1967,
Smith and the vietnam war
The U.S. was involved in the Vietnam War for two decades and 5 different American presidents. However, it was infamously escalated by Lyndon B. Johnson after the Gulf of Tonkin Incident where he initiated a bombing campaign.
Protest and dissent began early on college campuses, even since the start of the war. Smith College was no exception. The student and faculty protests against the American administration in regards to the war represented the spreading disillusionment of the time.
Six months after Smith's commencement controversy of 1967, the Tet Offensive was launched. This was the largest military campaign of the war. It is what they say was the beginning of the very long end to U.S. involvement.
katzenbach, undersecretary of state
President Thomas C. Mendenhall, on behalf of the trustees and what I assume was some involvement of the senior class, invited Nicholas Katzenbach to deliver the commencement address to the class of 1967. At the time of the invitation, he was the 65th United States Attorney General. In October of the same year, he became the 24th Undersecretary of State. The difference in his role resulted in his increased involvement in U.S. foreign policy as it stood,
towards Vietnam.
towards Vietnam.