Reporters in Combat during the Vietnam War

Before the Vietnam War, the US only used media to show photographs and film of war or give updates from the United States. However, during the war, the US was able to use television to give Americans a first glance at what war is actually like.

Technologies that specifically made this trend possible during the Vietnam War were cheap, high-quality hand-held video cameras and the widespread use of television sets in American homes. This way, conditions on the ground in Vietnam were seen more accurately than in previous wars. Also, during this war, the US Military granted near-complete access for journalists and the press. In all, these factors enabled the suffering and consequences of war to be seen by everyday American citizens.

Furthermore, the reporters in Vietnam were different from those in WWI and WWII, as they took more part in questioning America's contribution to the Vietnam War and the story of the war, rather than just giving viewers vague updates. This war was also different as the Americans weren't always seen winning and doing morally correct things. For example, there was coverage of American troops burning down villages and land belonging to local families in order to potentially deter opposition. Upon viewing the violence in this style of television, the ethics and politics Vietnam War became a very large concern in the eyes of the American people. With this large demand, the content was covered by over 400 correspondents at the peak of the war. Unfortunately, by the end of the war, over 68 journalists were killed.

The media's exposure of the realities of American involvement in Vietnam to American citizens was later partially blamed by the US Government for its failure in Vietnam. Furthermore, it was thought that widespread knowledge of the horrors of combat greatly reduced public support for the war. In past conflicts, American media was skewed and censored to produce a sense of moral responsibility for involvement in the war. However, journalists covering Vietnam were generally critical of the military's actions and their overall intervention. This may be why there are more harsh restrictions on journalists reporting on the US in wars that followed.

A New Hope

 On March 23rd 1983, President Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative, a complex and costly anti ballistic missile defense system.  

The vision Reagan held for his SDI was a joint ground and air defense system which would use x ray lasers, particle beams, and magnetically charged cannons to protect the US from the dangers of nuclear missiles.  To the public, the concept was far fetched and over priced; they referred to the program as "Star Wars" as a reference to the recent hit movie series produced by LucasFilm.  The combination of using space as well as sci-fi type technology led to the association between the two.

Although the United States never developed this system to be working and effective, at the time, the Soviets were unsure whether or not it was possible.  Threatened by the idea that the United States could build such a technologically advanced system, along with Reagan's attitude towards the USSR, Soviets feared of an impending nuclear war.  

It was not until the Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty did both sides agree to destroy and limit the number of close and medium range nuclear warheads, finally taking a step in the direction to prevent nuclear war.

Ronald Reagan: 1980 Presidential Election

The 1980 United States Presidential Election was a race between Republican candidate Ronald Reagan, Democratic candidate Jimmy Carter and Independent John Anderson.  Following a rough four years of President Carter's presidency, Reagan's campaign promise was to make the country and its citizens lives better than they had been for the past four years.

By the year 1980, most of the US was fed up with the state of the nation.  Inflation and unemployment rates continued to rise, and Carter's foreign relations did not help present him in a favorable way.  After his failure in Iran in trusting the former Shah and turning Iran against the US, Carter was also unable to negotiate to recover American embassy officials.  With a dented public image and much lower support than the '76 election, Carter was at a a disadvantage.

Along came Republican Ronald Reagan, who made promises to make the country better than ever, with an increase in military and defense budget to protect against the Soviet Union as well as a promise to spark the slowed and failing economy.  The overall tone of his campaign was rooted around optimism and a better future, starkly contrasting the pessimistic and degrading feel of Carter's campaign. 

The day of the election, Reagan triumphed over Carter with roughly 51% of the popular vote.  Carter earned around 41% and Anderson 7%.  Although the popular vote appears to be close between Reagan and Carter, Reagan won the electoral college 489- 49, a landslide victory.

Through the use of his clever and appealing campaign tactics as well as his promises to create a better America, Reagan was able to win the 1980 US Presidential Election as well as go on to win the 1984 election as well.

The Attempted Assassination

Ronald Reagan was 69 years old was he was sworn in for his first term on January 20, 1981.  At almost 70 years old, he was the oldest man ever to become president of the United States.  Because of his age, many people worried that he would not have the energy needed for the job.  A little over two months after being sworn in, his presidency narrowly avoided a sudden end in a failed assassination attempt.

