1970-75 Dynamic Times in the US and South Vietnam

We will discuss key persons and events in the US and South Vietnam during the last years as President Nixon and National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger tried to wind down the war. The class will cover Vietnamization, the invasions of Cambodia and Laos, anti-war protests, race relations, the Pentagon Papers, 26^th Amendment, Cooper-Church Amendment, 1972 North Vietnamese Easter invasion, Linebacker operations, and the Paris Peace Accords. We will examine how much America changed during 1973 with the War Powers Act, Volunteer Army, Roe v. Wade, Watergate, the 1^st oil shock, “stagflation,” and the metric system. We will discuss how President Ford and his administration worked on issues ranging from “Whip Inflation Now,” car safety and fuel economy to the responses to the fall of Cambodia and South Vietnam. We will discuss the evacuation of Saigon and joint service operations to retake the SS Mayaguez and how these events affected future US domestic, international, and military policy planning.