Question

Medal for best! How did events such as the Vietnam War and Watergate affect the American public’s opinion of the U.S. government?

Answer 1

There was distrust against the government because they did not told tell of facts and lied to the people (kept secrets).
The common american suggest that the vietnam war was unnecessary due to the fact that no one really won. As for Watergate, that is a whole different story.

Both affected public opinion negatively. Watergate showed the government was dishonest, and Vietnam was so unpopular people attacked government buildings.

The word 'Watergate' specifically refers to the name of the luxury hotel in Washington D.C. On the 17th of June 1972, five burglars broke into the offices of the Democratic Party's National Committee. Political investigations began in February 1973 when the Senate established a Committee to investigate the scandal. In 1974 The House of Representatives authorised the impeachment proceedings against the then President Richard Nixon. He was forced to resign on August 9th 1974. The Watergate scandal was exposed mainly by the tireless efforts of two intrepid journalists of 'The Washington Post,' Bod Woodward and Carl Bernstein. The single most important lesson learnt from the 'Watergate' scandal was that a free press was necessary to protect democracy. The Freedom of Information Act of 1986 was a direct consequence of the exposure of the Watergate scandal.

The president resigned because it was under his order to break in and steal secrets.

Watergate also had some positive effects on people. The fact that Richard Nixon, our corrupt leader at the time, did not get away with all he did says something about our system of government. There are checks and balances that have been put in place in the Constitution and they seemed to have worked. I think that may have led some to believe in the Constitution and have a greater sense that it is a great document and that it works.

Answer 2

aw man. our government's full of crooks.

Answer 3

The election of John Kennedy in 1960 had a very positive effect on young American people. There was excitement about this young president who would leader would lead us to great things and an even greater country.

Then, he was assassinated. The whole illusion started to crumble. Lyndon Johnson was not young and not popular. He was a master legislator, having served in the House for many years. He was very comfortable with his domestic agenda he called the Great Society.

But he wasn't so good at foreign affairs. The US had begun sending advisors into South Vietnam under Eisenhower. Kennedy increased our committment. Then 3 North Vietnamese torpedo boats got to close to the USS Maddox off the NV border.

Johnson didn't want to appear weak 3 months before the presidential election so he asked for and the Gulf of Tonkin resolution. It's a very unique document. Congress basicaly gave Johnson a blank check to go do something in to keep South Vietnam from turning Communist.

Johnson didn't go in strong. It wasn't really a war. No declaration of war had been passed. So the first effort was not enough and the military had to learn to deal with the gurella tactics of the Viet Cong. By the time Johnson committed a large amount of troops, things weren't going well.

The Tet Offensive in January 1968 was a disastorus turning point for the US. The Viet Cong made a massive incursion in to the South. The 10,000th US air craft was shot down about the same time. Eugene McCarthy, the peace candidate, nearly defeated Johnson in the New Hampshire Primary. The people, especially young people, were getting tired of the non-war where we were wasting blood and treasure.

So Johnson decided not to run again in 1968. That got Bobby Kennedy into to the race.

Johnson had some great successes with civil rights laws, and social programs. He just wasn't a very good war president. Young people and some older people just couldn't trust him anymore.

Then Martin Luther King was shot, Bobby Kennedy was shot, and George Wallace, the southern white supremisicst, ran as a third party candidate. Vice President Humphery, the Dem, candidate didn't have a chance. The convention in Chicago featured the police brutality of the Chicago police and it seemed like any good that might be happening was being wiped out.

So the country chose to go with Richard Nixon. He had impressive foreign affairs credentials. As VP to Eisenhower and earlier he had proved himself a strong foe of communism in the Cold War. And he said he'd get us out of Viet Nam.

Nixon did get us out. It took longer than most people liked. Nixon and his Secretary of State Henry Kissinger made rappoachment with China and got the Soviet Union to start playing nice. There were ping pong players, pandas and trips to Moscow and Bejing for the president. Most importantly, North Vietnam was not getting support from China or USSR anymore. They came to the negotiating table and signed Peace Accords in 1973. It was all good.

Except, Nixon had to order bombing inside Cambodia to cut supply lines while getting the VC to negotiate. He kept that secret. It was a tacical success but the US folks didn't like that they'd been lied to.

Add to that, some Nixon campaign staffers thought they needed to break into some Democratic office to steal their campaign plans. Nixon was a very paranoid man, unfourtunately. He should have fired everyone involved with the break-in. He won 49 states in his re-election. He didn't need whatever was stolen.

But, he tried to cover the whole thing up. He already had a Vice-President who was having trouble for embezzeling before he was VP. He would've had to cut some White House staffers if he'd come clean about the burglary. He couldn't stand that and went with the cover up.

His second term was sailing right along, when everybody figured out about the lies and secrecy. It was just a matter of time. The guy who got diplomatic relations with China restored and got the Soviets talking about missle treaties was just too much of a liar for the folks.

It's a long stream of disillusion. Nixon was on the way to impeachment and saved the country some time and resigned. His newest VP, Gerald Ford took over, never having been elected and tried to make the best of it.

In the mean time, Congress was still looking to be completely rid of the VietNam thing. So they cut off all aid and equipment to the Republic of South Vietnam. Just a few years after peace had been won, we cut off our friends, abondoned an ally. So the public is left with the image of the American Embassy in Saigon being stormed by North Vietnamese soldiers. The lasting image is one of defeat. We had peace, our soldiers were home, we were getting the POWs back. And Congress decided we couldn't support the peace anymore. I guess they were punishing Nixon.

In 1976, Jimmy Carter offered one of the best characteristics a presidential candidate could have at the time. He had nothing to do with the Johnson or Nixon administrations. He was not much of a president but people felt things were ok. In the end though, Carter dissapointed too. He was impotent against soaring inflation and Iranian terrorists.

For a generation that started with high hopes and John Kennedy, there was plenty to be disillusioned about. Many of the people in government today were those young people. We still deal with a basic mistrust. Currently, Republican and Democrat don't trust each other and everybody thinks the other guy is a crook. Makes you kinda wish that Kennedy hadn't got shot.