What is the Vietnam War podcast about?
This seven-episode podcast is a fresh, provocative telling of the story of the Vietnam War and the president who oversaw its ugly end. How Richard Nixon used the war to get elected and re-elected, and opened the political and cultural fissure that became the political and cultural chasm dividing Americans today.
Who was Nixon’s 1968 presidential candidate?
Coming out of the conventions in August ’68, Richard Nixon begins his campaign against Hubert Humphrey, his Democratic opponent, with what looks like an insurmountable lead. Running as the peace candidate, Nixon promises a quick end to a costly and increasingly unpopular war.
What was Nixon’s Vietnamization program?
In early February ’71, with pressure building at home to complete the withdrawal of American forces from Vietnam, Nixon puts his Vietnamization program to a crucial and very public test. With the world watching, the South Vietnamese army launches an invasion into Laos, where they will engage a formidable North Vietnamese force.
What episode did Nixon publish the Pentagon papers?
Episode 1: October Surprise. For President Richard Nixon, the publication of the Pentagon Papers, in June 1971, ought not to have mattered. The malfeasance and mendacity revealed in the Times, and soon in papers across the country, had all happened under previous administrations, from Truman to LBJ. In fact, Nixon’s national security advisor, Henry ...
What did LBJ learn about Nixon?
LBJ learns of Nixon’s efforts to blow up the talks, but can’t reveal his source – FBI wiretaps on the South Vietnamese Embassy.. “Of all of Richard Nixon’s actions in a lifetime of politics,” biographer John Farrell will later say, “this was the most reprehensible.“. Read/download the Episode 2 transcript here.
What episode of Nixon did Kissinger become his national security advisor?
Episode 3: Sideshow. In December 1968, only weeks after his election, Nixon names Henry Kissinger as his national security advisor. The appointment will prove to be the most consequential of his presidency.
What episode of Nixon to Haldeman?
That’s all there is to it.". — Nixon to H.R. Haldeman. Episode 6: Off the Rails. With the publication of the Pentagon Papers in June ’71, the demons that Richard Nixon has wrestled throughout his presidency – indeed, through much of his public life – begin to gain the upper hand.
What happened in the Hard Hat Riot?
Four days later, a counterprotest – dubbed the Hard Hat Riot – turns violent in the streets of New York City. On May 8th, following a tense press conference, President Nixon returns to the White House, where he works the telephone late into the night, trying to manage the escalating crisis.
Who did Nixon run against in 1968?
Coming out of the conventions in August ’68, Richard Nixon begins his campaign against Hubert Humphrey, his Democratic opponent, with what looks like an insurmountable lead. Running as the peace candidate, Nixon promises a quick end to a costly and increasingly unpopular war. The strategy works, until late October, when Humphrey finally breaks with LBJ and goes public with his own opposition to the war. Overnight, the race begins to tighten. This is Nixon's last shot. He lost to JFK in 1960, by less than two-tenths of a percent – one of the closest elections in U.S. history – and isn’t about to let it happen again. So, when word leaks, a week before the election, of a possible breakthrough in LBJ’s long-stalled Vietnam peace talks, Nixon sees it all slipping away, and moves to avoid that outcome, at whatever cost. His response is to “ monkeywrench" the Paris Talks, through a mysterious secret intermediary known as the Dragon Lady. LBJ learns of Nixon’s efforts to blow up the talks, but can’t reveal his source – FBI wiretaps on the South Vietnamese Embassy.. “Of all of Richard Nixon’s actions in a lifetime of politics,” biographer John Farrell will later say, “this was the most reprehensible.“
Who is Kurt Andersen?
Kurt Andersen was host and co-creator of the two-time Peabody Award-winning public radio program and podcast Studio 360. He’s a prize-winning novelist and historian, whose three most recent books — Evil Geniuses, Fantasyland and You Can’t Spell America Without Me — were New York Times bestsellers. Previously he was a columnist for New Yor k, The New Yorker and Time, as well as editor-in-chief of New York and co-founder of Spy. He is a fellow of the Society of American Historians.
Who was Nixon's national security advisor?
In December 1968, only weeks after his election, Nixon names Henry Kissinger as his national security advisor. The appointment will prove to be the most consequential of his presidency. The tw…
Who did Nixon run against?
Coming out of the conventions in August ’68, Richard Nixon begins his campaign against Hubert Humphrey, his Democratic opponent, with what looks like an insurmountable lead. Running as the pea…
Who was Nixon's Democratic opponent?
Madame Chennault. Coming out of the conventions in August ’68, Richard Nixon begins his campaign against Hubert Humphrey, his Democratic opponent, with what looks like an insurmountable lead. Running as the pea…. 50 min.