The first inauguration of Ronald Reagan

On March 30, 1981, Reagan left the Washington Hilton Hotel accompanied by his press secretary and some attendants.  John Hinckley Jr. pushed forward from amidst a group of reporters and fired six shots at the president.  Timothy McCarthy, a Secret Service agent guarding Reagan, threw himself in front of Reagan, taking one of the bullets.  However, another bullet hit Reagan in the chest.  Hinckley also shot press secretary James Brady in the head and policeman Thomas Delahanty in the neck.
Hinckley was quickly overpowered and arrested by Washington police.  Later he confessed that he shot the president to get the attention of a famous movie star, Jodie Foster.  He was declared not guilty by reason of insanity.  Many were shocked that the would-be presidential assassin avoided accountability for the crime.  However, Hinckley was sent to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a mental institution, because of the threat he posed to society.

John Hinckley Jr., the would-be presidential
assassin

The injured men were rushed to the George Washington University Hospital.  The president walked into the hospital under his own power, especially impressive for a 70-year-old man with a collapsed lung.  Reagan remained in good spirits as he was treated and prepared for surgery.  He told his wife, Nancy, "Honey, I forgot to duck."  He joked with the doctors, saying, "I hope you are all Republicans."

The president resumed some of his executive duties the next day, signing a piece of legislation from his hospital.  About two weeks later, he left the hospital and returned to the White House.  He continued his work, albeit at a slower pace, and had to cancel plans for the month.  Daniel Ruge, Physician to the President, thought Reagan's recovery was not complete until October.  Both McCarthy and Delahanty also recovered, but the shooting left Brady paralyzed.

James Brady and Thomas Delahanty lie wounded just after the
assassination attempt

Reagan's popularity soared after the failed assassination.  He received a hero's welcome in Congress at the end of April.  After the shooting, Reagan went on to lead the country for two terms as president.

Miracle on Ice

    In the 1980s Winter Olympic Games, the United States and the Soviet Union faced off in the semi-final round. The Soviet Union had won the gold medal in five of the six previous Olympics and were made primarily of professional players, while the United States consisted of amateur players. Also, the US team was the youngest team in the tournament and youngest in US national team history. In the final seconds of the game, ABC TV announcer Al Michaels declared: "Do you believe in miracles?! YES!!" Because of that famous line, the event was called the "Miracle on Ice"


    Many people to this day don't know that the game was tape delayed and played live for television hours after the game was played. In order for the game to be played on television during the primetime hours, middle of the evening, the US requested that the game be played at 8 pm instead of 5 pm. However, the Soviets did not like this because that meant it would be aired at 4 am instead of 1 am Moscow time. The only solution was to tape delay the game and play it live at 8 pm. Also, because of the lack of technology and messaging platforms, ABC could cover up the results of the game until it was actually aired live.

    Many say that the turning point in the game was when the Soviet coach pulled out their famous goalkeeper, Vladislav Tretiak,  after allowing two US goals in the first period. After the first period, the game was tied 2-2. The Soviets scored another goal in the second period taking the lead 3-2. In the last period, the US scored two goals to go ahead 4-3 with 10 minutes left. The Soviets got desperate and attempted strategies, like playing with an extra attacker, that they had never practiced before because they were so confident they would win. After the win, the US team received a congratulatory phone call from Jimmy Carter.

Ronald Reagan before his Presidency

    Before Ronald Reagan became president he had many impressive achievements in the film industry. Reagan served in the Army Air Force during World War II, but he served on the film production unit. He made many films about the war, including Beyond the Line of Duty which later won the Academy Award for Best Short film. Beyond the Line of Duty was the pinnacle of his career, but before then he was an actor in many films. In 1937 Reagan signed a seven-year contract with Warner Bros and by 1939 he had appeared in 19 films. His most famous films were Dark Victory, Knute Rockne, All American, and Kings Row.

    At some point after the peak of his career, Reagan was hired by General Electric to host the General Electric Theater, a weekly TV drama series. Because he was part of GE, he would travel all over the US and give motivational speeches to GE employees. This was the start for Reagan because in 1964 Reagan spoke, through a speech, against conservative presidential contender Barry Goldwater. This speech was called "A Time for Choosing" and it showed many his national visibility. Californian Republicans were impressed with the speech and 1966 announced his campaign to become Governor of California. Reagan viewed Franklin D Roosevelt as a "true hero" and many could say he found his inspiration to be president through Roosevelt.

Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks was an influencer to all because of the act she did when she didn't want to give up her seat. Back then they would have things for the blacks and the whites, and everything would be separated just like how the bus was split into half, and one half was for the white people but Rosa Park sat it in either way but then when a white person approached her, she wouldn't wanna give up her seat and refused to move.

Approval of Cambodian Incursion

In 1970, President Nixon defended the US troop movement into Cambodia, saying that the operation would provide six to eight months of time for training South Vietnamese forces, thus shortening the war for Americans. Nixon reaffirmed his promise to withdraw 150,000 American soldiers by the following spring.

The announcement that the US and South Vietnamese troops had invaded Cambodia resulted in a firestorm of protests and gave the antiwar movement a new rallying point. College students across the US intensified their antiwar protests with marches, rallies, and scattered incidents of violence. About 400 schools were affected by strikes and more than 200 colleges and universities closed completely. The protests resulted in deaths at Kent State University and later at Jackson State in Mississippi.

More than 250 State Department and foreign aid employees signed a letter to the Secretary of State, William Rogers, criticizing US military involvement in Cambodia. In addition, there were a series of congressional resolutions and legislative initiatives that attempted to limit severely the executive war-making powers of the president. Senators Cooper and Church proposed an amendment to the foreign military sales portion of a Defense Department appropriations bill that would have barred funds for future military operations in Cambodia. The bill passed in the Senate but was defeated in the House. On December 29th, 1970, Congress passed a modified version of the Cooper-Church Amendment barring the introduction of US ground troops in Laos or Thailand.

The Crisis of Confidence Speech

Jimmy Carter is the one that specked on this topic. Majority of the people had to be put together to see the country through its energy problems. Carter stated, "while never using the world malaise, it became known as the "malaise speech." He try to make an impact by focusing not just on the energy but as well as the confidence facing Americans.

The plane that shot Itself down

September 21, 1956. Grumman test pilot Thomas W. Attridge Jr. is flying a pre-production F11F-1 fighter prototype, tail number 138620, at 20,00 feet.

The actual aircraft that he was flying that day: Tail Number 138620

It's a small, quick plane, the first naval fighter to be capable of supersonic speeds, and armed with four powerful Colt 20mm cannon. Attridge finds an empty patch of ocean and enters a dive at 20 degrees. at 13,000 feet of altitude, he fires a four second burst, and then enters a steeper dive, engaging afterburner and breaking the speed of sound. He shoots again, emptying the ammunition belts.

At 7,000 feet he pulls out of the dive, and starts a climb back to altitude. Twenty seconds later the plane suddenly rattles and shakes, and the windshield shatters. Attridge immediately lowers the throttle and slows down to prevent the windshield from caving in completely.  He then turns the plane to land at Grumman's Long Island testing field, maintaining a speed of 200 knots and radioing the field that a bird strike had occurred and that the only damage appeared to be a large gash in the right intake lip and the broken windshield. More concerning, however, the engine wouldn't go above 78% power without severe shaking and roughness.

2 miles out from the runway, at 1,200 feet and with flaps and gear down, it became clear to Attridge that he wouldn't make the runway at that low of a power setting. Raising the power to prevent a crash, the engine started to make a noise like "a hoover vacuum cleaner picking up gravel from a rug." The engine then died completely. The F11F-1 did have an ejection seat, but for some reason (that I couldn't find) Attridge decided to stay with the aircraft. Having no other option (other than ejection), he raised the landing gear, braced himself, and landed in some trees half a mile from the runway, gouging out a path 300 feet long as the state-of-the-art fighter slid along the ground. A fire started, but Attridge was able to cut himself free and was rescued by a helicopter shortly after.

So What Happened?

I think you already have an idea of what happened, so I'll keep this brief. The first four-second cannon burst initially had a velocity well over 2000 mph, air resistance quickly slowed down the bullets to about Mach 1. Right after firing the burst Attridge nosed the plane over and exceeded Mach 1. As he fired the second burst the original burst was still arcing through the sky above him, and as he pulled up he caught up to the bullets! Only three rounds impacted the plane: One in the windshield, one on the right intake lip, and one going into the intake and getting lodged inside of the jet engine's compressor.

The bulled that killed the engine

Attridge shattered his leg and broke three vertebrae in the crash, but returned to flight six months later. He went on to be project manager for LEM-3, the first lunar module rated for human flight, flown on Apollo 9. He then served has Vice President of Grumman Ecosystems, Grumman's environmental management and research division.

