Vietmanisation and Watergate

• • US election in 1968
  • Nixon was a Republican and the vice president under Eisenhower
  • Humphries was the Democrat
  • Both of these campaigned on the promise to end the War in Vietnam
• • Nixon promised an honorable peace
  • He realised the war could not be won by conventional methods
  • But he could not nuke Vietnam
  • He wanted to withdraw the troops, whilst saving face and not risking escalation into a nuclear war
• Vietmanisation is that US will withdraw, but they will build up the ARVN.
• In 1970 Nixon orders the invasion of Cambodia
• Nixon wants to invade Cambodia and Laos to destroy the Ho Chi Minh trail
• Following the US invasion of Cambodia, the communist group there called the 'Kmher Rogue" grew in popularity where they had not been before.
• By 1971 Vietnamisation meant more troops were trained. So in February the ARVN began to attack North Vietnamese troops in Laos. This ends up being a failure.
• In the spring of 1972 the North Vietnamese launch their own attack on the South
• It was clear that the expansion of the War into Cambodia and Laos meant that Vietnamisation was not working. In fact it increased communist popularity in both countries.
• The Kent State shootings occurred to the expansion of the war.
• Despite the failure of Vietnamisation Nixon was re-elected in 1972.
• • Nixon had to resign due to the Watergate scandal.
  • Nixon was linked to burglars in the Democratic offices who bugged phones
  • He denied having any knowledge of it
  • But he did know it was taking place and covered it up
  • In 1974 the scandal came to light, and Nixon resigned
  • Henry Kissinger revealed Nixon cried
  • Nixon's vice president, Ford, takes over.
• The watergate scandal reduced trust in US political leaders. This has never recovered, and the Americans no longer trust their government.