784 Chapter 29 From Camelot to Watergate: 1961–1975
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, a member of the Apollo11 mission, walks on the moon (1969). President Kennedy’s goal to put an American on the moon
by the end of the decade was achieved during Nixon’s administration.
could not face up to the consequences of ending the
war on the communists’ terms.
The president responded to the dilemma by try-
ing to build up the South Vietnamese armed forces so
that American troops could pull out without South
Vietnam being overrun by the communists. He
shipped so many planes to the Vietnamese that within
four years they had the fourth-largest air force in the
world. He also announced a series of troop cuts.
For a while, events appeared to vindicate Nixon’s
position. A gradual slowing of military activity in
Vietnam had reduced American casualties. Troop
withdrawals continued in an orderly fashion. A new
lottery system for drafting men for military duty
eliminated some of the inequities in the selective ser-
vice law.
But the war continued. Early in 1970 reports that
an American unit had massacred civilians, includingthe economy. He considered the solution of the
Vietnam problem his chief task. Although he insisted
during the 1968 campaign that he would end the war
on “honorable” terms if elected, he suggested nothing
very different from what Johnson was doing.
In office, Nixon first proposed a phased with-
drawal of all non-South Vietnamese troops, to be fol-
lowed by an internationally supervised election in
South Vietnam. The North Vietnamese rejected this
scheme and insisted that the United States withdraw
its forces unconditionally. The intransigence of the
North Vietnamese left the president in a difficult
position. Nixon could not compel the foe to end a
war it had begun against the French nearly a quarter
of a century earlier, and every passing day added to
the strength of antiwar sentiment, which, as it
expressed itself in ever more emphatic terms, in turn
led to deeper divisions in the country. Yet Nixon