A Year of Turmoil

1
1968

• A Year of Turmoil

2
Tet Offensive

• Jan. 30th Tet ( Vietnamese New Year)
• Vietcong attack over 100 towns/cities in South
  Vietnam including 12 US bases and an the US
  Embassy in Saigon.
• Lasted a month.
• VC lost 32,000
• US Forces and ARVN combined lost over 3,000.

3
The Real Effect

• The attack shook the American publics confidence
  in the war.
• Media began to heavy criticize the war.
• American support went from 70 to 40.

4
Secretary of Defense

• McNamara resigns
• Clark Clifford takes over.
• Tells LBJ that Vietnam is an unwinable war.

5
Democrats Divide

• Both Robert F. Kennedy and Sen. Eugene McCarthy
  challenge LBJ for the Democratic nomination.

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March 31st

• LBJ announces that the US will seek peace
  talksthen announced his decline to run for
  re-election.

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April 4th

• Martin Luther
• King Jr. is
• assassinated on
• his hotel balcony
• in Memphis,
• Tennessee.

8
June 5th

• RFK is assassinated on Primary night in
  California after he delivered a victory speech in
  a Los Anglos hotel.

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Democratic Convention

• August/Chicago VP Herbert Humphrey defeats
  Eugene McCarthy for the nomination.
• 10,000 Anti-War protesters gather outside the
  convention.
• Mayor Richard Daley sends 12,000 cops and 5,000
  National Guardsmen to handle the crowd.

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Fighting outside erupts
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and inside as well
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Election Night

• November Richard Nixon defeats Humphrey and
  Wallace
• 301 electoral votes
• Greatest political comeback in American history.

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