The F11F was flown by the Blue Angels for a few years

Lois Gibbs

Lois Gibbs speaks to
environmental action
groups

The Love Canal, a waterway that had thousands of tons of waste dumped into it, was discovered to be highly toxic—surprisingly—in 1978. It turned out that the town, Niagara Falls, was built on a toxic waste dump, with the elementary school directly on it. Lois Gibbs discovered this after reading a report. She decided that the best course of action was to form a homeowners association with those in the Love Canal neighborhood.

The association found two environmental analysts, sent by the government, who had come to sample the water supply. They were held in Love Canal. The reasoning was that if the families were supposed to live well enough in the town, then the federal agents could live there, too. This was a tactic to gain national attention and get the government to pay attention. Eventually, all 800 families were helped to evacuate.

lois gibbs

Lois Marie Gibbs is an American environmental activist. A primary organizer of the Love Canal Homeowners Association. She brought public attention to the environmental crisis in Love Canal. Her actions resulted in the evacuation of over 800 families

.

Lois Gibbs, founder and executive director of the Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ), also a housewife and mother of two kids. Back then during 1978, she became concerned about chemical waste in her neighborhood in Niagara Falls. She thought if her children’s unusual health problems and those of her neighbors were connected to their exposure to leaking chemical waste. Gibbs later discovered that her neighborhood sat on top of 21,000 tons of buried chemical waste, the now infamous Love Canal.

She was concerned so she organized her neighbors and formed the Love Canal Homeowners Association. She led her community in a battle against the local, state and federal governments. After years of struggle, more than 800 families were eventually evacuated, and cleanup of Love Canal began.

Mines in Vietnam

During the Vietnam War, the Vietcong were not only outnumbered but out-geared as well by American troops. Therefore, they had to resort to using guerilla tactics in order to put up a fight. One of these tactics involved the strategic placement of mines. The use of mines was devastating to US troops, as they could be easily concealed and were effective against the troops who were frequently on offense. One of the most infamous and common mines used in Vietnam was the German S-Mine, also known as the "Bouncing Betty". The Bouncing Betty got its nickname from the way it bounces in the air and explodes at chest height. The Vietcong would also use mortar shells as mines, such a case being with the 105 mm round. The tip of the round would protrude slightly from the Earth, and stepping on it was enough to trigger it and cause the victim's foot to be shattered. Mines were effective to the extent where they resulted in more than a quarter of all American deaths. Mines also caused the death of about 40,000 Vietnamese civilians since the war ended.

A Quick Guide to: Third-Generation Fighter Jets

Defining Feature of this Generation: Specialization

The third generation saw a visible split in types of jet aircraft. While previous generations had fairly all-around aircraft, the third generation had three basic types of aircraft: Interceptors, Fighters, and Ground Attackers. These types would be used by each nation according to their doctrine and fears. The USSR built huge numbers of interceptors because of their fear of US attack. America, on the other hand, built only one fourth-gen aircraft due to upgrades made to previous second-gen planes. New countries jumped in on the jet craze, Sweden introducing their cutting-edge Viggen in this generation.

United States

McDonnell-Douglass F-4 Phantom II

The F-4 was created as a large fighter capable of both land and naval operations. It originally could carry four air-to-air missiles as its only armament. Once it was deployed to Vietnam a smart engineer realized that the Phantom could carry far more armament. It emerged from these modifications as a powerful fighter-bomber, capable of carrying the same 18,000 pound bomb-load as the WWII B-24 heavy bomber while still being able to turn around and dogfight enemy fighters.  It was a well-liked aircraft, and many are still in service with smaller countries. And I think it looks pretty good.

Soviet Union

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 "Flogger"

The MiG-23 was made as a response to a need for a high-speed high performance fighter with beyond-visual-range missiles. The result was a strange looking aircraft with a variable geometry wing capable of rotating forwards for lift at low speeds and sweeping back for less drag at high speeds. In the late 70's one of these flew over the Iron Curtain after the pilot ejected, and crashed on a house in Belgium.

