Domestic Effects

In the late 1960’s, the United States’ involvement in Vietnam was causing major problems in the United States. The Democratic party was in turmoil, as Americans were frustrated with the course of action that President Lyndon B. Johnson was taking overseas. As the 1968 election approached, Johnson decided not to run for re-election. Republican Richard Nixon, who had lost the 1960 presidential campaign to John F. Kennedy, decided to step up and run for president again. The 1968 presidential campaign consisted of Republican Richard Nixon, Democrat Hubert Humphrey, and an independent candidate George Wallace.

President Nixon³

Nixon’s outlook on the future of the United States was fairly simple at the time. He called for peace. Nixon stated that soon, “new leadership will end the war and win the peace in the Pacific.” However, he was not extremely specific on how exactly he would go about ending the war in Vietnam. Nixon ended up winning the Presidential campaign, with 500,000 more votes than Humphrey. As soon as he stepped into office on January, 20, 1969, he was faced with a great challenge. At least 300 American soldiers were dying across the world each and every week. In July of 1969, Nixon implemented a new plan that he called “Vietnamization,” in which he would remove US troops from Vietnam, letting the rest of the war be decided without United States’ interference. However, before the Vietnamization process began, Nixon approved of a top-secret plan, known as “Operation Menu,” in which the United States would begin a bombing campaign of Cambodia. The objective was to bomb all North Vietnamese military bases in Cambodia.

In the United States, little was known about the bombings of Cambodia. Aside from the leaders of our country, not many people had heard about the thousands of Cambodians that were dying each and every day. However, the hardest task was keeping the secret. Various leaks in newspapers and magazines sparked debate across the country, and were a cause for concern for President Richard Nixon.

The bombings in Cambodia soon led to the Cambodian Civil War. The escalation of the war led to the fall of Lon Nol and the Khmer Republic, and the rise to power of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The United States was forced to intervene as they poured in troops, taking the side of the fallen Khmer Republic and South Vietnam. The main goal of the United States in their Cambodian Campaign was to eliminate as many communist troops and headquarters as possible.

President Nixon explaining the Cambodian invasion⁴

While the bombings were kept a secret in the United States, the Cambodian invasion certainly was not. People were already angered by the United States’ involvement in Vietnam, and a new Cambodian invasion led to even more social unrest. College campuses were the main sites of protests and demonstrations, many of which led to violence. War-related school protests accounted for 22% of the protests across the country at the time.