The Death Of The United States

The shooting of Kent State University on May 4, 1970 marked a point in the war that divided the nation and brought attention to the war on a scale never seen before. Fighting on the battleground was brought to America’s soil through the power of television and as the battle continued, emotions on the homefront intensified. The executive decision of President Richard Nixon initiated the protests and swung the opinion of the use of military force in Vietnam by his “April 30 announcement that he had sent American forces into Cambodia” (Reichard). President Nixon’s decision of sending forces into Cambodia sparked the protests on many campuses, one of them being Kent State, leading to the shooting and killing of four students, however only two of the students shot and killed were involved in the protests. “The killing… was another important turning point for many GI and veteran activists” (Moser 108).

Well aware of citizen disapproval for the war, Nixon understood that the US should most likely withdraw, yet he remained stubborn. Nixon did not immediately end American involvement for the fear of the fall of Saigon to the North Vietnamese. Instead, he initiated the policy of Vietnamization where the US no longer gave direct aid to South Vietnamese forces; however, he continued to infuriate Americans by launching a bombing raid on neighboring Cambodia in the spring of 1970. Protests sprung up all over the country; many claimed that Nixon was increasing the war effort rather than reducing it. The riots at Kent State prompted the governor of Ohio to call in the National Guard to tame student activity. Instead, guardsmen fired rifles and shot dead four students on campus (Doc C). The American people were disgusted with what the Vietnam War had made of the country as a whole. Not long after, confidential reports leaked out that the US military participated in the murder of one hundred innocent women and children in the hamlet of My Lai, which was followed by the leak of the Pentagon Papers, a report of military conduct that was hidden from the public (Doc A). It was made very clear that the United States was now actively participating in war crimes instead of promoting fundamental liberties (Doc B). American citizens not only

Cano, R. (2010, May 3). A Moment Kent State Won’t Forget. Retrieved December 5, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/us/04kent.html?_r=0

When Richard Nixon first became president he switched responsibilities to South Vietnam. The increasingly unpopular war had created deep divisions in American society as it was this, only made it worse. Nixon believed that this strategy of Vietnamization would help to bring Americans home and for the South Vietnamese to be able to fight communism on their own. He slowly withdrew

When President Nixon took office in 1969, the U.S. was currently sending american troops to fight in the Vietnam war.Shortly after taking office in 1969, President Nixon introduced a policy called Vietnamization that was intended to end american military involvement in Vietnam war by encouraging all south vietnamese to take more responsibility for fighting the war on their own.

On April 30, 1970 President Nixon had officially announced that the United States was going to war in Vietnam. The next day a huge group of students at Kent State University, in Ohio, were protesting. As well as many other students at different Universities across the country. Everyone was protesting the bombing that was happening in Cambodia as well as the United States involvement the Vietnam War. What started as a somewhat peaceful protest, turned very violent. The students at Kent State set the ROTC building on fire. The local police force was called in which did not do much help. Kent’s Mayor called the Governor of Ohio, James Rhodes, and asked to send help. Rhodes sent The Ohio National Guard to Kent State. When the national guard got

The United States formulated a plan to safeguard their nation from the Vietnam War. Lyndon Johnson, the President of the United States, was unable to compose a clever plan to prevent North Vietnam from attacking. Eventually, in 1968, Richard Nixon became president and launched an invasion of Cambodia and supported a South Vietnamese invasion of Laos. These two unsuccessful invasions discontented the citizens and individuals held protests against the Vietnam War. Many soldiers refused to fight in the Vietnam War and citizens opposed the United States involvement. Ultimately, in 1973, the United States withdrew their troops from Vietnam and was declared the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. Howard Zinn said, “The Vietnam war gave clear evidence

This was one of his greatest mistakes not only during the war, but also his within the timeline of his presidency. He began by creating the Nixon Doctrine. The Doctrine was claimed to be an aid in which it was supposed to “help” Vietnam by claiming we were allies and that we as a nation would support them in the war. This caused a much outrage because of the fact that we were not supposed to further invest ourselves in the war in the first place (Greene 413). The “doves” began to protest this, which caused one of the first signs against Nixon. Many Americans wanted the U.S. to back out of the war altogether. They stated that it wasn’t our war to fight, and that because of Nixon and his rushed plan, we ended up paying a price too heavy for the war. Nixon, on the other hand, stated that he would continue in the involvement of the United States in their effort to help protect and aid Vietnam and continue the Vietnamization process (Foner). But things took a turn for the worst as on April 30, 1970, he called on the order to invade Cambodia. This, in turn, caused a major commotion in the United States. Almost no one wanted another country to be dragged even farther in the war, and they didn’t want to add another enemy against the U.S. In fact, people were so outraged by this that colleges all over the country were protesting against the call and students were