Wings unswept (low-speed)

Wings swept (high-speed)

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 "Foxbat"

The previous aircraft have all been fighters. Now it's time for a thoroughbred interceptor. The MiG-25 was built to intercept the Mach 2 capable B-58 Hustler bomber and Mach 3 capable B-70 Valkrie, and as such was extremely fast. It's still one of the fastest combat aircraft ever, 50 years after its introduction. Intercepts were usually flown at Mach 2.5 (1918 mph), and a Foxbat flying over Sinai was clocked in at Mach 3.2 (2455 mph)! By any description this aircraft was massive. It's one of the largest single-seat combat aircraft ever built. I could stand in one of the intakes without hitting my head on the top. And if I was willing to stoop a little bit I could probably walk into the exhaust duct of the engine.

Viktor Belenko getting out of his MiG-25 after overshooting the runway in Hakodate, Japan, during his defection

Tupolev Tu-128 / Tu-28 "Fiddler"

Now, the MiG-25 was pretty great, but with its two massive after-burning engines it wasn't exactly the Prius of the skies. This empty long-range interceptor slot was filled by the Tu-28, a fairly large aircraft. It's the largest and heaviest fighter to ever enter service. Now, it's armament wasn't exceptional, but its four Bisnovat R-4 missiles would be deadly to any bomber daring enough to cross the Iron Curtain.

Sukhoi Su-15 "Flagon"

In the 60's and 70's, aviation pushed forwards at a breakneck pace. Sukhoi's Su-9 and Su-11 interceptors, built with cutting edge technology in 1960, were obsolete by 1965 as American bomber threats flew higher and faster. The result was the Su-15, an aircraft built for pure performance. While not as fast as the MiG-25 and not as long-legged as the Tu-128, it was a good in-between aircraft. This can be seen by its time in service: from 1965 to 1990. One of these jets flying at supersonic speeds at low altitude may have been the cause of the crash and death of Yuri Gagarin while he was flying an older MiG-15 jet.

Sweden

Saab 37 Viggen

Upon its introduction in 1971 the Viggen was the world's most advanced fighter (aerodynamically and electronically), a record it held for 10 years. It was designed to be a short-medium range fighter capable of taking off from improvised airstrips and even highways! It also was the first canard aircraft produced en masse. It also kept Sweden as a major player in the game of advanced jets. And the Viggen is technically a biplane. And its tail-fin can fold down for storage in cave-hangars. It's just a really cool and relatively unknown jet.

And finally, a bonus clip of a Viggen landing on a road

The Watergate Scandal

In 1972, Nixon was going to run for president again. To some of Nixon's key advisers, Nixon's presidential campaign seemed essential. They took on some aggressive tactics, including one major illegal tactic/scandal which is now known as the Watergate Scandal.

The Watergate complex is where the democratic party's conferences/ discussions were held. On June 17, 5 men were caught infiltrating the democratic party's headquarters by taping the door open to travel back and forth and using their listening/recording devices to listen to the discussions. One of the men was a former member of the CIA. In August, Nixon stated that he did his own investigation and none of the white house staff were involved in but the head of investigation in the gov noted that there was no investigation. Most of the voters believed him, for no one wanted to believe otherwise and he was elected again with a landslide victory. 

During the investigation, Nixon was paying the burglars hush money to keep quiet. Later, Nixon instructed the CIA to delay the FBI's investigation, proof of his abuse of power. Five of the burglars pleaded guilty to avoid the trial (like Nixon wanted) while two were convicted. At this time, Bob Woodward, Carl Bernstein, trial judge John J. Sirica, the Washington post, and members of the Senate investigation committee suspected that it was more than just a mere burglary. Quite a few of Nixon's aids, most significantly John Dean, believed that it was better to testify when he saw that Nixon was losing his credibility. He testified that Nixon had taped every conversation that took place in the Oval Office. This caused prosecutors to search for those tapes. Nixon fought to hide the tapes and his lawyers argued that "the president’s executive privilege allowed him to keep the tapes to himself" but the fact that the president has this "executive privilege" made some mad because it seemed that Nixon is above the law which he shouldn't be.

After the Saturday Night Massacre, Nixon agreed to surrender some tapes but not all of them. After gaining the tapes, the secrets started to unravel and the Supreme court ordered Nixon to turn in the rest of the tapes. While the president was hesitating while the House of Representatives voted to impeach. Right after Nixon released the tapes, he resigned. Nixon had never admitted to what he did but he did acknowledge that he had poor judgment. 

The Watergate Scandal was a national embarrassment and the American citizens were shocked. Other countries were also in shock but also because of the fact that the president "had no power." It was also good because it proved that the president was not above the law and that democracy and morals still stand.

