Operation Rolling Thunder

Operation Rolling Thunder was the title of a gradual and sustained U.S. 2nd Air Division (later Seventh Air Force), U.S. Navy, and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) aerial bombardment campaign conducted against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) from 2 March 1965 until 1 November 1968, during the Vietnam War.

The four objectives of the operation, (which evolved over time) were: To bolster the sagging morale of the Saigon regime in the Republic of Vietnam; To persuade North Vietnam to cease its support for the communist insurgency in South Vietnam without actually taking any ground forces into communist North Vietnam; To destroy North Vietnam's transportation system, industrial base, and air defenses; and to interdict the flow of men and material into South Vietnam. Attainment of these objectives was made difficult by both the restraints imposed upon the U.S and its allies by Cold War exigencies and by the military aid and assistance received by North Vietnam from its communist allies, the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China (PRC).

The operation became the most intense air/ground battle waged during the Cold War period, indeed, it was the most difficult such campaign fought by the U.S. Air Force since the aerial bombardment of Nazi Germany during World War II.

The Moral Majority

The Moral Majority was a political organization of the United States which had an agenda of evangelical Christian-oriented political lobbying. It was founded in 1979 and dissolved in the late 1980s. The Moral Majority was a southern-oriented organization of the Christian Right, although the Moral Majority’s state chapters and political activity extended beyond the South.^[1] After the Moral Majority’s establishment, the state chapters grew quickly, with organizations in eighteen states by 1980.^[5] The variety of resources available to the Moral Majority at its founding facilitated this rapid expansion, which included Falwell’s “Old Time Gospel Hour” mailing list. In addition, the Moral Majority took control of the “Old Time Gospel Hour’s” publication, Journal Champion, which had been distributed to the show’s donors.^[6] Falwell was the organization's best known spokesperson throughout the 1980s. By 1982, Moral Majority surpassed Christian Voice in size and influence.

The Iran–Contra affair

The administration lied about illegal acts in Iran and Nicaragua, knowingly defying the will of Congress, breaking laws and pretending innocence - all in the name of national security.
The Iran–Contra affair was a political scandal in the United States which came to light in November 1986, during the Reagan administration, in which senior U.S. figures, including President Ronald Reagan, agreed to facilitate the sale of arms to Iran, the subject of an arms embargo.^[1] At least some U.S. officials also hoped that the arms sales would secure the release of hostages and allow U.S. intelligence agencies to fund Nicaraguan contras.

Iran Contra Scandal
– Early 1986, news leaks that the Reagan administration has negotiated an arms-for-hostages deal with revolutionary Islamic government of Iran
– The Reagan administration sells arms to Iran the “out-law state” for Iran's assistance to free some American hostages held by Hezbollah, a pro-Iranian Shiite group in Lebanon.
– The profit made from selling the arms to Iran are used to support an illegal war in Nicaragua.
– Reagan orders the CIA to aid an armed Nicaraguan opposition group called the Contras.
– 1984, Congress bans the CIA from providing any military support to the Contras.
– Oliver North a U.S. Marine and aid to the National Security Council refuses to obey Congress's orders. He continues to take profits from the Iranian arms deal to assist Contras.
– When Reagan was questioned whether he knew of North's illegal actions, Reagan replies, “I don't remember.” Still won over by his charm, the public accepted this timely memory loss.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

Johnson ran on the pledge in 1964 that there be no escalation of the Vietnam war- although he planned on doing exactly that. He had intense support from his military chiefs pushing him to enter the war with direct force. They believed the backward nation would "will fall easily to our massive power." Summer of 1964 an American destroyer (torpedo boats had fired on the destroyer Maddox) is involved in a small incident, in the Gulf of Tonkin - off Vietnam. Aug. 2nd, first attack - single bullet. Aug. 4th misread radar sightings... Did not matter National Emergency is called by president. Call to arms is had to resist. The Gulf of Tonkin resolution gave Johnson a mandate to conduct operations in Vietnam as he saw fit... to escalate as he liked.

The Tonkin Gulf Resolution is of historical significance because it gave U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization, without a formal declaration of war by Congress, for the use of conventional military force in Southeast Asia. Specifically, the resolution authorized the President to do whatever necessary in order to assist "any member or protocol state of the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty." This included involving armed forces. The unanimous affirmative vote in the House of Representatives was 416-0.
What prompted the military force?
The Tonkin Gulf Resolution (officially, the Southeast Asia Resolution, Public Law 88-408) was a joint resolution of the United States Congress passed on August 7, 1964 in response to a sea battle between the North Vietnamese Navy's Torpedo Squadron 135^[1] and the destroyer USS Maddox on 02 August 1964, and an alleged second naval engagement between North Vietnamese torpedo boats and the US destroyers USS Maddox and USS Turner Joy on 04 August 1964, in the Tonkin Gulf; both naval actions are known collectively as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

CREEP

Masterminds behind Watergate $ woking for CREEP were: G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, former CIA agents and FBI agents. As CREEP operatives they were aranging illegal wiretaps at DNC headquarters, campaign of ''dirty tricks" against Democrats. CREEP had illegal slush fund and it linked to key white house aides.


The Committee to Re-elect the President, abbreviated CRP but often mocked by the acronym CREEP, was a fundraising organization of United States President Richard Nixon'smoney laundering administration. Besides its re-election activities, CRP employed and slush funds and was directly and actively involved in the Watergate scandal.

CRP used US$500,000 in funds raised for the purpose to reelect President Nixon to pay legal expenses for the five Watergate burglars after their indictment in September 1972, in exchange for their silence and perjury. This act helped turn the burglary into an explosive political scandal. The burglars, as well as G. Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt, John N. Mitchell, and other Nixon administration figures, were imprisoned over the break-in and their efforts to cover it up.

The CRP was also connected, e.g. via personal overlap, to the earlier group called the White House Plumbers.