Protesters had lost their faith in Nixon’s ability to keep his promise of ending the war. Years into the conflict, when he decided to expand into Cambodia, the protesters were outraged. The Vietnam War was costing lives and money, and no one knew exactly what they were supposed to be fighting for, and if the United States was winning. They were incredibly confused, because they had been led to believe the war would be brief against an inferior opponent, such as the North Vietnamese. At home, the draft was drawing more and more young men away from their lives into an uncertain future, and college deferments had been ended. After 15 years, people were angry and tired of this conflict, and they lost trust in Nixon, with his continual misleading of the public. They wanted it to end, and many had trusted Nixon with that endeavor, when he had run for president on the promise of ending the war. However, instead of keeping his campaign promise, he grew the war’s size to include more boundaries, and with that, more American soldiers. The dissenters of his administration felt voiceless and angry.

President Richard Nixon’s policy on the war in Vietnam by the spring of 1972 had lead to a large draw down in American combat forces. During this draw down, the North Vietnamese Army was preparing for their largest attack of the war. On March 30, 1972, the Nguyen Hue Offensive was launched to take “full advantage of the bad weather typical during monsoon season, offering low

The Vietnam War, lasting for approximately 20 years, was the longest and one of the most controversial wars in American history. Not only did the war take a heavy toll on the American troops fighting abroad, but it also led to riots and tension amongst Americans on the homefront. Two presidents devoted to winning the war against the spread of Communism in Vietnam as quickly and effectively as possible were Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although Johnson was a Democrat and Nixon was a Republican, their foreign policies in Vietnam were similar because they both kept secrets about the war from Congress and because both of their foreign policies were disliked by the American public. However, they differed because Johnson escalated the United

To start with responding to the widespread protests, Nixon outlined his new Vietnam War policy in this speech; Called “Vietnamization”, Nixon’s war policy called for contraction in American troops but continued fighting. Nixon contrasted his international strategy of political realism with the idealism of a vocal minority. He ended his speech with the famous words that his speech became known by: “So tonight, to you, the great silent majority of my fellow Americans, I ask for your support;”

As the nations excitement to protest continued to bolster an incident occurred that put a damper to the glitter. During an antiwar protest at Kent State University in Ohio, the National Guard is told to move in and calm protesters. In result they open fire on unarmed students, killing four students and wounding eight others. This caused national uproar of protest and flashed the headlines across the county. Shortly after the horrific event, Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young recorded “Ohio”, which drew attention to and in memory of the wasteful deaths of the Kent State Protest. The first two linen of the song read, “Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, We’re finally on our own,” which puts blame on Nixon and his involvement with the Vietnam War and shows the individualism

On May 4, 1970, Kent State went into history as one of the most powerful single events and images that America would ever witness during the Vietnam era. It would be reminisant of a battle field engagement, as gunfire would fill the Midwest college campus and bring the front lines of America's war over Vietnam. In 13 chaotic seconds, the Ohio National Guard fired their weapons at antiwar demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine. The shootings solidified the antiwar movement not only in America, but worldwide as well. By the next day photographs of the slain students, and the horror that was depicted over every possilbe news media, immortilized the name Kent State and cut through the nation's conscience.

January 1969, Richard Nixon entered the executive office picking up the pieces Lyndon Johnson who had left while the Vietnam War was still in effect. Many Americans had the expectation that Nixon would be the “peaceful president”, visualizing he would put an end to this war in Southeast Asian and bring back home our troops. A policy Nixon redefined was the American role in the world by suggesting to limit the U.S resources and commitments. Therefore, Nixon’s set his efforts to end the war since the withdrawal from Vietnam was not an immediate option. Also, Nixon had his radar on Moscow and China because according to George C. Herring, they felt that they must release the United States from the war in a way that would uphold United States credibility with their friends and foes alike. During Nixon’s term in office, he tries a number of different strategies in his effort to end the war, but to this day, one can see that Nixon only prolonged the war when it could have ended earlier.