John Dean

The peak of John Dean's career was his position as a White House counsel for President Nixon in the 1970s. His efforts to help Nixon cover up the Watergate scandal landed him in a prison sentence. Initially, at the first break of the scandal, Nixon maintained that there was a private investigation being conducted in the White House that Dean had never heard about. This was the first public instance of Dean being pulled into the White House challenge of covering up the Watergate scandal.

Eventually, the pattern of covering up the scandal became too much for Dean to bear, and he submitted his letter of resignation to President Nixon. He later wrote books and published articles detailing the involvement of the White House and the president in covering up the scandal and maintaining Nixon's position of power in society and in the eyes of the population.

Dean was sentenced to a reduced sentence in exchange for testifying against the president and his involvement in the scandal. He was charged with a felony for being an accomplice to Nixon in the scandal and covering it up but gave a lot of information to the court. He explained the cost that it would take to hush the burglars and revealed that the president had said the amount was "no problem." The fact that the trial was live and the witness was John Dean was unheard of and the president was instantly looked at in a terrible light.

United States vs Nixon

    In the Watergate scandal, Nixon was accused of covering up a break-in of the Democratic headquarters. Nixon was in possession of tapes he had placed in his office which recorded every conversation he ever had in there. Therefore, these tapes could prove him guilty of covering up the break-in. Nixon refused to give them up by using his executive privilege, and eventually, the case went to the Supreme Court. In the end, Nixon lost and the tapes were turned over, proving him guilty.



    In United States v Nixon, Nixon's attorney argued that the matter of turning over the tapes should not be a "judicial resolution" and instead a matter to be discussed in the executive branch. Also, he argued that the prosecutor hadn't proven that the tapes were necessary for proving the seven men guilty. Finally, Nixon's attorney claimed that Nixon had an executive privilege to protect communications between high government officials and those matters were private and should not be released to anyone.



    The judges had to decide over the extent of what the executive privilege meant to decide the outcome. The judges ended up deciding that there was a "sufficient likelihood" that the tapes were incriminating and therefore should get turned over. They also said that Nixon's Presidential privilege was biased, on a general issue of confidentiality and not military issues, and could, therefore, be overturned in court. It was a unanimous decision by the judges to force Nixon to overturn the tapes.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial

    58,220 American casualties in the Vietnamese War. As a result, a 2-acre memorial was built in Washington DC. The memorial is located at the National Mall. In the memorial, there is a black granite wall with the names of all the known personnel killed in the war. Next to the names on the wall, there is either a diamond, meaning they are dead, or a cross, meaning they are missing in action (MIA). If someone who is MIA is found, then a diamond is superimposed over the cross.

    Also at the memorial, there is a statue of three servicemen. The three soldiers represent the three major ethnic groups who fought in the war, European American (center), African American (right), and Latino American (left). The Three Servicemen statue looks across to the names of those who have fallen.

    Finally, there is a women's memorial to remember all the women who helped in the war, especially the nurses. The memorial depicts three women helping out a wounded soldier.

Agent Orange

Despite banning the use of chemical warfare was so dreaded after world war wone, that the deadlier and more aggressive chemical agents would be banned during World War II. Yet despite this, Vietnam held onto to no such agreements, driving the US to enact Operation Ranch Hand. The US sprayed more than 20 million gallons of various herbicides over Vietnam throughout the war, and Agent Orange, the deadly chemical dioxin, was the most commonly used herbicide. Its effects would devastate crops and cause severe neurological problems, cancer, birth defects, rashes, and more.
To exacerbate it's already potent impact, it had both immediate and long-term effects. Agent Orange is a highly stable molecule and thus lasts for years in the soil, lakes, rivers, and food chain.  Vietnam reported that nearly half a million people were killed due to the effects of American Chemical warfare. Another half a million children ended up being born with serious defects, and another 2 million people fell to serious illness due to the chemical agent. 

The Watergate Scandal

The scandal began on June 17, 1972. Just two weeks after Nixon had returned from a critical Russian Summit, several burglars were arrested in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington DC. The robbers weren't were connected to President Richard Nixon's reelection campaign, and they had been caught stealing documents and wiretapping phones to hide Nixon's abused power. After the incident, Nixon took multiple initiatives to cover up the crime, but in August of 1974, Nixon resigned as the media eventually revealed the truth. The incident forever changed the interactions between the people's trust and the President.