The WHITE ALBUM
Perhaps the most important year since 1945, for it showed that the golden age of Ozzie and Harriet had ended.
One of the striking things about the two men who were killed that year was that each had the courage to recognize that things were wrong with America. They were realists and spoke about correcting those problems. Politicians ever since have largely ignored problems in public, not wishing to be identified with them.
A. Vietnam problems
1. nationalists had led resistance vs Japanese, but after war, French tried to come back
2. Ho Chi Minh, 1890-1969, an aged communist led a guerrilla war that led to 1954 Geneva accords
a. two zones pending elections
b. Ho in north at Hanoi, but gov of south, backed by US, did not want elections
3. US involvement increased under Kennedy (the domino theory)
4. LBJ thought maybe 100,000 would be all that was necessary, but Viet Cong were everywhere
a. Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
b. 1968, Tet offensive showed that american victory was dubious at best, almost captured saigon, but also decimated north vietnam
c. US decided on bombing, said that north vietnamese had attacked US vessels in the gulf of Tonkin, congress said use whatever means necessary
d. note that Moscow also involved here
1) great power rivalry was often played out in the third world, but both were diminishing global powers at the same time
5. in May 1970, Nixon ordered the invasion of cambodia and then Laos
6. April 1973 vietnamese attack that almost won again, Nixon countered with savage bombing
7. 1973 cease fire, 1975 over, but solved nothing
8. then because the Khmer Rouge had been launching raids into vietnam, dec 1979 hanoi invasion toppled khmer
a. long struggle and refugees
b. feb 1979? chinese invaded viet for their attack on cambodia
c. 1989 viet withdrew but what was left of cambodia
B. Mideastern problems
1. June 1967, six day war in mideast showed that unrest was lurking
C. French problems
1. Paris student riots of may 1968
a. began while de Gaulle was visiting Romania
2. had cause for resentment
a. baby boom had flooded the universities
b. yet Many professors opposed increased staffs, which would diminish their power and prestige, or curriculum changes.
3. also part of the generation gap (missing group from ww 2), and young had new ideas
a. formed by tv, more cars, movies
b. music
4. situation began at Nanterre, part of u of paris system where students talked about modernizing the school
a. when a student was expelled, younger faculty joined in a protest
b. students met at the sorbonne to decide how to act, and ministry of ed called in the police
c. students began to protest that police did not belong on student ground (1st time since 1791 that police were there)
d. huge riots, police brutality legendary
5. this made sympathy for the students, and on 13 May a general strike began, but gov gave in to worker demands and again isolated students
6. cloud of anger, but changed nothing, the revolution that never was, did bring about some educational reform for decentralization
7. de Gaulle retired when he lost a referendum for regional reform
D. Czech problems
1. January 1968, new first sec, Alexander Dubchek, 1921-present, a Slovak, replaced Antonin Novotny
a. sought to begin wide reforms yet keep czech in the easter camp (avoid mistakes of Hungary)
b. more free expression, more public debate, growing demand and realization of intellectual freedom.
2. The Prague Spring
a. freed press censorship
b. socialism with a human face
c. seemed to talk about revision of warsaw pact
3. soviets tried to intimidate
a. the Brezhnev doctrine and armed intervention on 21 August occupied Prague
b. huge shock and return to purges of intellectual
4. replaced by Gustav Husak
E. American deaths
1. 1968 elections, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, 1925-68, of New York, opposed the war (Johnson did not run again)
a. but assassinated in Los Angeles in June?
2. Martin Luther King assassinated in Memphis in April
3. then end of an era
I
The Super Bowl
went from being a barely-watched, championship game in a bizarrely
American sport, to becoming a worldwide cultural phenomenon by the end
of the decade. Much of that was due to the dynastic qualities of
the Pittsburgh Steelers.