Who was the president who published the Pentagon papers?
Get in and get those files. Blow the safe and get it.-President Nixon to aide H.R. HaldemanFor President Richard Nixon, the publication of the Pentagon Papers, in June 1971, ought not to h…
Who did Nixon run against in 1968?
Coming out of the conventions in August ’68, Richard Nixon begins his campaign against Hubert Humphrey, his Democratic opponent, with what looks like an insurmountable lead. Running as the peace candidate, Nixon promises a quick end to a costly and increasingly unpopular war. The strategy works, until late October, when Humphrey finally breaks with LBJ and goes public with his own opposition to the war. Overnight, the race begins to tighten. This is Nixon's last shot. He lost to JFK in 1960,...
What was Johnson's strategy in 1965?
The strategy behind the speech: a little something for everybody. A look at how that strategy works out, and what it reveals about LBJ's congenital bias for secrecy.
What was Lyndon Johnson's greatest achievement?
By his own account the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was Lyndon Johnson’s greatest achievement – the jewel in the crown of the Great Society , and widely considered the most effective piece of civil rights legislation in American history. This episode focuses on the extraordinarily eventful eight-month period — January to August 1965 — when the battle for Voting Rights was joined and ultimately fought to a successful conclusion. The outcome was hard won, and in doubt up until the last frantic...
What did Martin Luther King say about the Vietnam War?
“I’ll try to be worthy of your hopes, ” LBJ told Martin Luther King, just days into his presidency, and for the next two years, largely made good on that vow. Dr. King, for his part, recognized their common goal – racial and economic justice – and threw his own considerable weight behind it, until finally, the war in Vietnam made it impossible to do so any longer. A look back at the 1967 speech that broke their bond forever.
What happened in 1964?
destroyers reported they were under unprovoked attack, by North Vietnamese PT boats, while on patrol in the Gulf of Tonkin. The first incident produced a massive airstrike in retaliation, and three days later, the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which changed the course of the Vietnam War. The second attack produced...no response at all. Did Lyndon Johnson learn something along the way?
What was the Tet Offensive?
“Whammo, we got caught with our pants down,” a CIA analyst says of the Tet Offensive, the massive surprise attack that North Vietnam launched against American and South Vietnamese forces in the pre-dawn hours of January 31st, 1968. Just what exactly happened and what it signified would take some time to sort out, but the message from Hanoi to the White House was immediate and unmistakeable: We will outlast you. In this final episode of the series: Tet '68 and its transformative impact on...
Did LBJ say "They started with me on Diem"?
“They started with me on Diem,” LBJ told an old friend, “that he was corrupt, and he ought to be killed. So, we killed him.” Not quite true, it turns out, but the brutal assassination of South Vietnam’s President Diem, just three weeks before JFK met the same fate in Dallas, would cast a long shadow over the Johnson presidency, and shape LBJ’s thinking on the war. 1963.
Who was Nixon's opponent?
Coming out of the conventions in August ’68, Richard Nixon begins his campaign against Hubert Humphrey, his Democratic opponent, with what looks like an insurmountable lead. Running as the peace candidate, Nixon promises a quick end to a costly and increasingly unpopular war.
What was the silent majority speech of Nixon?
In response, Nixon takes his case to the country, with the Silent Majority speech, which will come to be remembered as perhaps the most effective address of his presidency. Jun 28, 2021.
When did the Pentagon papers come out?
For President Richard Nixon, the publication of the Pentagon Papers, in June 1971, ought not to have mattered. The malfeasance and mendacity revealed in the Times, and soon in papers across the country, had all happened under previous administrations, from Truman to LBJ.
Did LBJ learn about Nixon's efforts to blow up the talks?
LBJ learns of Nixon’s efforts to blow up the talks, but can’t reveal his source – FBI wiretaps on the South Vietnamese Embassy. “Of all of Richard Nixon’s actions in a lifetime of politics,” biographer John Farrell will later say, “this was the most reprehensible.“. Get in and get those files.
Did Nixon and Kissinger prop up South Vietnam?
Faced with a grim reality, Nixon and Kissinger recognize they must find a way to prop up South Vietnam at least long enough to avoid having it collapse before the ’72 election, now only a year away. In the spring of 1970, the war in Vietnam comes home with a vengeance.
Who invaded Cambodia in April?
In late April, US and South Vietnamese ground forces invade Cambodia.
Can Nixon be mollified?
But Nixon cannot be mollified. It is not the contents of the Pentagon Papers that he's worried about. It is the leaking of classified information that has stoked his fury, and his fear. For Richard Nixon has secrets of his own, secrets that if brought to light, could sink his presidency.
