Northeastern University - Cauldron Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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talitarianism will threaten free in- stitutions throughout the world. These forces of anarchy and to- talitarianism appeared in the world ' s most powerful nation at Kent State College in Ohio when several students were killed by members of the National Guard during a May Day demonstration. Demonstrations were held at vari- ous college campuses throughout the country to protest the invasion of Cambodia. By 1972, American trust in Nixon was faltering. With the June release of the Pentagon Papers docu- menting the secret bombings that Cambodian woman uses a krama, or funeral shroud, for her dead husband. took place during 1969 under the direct supervision of the President, the people found it more difficult to believe the government. However the nation ' s faith was not totally shaken. Nixon achieved a landslide victory at the polls in Nov., 1972, over Democratic Senator George McGovern of South Dakota. Nixon was determined to end the war as he had promised. In Dec. ' 72, he ordered full scale bombing attacks on Hanoi in what Pope Paul VI later called a horror show and a new tragedy in the efforts for world peace. By Jan., 1973, thousands of homes had been destroyed and many were dead in what reporters called the heaviest bombing cam- paign in the history of warfare . . . making it clear there is no hope for peace at the present time. The international peacemaker: Henry Kissinger A copter settles down on Mui Tau mountain after soldiers recaptured the strategic hill. This new attitude toward North Vietnam made many Americans feel they could no longer trust their government. The administration could no longer justify the war in- volvement as a means of stopping the spread of communism. Nixon was busy making friends with the governments of Russia and China. When the ceasefire was finally announced there was little reac- tion. The family of U.S. Army Spe- cialist Fourth Class James Thomas Davis, the first American to die in Vietnam, has a difficult time under- standing what tremendous honor James had died for. He was dead and no amount of speeches and medals could bring him back. The families of the POW ' s were facing other problems. By banding together to publicize the ill-treat- ment of the captives, they were successful in initiating negotiations with the North Vietnamese. After months of talks a prisoner release plan was established. For the first time since 1961 the entire United States experienced peace and tran- quility. Although the soldiers had gone home the American involvement in Southeast Asia did not end. In June, 1974, Nixon requested $1.6 billion aid for South Vietnam. Congress approved nine hundred million dollars. In the winter of 1975, President Gerald Ford requested more money for Southeast Asia. Congress, con- cerned with the faltering economy, was reluctant to grant the request. — Mary Concannon 27

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The top man: President Thieu visiting government posts in Danang Citizens and soldiers await transport to Neak Loeung. For Americans, peace in Vietnam January 15, 1973 - After 12 years of hell the American in- volvement in Vietnam ended. There were no parades; just sighs of relief and remarks of it ' s about time as Richard Milhous Nixon, the 37th President of the U.S., said after four years he had finally achieved peace with hon- or in Vietnam. The people of South Vietnam have been guaranteed the right to determine their own future without outside interference, said Nixon. The American people were in no mood to celebrate. The war took the lives of over one million per- sons, including 46,000 American soldiers, according to Time Maga- zine. It was difficult to find honor in a war that maimed, killed, and left homeless so many innocent women and children. This honor was best exemplified by the My Lai massacre. March 16, 1968, a com- pany of American soldiers, led by Lt. William Calley, killed over 175 civilians in the village of My Lai, South Vietnam. Yet the world continued to hope and pray for peace as it had many times since 1961. In December, 1968, when President Lyndon Johnson ordered a halt to the bombing, many people though that peace was at hand. However, the nation was to learn otherwise. In May, 1970, United States forces invaded Cambodia. Nixon, on the eve of the invasion said, If, when the chips are down the world ' s most powerful nation . . . acts like a pitiful, helpless, gi- ant, the forces of anarchy and to- Villagers carrying seriously wounded victim of Communist attack on Pochentong Airport in Cambodia. 26

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Watergate ' A second-rate burglary ' — The crime of the century It started as a snowflake, turned into a blizzard, and ended in an avalanche. It is the biggest story so far of the decade and will go down as one of the blackest marks in American history. Its name is Wa- tergate. Starting as the arrest of a num- ber of campaign aides to the in- cumbent president in the national Democratic Party headquarters in the Watergate office-apartment complex in Washington, D.C., it en- ded in that re-elected president ' s resignation from office and the conviction of many of his top aides. When the Watergate trial verdict came down on Jan. 1, 1975, H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, John Mitchell, and Robert Mardian all faced heavy sentences in jail. While these men faced the prospect of jail, the leading figure in the scan- dal, Richard M. Nixon, was seclud- ed in his San Clemente, Calif., es- tate secure in the knowledge that he would not face a trial or prison. Nixon was pardoned of all crimes by his successor to office, Gerald Ford, soon after Ford took office. The long road to the destruction of the Nixon administration began on June 17, 1972 when White House and Nixon re-election aides were discovered breaking into the Watergate complex of offices and apartments to eavesdrop and spy on the Democratic National Com- mittee headquarters. As these men were brought to trial, a trickle of information began to surface indicating that this wasn ' t an ordinary burglary. Still, the public chose to ignore the small amount of publicity that was leaking, then flowing into the pa- pers and re-elected Nixon by the largest vote plurality ever given an American president. In early 1973, James McCord, a Richard M. Nixon The president convicted burglar, decided to tell all in an attempt to soften the pris- on sentence that Federal District Court Judge John Sirica had given him. By March, the tides were turning against the Nixon administration. In rapid fire, Haldeman, Ehrlich- man, and a phone book-full of Nix- on aides resigned because of presi- dential pressure or other unknown reasons. In May, the Watergate special prosecution force was created with Nixon still in the White House. Ap- pointment of a special prosecutor became a condition set by the Sen- ate in order for it to approve Elliot L. Richardson to succeed Richard Kleindienst as the attorney general. Kleindienst had bitten the dust with the other members of the pal- ace guard in the massive house cleaning or track covering on April 30,1973. Archibald Cox, a Harvard Law School professor and reknowned arbitrator who had served as solic- itor general under Presidents John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, was appointed the special prosecutor. The Watergate prosecution staff enlisted the aid of 38 lawyers to meet the task. Sen. Sam Ervin, the flamboyant 28 John Ehrlichman The advisor H. R. Haldeman The chief of staff