embarked on a policy of escalation . rights measures of the 1960s galva-
From 25,000 troops at the start of nized the third-party candidacy of
1965, the number of soldiers — both Alabama Governor George Wal-
volunteers and draftees — rose to lace, a Democrat who captured his
500,000 by 1968 . A bombing cam- home state, Mississippi, and Arkan-
paign wrought havoc in both North sas, Louisiana, and Georgia, states
and South Vietnam .
typically carried in that era by the
Grisly television coverage with a Democratic nominee . Republican
critical edge dampened support for Richard Nixon, who ran on a plan to
the war . Some Americans thought it extricate the United States from the
immoral; others watched in dismay war and to increase “law and order”
as the massive military campaign at home, scored a narrow victory .
seemed to be ineffective . Large pro-
tests, especially among the young, NIXON, VIETNAM, AND THE
and a mounting general public dis-
COLD WAR
satisfaction pressured Johnson to be-
gin negotiating for peace .
Determined to achieve “peace
with honor,” Nixon slowly withdrew
THE ELECTION OF 1968
American troops while redoubling
B
efforts to equip the South Vietnam-
y 1968 the country was in tur- ese army to carry on the fight . He
moil over both the Vietnam War also ordered strong American offen-
and civil disorder, expressed in ur- sive actions . The most important of
ban riots that reflected African- these was an invasion of Cambodia
American anger . On March 31, 1968, in 1970 to cut off North Vietnam-
the president renounced any inten- ese supply lines to South Vietnam .
tion of seeking another term . Just This led to another round of protests
a week later, Martin Luther King and demonstrations . Students in
Jr . was shot and killed in Memphis, many universities took to the streets .
Tennessee . John Kennedy’s younger At Kent State in Ohio, the National
brother, Robert, made an emotional Guard troops who had been called in
anti-war campaign for the Demo- to restore order panicked and killed
cratic nomination, only to be assas- four students .
sinated in June .
By the fall of 1972, however,
At the Democratic National Con- troop strength in Vietnam was be-
vention in Chicago, Illinois, protest- low 50,000 and the military draft,
ers fought street battles with police . which had caused so much cam-
A divided Democratic Party nomi- pus discontent, was all but dead . A
nated Vice President Hubert Hum- cease-fire, negotiated for the United
phrey, once the hero of the liberals States by Nixon’s national security
but now seen as a Johnson loyal- adviser, Henry Kissinger, was signed
ist . White opposition to the civil in 1973 . Although American troops
288
OUTLINE OF U.S. HISTORY
departed, the war lingered on into Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in
the spring of 1975, when Congress which they agreed to limit stockpiles
cut off assistance to South Vietnam of missiles, cooperate in space, and
and North Vietnam consolidated its ease trading restrictions . The Stra-
control over the entire country .
tegic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT)
The war left Vietnam devastated, culminated in 1972 in an arms con-
with millions maimed or killed . It trol agreement limiting the growth
also left the United States trauma- of nuclear arsenals and restricting
tized . The nation had spent over anti-ballistic missile systems .
$150,000-million in a losing effort
that cost more than 58,000 Ameri- NIXON’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS
can lives . Americans were no longer
AND DEFEATS
united by a widely held Cold War
consensus, and became wary of fur- Vice president under Eisenhower
ther foreign entanglements .
before his unsuccessful run for the
Yet as Vietnam wound down, presidency in 1960, Nixon was seen
the Nixon administration took his- as among the shrewdest of Ameri-
toric steps toward closer ties with can politicians . Although Nixon
the major Communist powers . The subscribed to the Republican value
most dramatic move was a new rela- of fiscal responsibility, he accepted
tionship with the People’s Republic a need for government’s expanded
of China . In the two decades since role and did not oppose the ba-
Mao Zedong’s victory, the United sic contours of the welfare state .
States had argued that the Nation- He simply wanted to manage its
alist government on Taiwan rep- programs better . Not opposed to
resented all of China . In 1971 and African-American civil rights on
1972, Nixon softened the American principle, he was wary of large
stance, eased trading restrictions, federal civil rights bureaucracies .
and became the first U .S . president Nonetheless, his administration
ever to visit Beijing . The “Shanghai vigorously enforced court orders
Communique” signed during that on school desegregation even as it
visit established a new U .S . policy: courted Southern white voters .
that there was one China, that Tai-
Perhaps his biggest domestic
wan was a part of China, and that a problem was the economy . He in-
peaceful settlement of the dispute of herited both a slowdown from its
the question by the Chinese them- Vietnam peak under Johnson, and
selves was a U .S . interest .
a continuing inflationary surge that
With the Soviet Union, Nixon was had been a by-product of the war . He
equally successful in pursuing the dealt with the first by becoming the
policy he and his Secretary of State first Republican president to endorse
Henry Kissinger called détente . He deficit spending as a way to stim-
held several cordial meetings with ulate the economy; the second by
289