ribicoff of Connecticut talks about the Gestapo tactics on the streets of Chicago that Chicago mayor Richard Daley police are using to put down the demonstrations League the presidential election of 1968 becomes a contest between the current and former vice president Hubert free and Richard Nixon in a variety of ways said he would be exactly the opposite of Lyndon Johnson he was going to bring the country together because it was the fire and in Vietnam he said very little specifically because there were in a goose I didn't want to feel with the negotiation but he said they would be peace with honor well wow publicly Nixon was taking the hi Road in Vietnam behind the scenes he and his campaign were actively trying to undermine set piece been to go see Asians that the Johnson Administration was conducting had Johnson torn the mask off the Nixon camp being Above The Fray and so supportive American diplomacy Humphrey probably would have one I think by this time Johnson Phelps Braids by the American people he didn't really care Nixon's Victory is almost as narrow as his defeat 1960 although he lacks a decisive mending the majority of the electorate is indicated that they are more interested in restoring stability than promoting 2 Chainz the decade that began with high hopes and sewing ideas he's sending in division and dissolution unfinished Nation 82 part American history series for more information about this program and a company materials call +1-800-576-2988 or visit us online at w UW intelecom org

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The 1960's- A Nation Torn

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