SECTION 3: The War Divides America
WITNESS HISTORY 
AUDIO
The “Living-Room War”
Walter Cronkite, the anchor of the CBS Evening News, was the most respected television journalist of the 1960s. His many reports on the Vietnam War were models of balanced journalism and inspired the confidence of viewers across the United States. But during the Tet Offensive, Cronkite was shocked by the disconnect between Johnson’s optimistic statements and the gritty reality of the fighting. After visiting Vietnam in February of 1968, he told his viewers:
“We have been too often disappointed by the optimism of the American leaders, both in Vietnam and Washington, to have faith any longer in the silverlinings they find in the darkest clouds…. [I]t seems now more certain than ever that the bloody experience of Vietnam is to end in stalemate.”
—Walter Cronkite, 1968
Objectives
- Describe the divisions within American society over the Vietnam War.
- Analyze the Tet Offensive and the American reaction to it.
- Summarize the factors that influenced the outcome of the 1968 presidential election.
Terms and People
- draftee
- SDS
- “credibility gap”
- Tet Offensive
- Eugene McCarthy
- Robert Kennedy
NoteTaking
Reading Skill: Recognize Sequence Note the events leading up to the 1968 election.
Why It Matters President Johnson sent more American troops to Vietnam in order to win the war. But with each passing year, casualty lists got longer and victory seemed further away. As soldiers died abroad and hawks and doves argued at home, the Vietnam War opened up a deep emotional rift in American society. After the war ended, it would take years for the country to heal itself. Section Focus Question: How did the American war effort in Vietnam lead to rising protests and social divisions back home?
Antiwar Protests Increase
The war in Vietnam divided Americans more deeply than any conflict since the Civil War. Although most Americans initially supported President Johnson’s bombings and troop deployments, by 1966 critics began speaking out. Senator Fulbright’s opposition to the war hurt Johnson in Congress, and the senator was soon joined by like-minded activists who believed that American soldiers were dying in a war that had little to do with American interests.
The Draft Becomes Increasingly Unpopular
By 1965, most of the troops sent to Vietnam were no longer volunteers who had enlisted in the army. Instead, they were draftees—young men drafted into military service—who had been assigned a tour in Vietnam. In accordance with the Selective Service Act of 1948, the government drafted more than 1.5 million men into military service during the Vietnam War. All males had to register for the draft when they turned 18, and the Selective Service System called up draftees based on projected military needs.
Table of Contents