The 1970′s were an aftermath decade, a period of disillusionment following the idealistic struggles of the 1960′s. Distrust of government and and an awareness of limits lowered expectations. President Richard Nixon announced the withdrawal of 150,000 troops from Vietnam on April 20, 1970, but at the same time secretly authorized bombing in Cambodia. His official announcement of troops being sent to Cambodia set off a wave of protests on college campuses. On May 1, 1970, at Kent State, a small university in Ohio, four demonstrators were killed and eleven more injured when fire by the National Guard. This shocking event led to a student strike, temporarily closing about four hundred colleges across the country. President Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger continued their policy of Vietnamization and negotiations with the Viet Cong, and just before the 1972 elections Henry Kissinger announced, “Peace is at hand.” On January 27, 1973, a cease-fire agreement was signed in Paris and the end of military draft announced. We had achieved “peace with honor.” Early in 1975, however, the North Vietnamese began a massive offensive, forcing the United States to launch a helicopter rescue of Americans still in Saigon, a rout viewed widely on television. On April 30, 1975, the South Vietnamese government announced an unconditional surrender, the first major military defeat for the United States in history. Read on ...
Students at Florida State University protested the Vietnam involvement in 1970.
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