An Illustrated History of the USA

S C PER PO W UI

Americanfig hting mengrewang ryan d frust rat ed.
Theysprayedvastareaso fcountrysidewith deadl y
chem icals[0d est ro ythe Vietcong'ssu pp lytrai ls.
T heyburneddownvillages wh ich w eresuspectedof
sh elt erin g Vietco n gsold iers.Uurthefightin g went
on. It co ntinuedeven w henJohnson steppedup or
" escalated"the w ar bybombing citiesin No rth
Vietnamto try to forceth ecommun iststo m ak e
peace.
Filmreports ofthesuffering in Vietnamwereshow n
allover the wo rldontelevisi on .Forthe first ti m ein
hi seorv peoplefarawayfroman yfighting w ere able
toSloemth ei rownhomesth e horr o ran d crueltyof
modern' var. Millio nsbegantobelieve rh arrhc
Ameri can swere cruel and bull yingmon ste rs.

The w ar causedb itter disagree m entsin the Un ite d
States.C ountless fam il ieslos tsons,.b rothe rs,and

DeathatKentState

KentStareU n iversity is inOhio. In 1 970 , afte r

riot sth er e1Ilpr o tes tagainstthe-w ar1IlVietnam ,

anvfurrherdemo nstrationswerebann ed. Whena

groupofaboutUX.lOstuden ts defiedthe ban,they

werefiredonby so ld iers. A ten-secondburstof

riflefirekilled four stu d entsandwoundedanother

ten.

The Kcnc State tragedyshowed ho wdeeply the

Vietn amWarw as d ivid ingrheAmerican peop le.

" After all. bullets against a gang ofunarmed

kids, " said a stude nt. "Too much, m an, too

much!"Butwhenanoth er stu de ntaskeda passer-

by whyh e w asholdi ng up his hand with four

fingersextended ,hewastol dthatit mean t" T h is

timewegor f o uro f you bastards;nexttimewe'll

get more. " "T he voll ey o f g un fire serv ed its

purpose, " said awritertoa lo calnewspaper." It

b ro ke upa rio t andI saythesam emethodshould

beu sed againand again."

Butmost American s wereshockedbyth e killing s

and manywereasha me d. Th ey agreed wit h the

fath erofoneofth e deadstu de nt s, a girl nam ed

AllisonKrau se,whenhe askedb itt erl y ," H ave we

cometosuch:Istate in thisco unt rythata young

girl has tobe shot because she disagrees deeply

w it h theactio nsofhergovern me nt ?"

126

h u sbandsIIIVietnam. By th e en dofthe1960smany

Ameri can sweresickandashamedofth ekillingand

the destruct io n."L.B.J., L.U.].,howm all)'k id sh ave

you k illed today ?"shoutedangryd em o nstr ato rs.

Presidentjohnsonsawthatb y sen di ngAmer ican

so ld iers to fig htin Vietnamhe had led theUnited

Statesm toa trap.T hewarwasd es troyin ghi s

co unt ry 's goodname i n [heworldan dsettingits

people ag ain s toneanother. In 1968 he stoppedthe

bombin go f N o rt hVietnamandsta rredtolo o kfor

w ayso f m akingpeace.

In 1% 9 Rich ard Nixo nwaselectedtorep lace-

Jo hnso n asPresid ent .Like J ohn so n , hewantedtoend

th e Viet n am War.But h e,to o , wanted to d o so

withoutth e American slook ing as if they had been

beaten.

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