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As Republican Dwight Eisenhower's Vice President Richard

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Nixon wanted to help the French keep their claws in Indochina, he shook his [Eisenhower and Nixon stood together next to map of Indochina]

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pom-poms in support of the hawkish policies of Democrats Kennedy and

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Johnson and said they should be even more aggressive. But when Nixon ran for

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presidency in 1968 he decided to capitalize on the growing resentment for

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the war in Vietnam. Throughout his campaign he bragged that he had a secret

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plan to swiftly end the war in Vietnam and to succeed where three presidents

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had failed before him, and of course it was secret, the guy's nickname was [Top secret file with 'guaranteed success' written on it]

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tricky dick.. After winning the presidency Nixon's grand plan was revealed. What was

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it? Well little thing called Vietnamanization. Say that 3 times fast.

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Well it's a fancy word for a not so fancy idea. Basically he promised to pull lots

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of American troops out of the country and let the South Vietnamese fight the

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north of course none of this happened American hostilities didn't end at all

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in fact they increased. Looks like tricky dick had pulled a fast one. Well Nixon hoping to [Nixon in a meeting]

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crush the NLF crippled Viet Cong communication networks eradicated supply

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lines along the border and increased bombing in the north, plus and one of the

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most controversial moves made by the White House during the war Nixon

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authorized secret and illegal aerial assault and ground invasions in Cambodia. [Nixon giving a speech and pointing to Cambodia on a map]

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So why was this a big deal? Because Cambodia was supposed to be neutral they

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didn't want to be involved in any of the nonsense. Kind of felt like the boxer

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punching a random person in the crowd to beat his opponent and nobody was cool

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with this when it came out. In fact the Cambodian bombing nearly formed the

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basis for one of the articles of impeachment against Nixon in 1974. [Aircraft dropping bombs]

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After nearly a decade of mixed messages, false optimism and broken promises many

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Americans were fed up with their leaders. Anti-war demonstrations grew in strength

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erupting on college campuses and government sites throughout the country

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and threatening to undermine Nixon's administration. Still President Nixon

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remained confident that most Americans aka the great silent majority stood [Nixon walking next to his campaign posters]

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behind his every move and turns out he was right about that a Gallup poll in late

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1971 revealed that 77%

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totally agreed with Nixon and what he was doing in Vietnam, and if polls weren't

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convincing enough Nixon showed 'em all when he defeated his anti-war opponent

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Democrat George McGovern in the next election. And not just defeated Nixon

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stomped McGovern's winning 49 of 50 states and attaining a twenty-three [Map of the US showing the all the states Nixon won]

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percent margin of victory in the popular vote. Well by January 1973 Nixon achieved

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a settlement in Vietnam one that enabled him to pull out all US combat soldiers

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the president promised leaders in Saigon that he would authorize continued air

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assaults if necessary, or maybe if he was just feeling a little grumpy that day.

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But then the Watergate scandal hit Nixon like ton of bricks um make that a [Bricks fall from above and land on Nixon]

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ton of flaming bricks.. flaming bricks covered in spikes and dog poop... But Nixon

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found himself indicted for serious crimes including conspiracy, burglary and

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perjury so yeah he had a little more on his mind than helping out South Vietnam.

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Deprived of American support the South Vietnamese government a disjointed and

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corrupt administration on its own quickly collapsed. In 1975 North

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Vietnamese tanks rolled across Saigon, seized command and declared victory at [Tanks roll up to government building and put up the Vietnamese flag]

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last. And there you have it five American presidents had grappled with problems in

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Vietnam, it attempted to achieve victory against the communists or at the very

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least peace with honor but in the end they all failed it was ultimately the

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Vietnamese who decided the fate of their own country. [Nixon campaign poster falls off the wall]

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(Mumbling)

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