This Day in History: DECEMBER 31, 1968 : BLOODIEST YEAR OF THE VIETNAM WAR ENDS

The bloodiest year of the war comes to an end. At year’s end, 536,040 American servicemen were stationed in Vietnam, an increase of over 50,000 from 1967.

Estimates from Headquarters U.S. Military Assistance Command Vietnam indicated that 181,150 Viet Cong and North Vietnamese were killed during the year. However, Allied losses were also up: 27,915 South Vietnamese, 14,584 Americans (a 56 percent increase over 1967), and 979 South Koreans, Australians, New Zealanders, and Thais were reported killed during 1968. Since January 1961, more than 31,000 U.S. servicemen had been killed in Vietnam and over 200,000 U.S. personnel had been wounded.

Contributing to the high casualty number was the Tet Offensive launched by the communists. Conducted in the early weeks of the year, it was a crushing military defeat for the communists, but the size and scope of the attacks caught the American and South Vietnamese allies completely by surprise. The early reporting of a smashing communist victory went largely uncorrected in the media and this led to a psychological victory for the communists. 

The heavy U.S. casualties incurred during the offensive coupled with the disillusionment over the earlier overly optimistic reports of progress in the war accelerated the growing disenchantment with President Johnson’s conduct of the war. Johnson, frustrated with his inability to reach a solution in Vietnam, announced on March 31, 1968, that he would neither seek nor accept the Democratic nomination for president. Johnson’s announcement did not dampen the wave of antiwar protests that climaxed with the bloody confrontation between protesters and police outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.

Article Details:

December 31, 1968 : Bloodiest year of the war ends

• Author

  History.com Staff

• Website Name

  History.com

• Year Published

  2009

• Title

  December 31, 1968 : Bloodiest year of the war ends

• URL

  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bloodiest-year-of-the-war-ends

• Access Date

  December 31, 2015

• Publisher

  A+E Networks

This Day in Crime History: DECEMBER 30, 1994 : AN ANTI-ABORTION ACTIVIST GOES ON A MURDER SPREE

John Salvi III walks into two separate abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts, and shoots workers with a rifle, killing two receptionists and wounding five other employees. He was captured the next day after firing 23 shots at a Norfolk, Virginia, medical clinic.

Salvi, who worked in a beauty salon in New Hampshire before his murderous rampage, was described by acquaintances as a “very odd” man. Despite his increasingly erratic behavior, Salvi’s parents resisted getting professional treatment for him. As his mental state deteriorated, he became a zealous anti-abortion activist.

In March 1996, Salvi’s trial jury rejected his insanity defense and convicted him of murder. After receiving two life sentences, he killed himself in prison in November 1996.

However, the fallout from Salvi’s attack did not end there. Richard Seron, one of the shooting victims, filed a lawsuit against the clinic’s landlord for failing to provide security measures Seron claimed would have prevented the attack. After losing that suit, Seron enraged abortion providers by lobbying against a law that would establish a buffer zone outside clinics. He further antagonized pro-choice activists by filing a lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, claiming that he was entitled to a $100,000 reward for assisting in the capture of John Salvi.

But even Richard Seron did not inspire as much public ire as Deborah Gaines, who was scheduled to have an abortion at one of the clinics on the day of the shooting. After the incident, she couldn’t go through with the abortion and decided to have the child. She later sued the clinic for wrongful life, arguing that the clinic should pay the costs of raising the child since their alleged negligence prevented her abortion. The case, however, was dismissed before trial.

Article Details:

December 30, 1994 : An anti-abortion activist goes on a murder spree

• Author

  History.com Staff

• Website Name

  History.com

• Year Published

  2009

• Title

  December 30, 1994 : An anti-abortion activist goes on a murder spree

• URL

  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/an-anti-abortion-activist-goes-on-a-murder-spree

• Access Date

  December 30, 2015

• Publisher

  A+E Networks

This Day in Crime History: DECEMBER 29, 1985 : THE “RAILWAY RAPIST” COMMITS HIS FIRST MURDER

The “Railway Rapist” attacks 19-year-old Alison Day and abducts her from a London train. Her strangled body was recovered two weeks later. Although the perpetrator had attacked and raped many women since 1982, this was his first murder.

The Railway Rapist had a distinctive method of operation: He used a knife, bound the victim’s hands with string, and usually operated close to the railroad tracks. On a single night in July 1985, he struck three times within a few hours.

Public concern caused British police to establish “Operation Hart” to try to locate the criminal. As part of the investigation, Professor David Canter compiled a psychological profile of the assailant, which was still considered to be a cutting-edge technique at the time. Based on his research, Canter hypothesized that the Railway Rapist was a married-but-childless resident of the Kilburn area of London who had a history of domestic violence.

While the investigation was underway, the criminal struck again, raping and killing 15-year-old Dutch schoolgirl Maartje Tamboezer. Police were able to compare results of a forensics test to a list of 5,000 suspects compiled by Operation Hart. John Duffy, an ex-railway employee, was on the list because he had been arrested for other violent offenses at the time. Though he refused to provide investigators with a blood sample, detectives noticed that he closely fit Professor Canter’s psychological profile. After examining Duffy’s clothes, forensic experts were able to match fibers from one of his sweaters to the fibers found on Duffy’s first murder victim. Though he is believed to have been responsible for several other rapes, police were only able to convict him of the murders of Alison Day and Maartje Tamboezer in 1987.

Police also found that Duffy had an accomplice: David Mulcahey, his childhood friend, who was arrested in 1999 and convicted in 2001 for the murders of Day, Tamboezer, and Anne Lock.

Also in 1999, Duffy confessed tonine more rapes and several murders.

Article Details:

December 29, 1985 : The “Railway Rapist” commits his first murder

• Author

  History.com Staff

• Website Name

  History.com

• Year Published

  2009

• Title

  December 29, 1985 : The “Railway Rapist” commits his first murder

• URL

  http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-railway-rapist-commits-his-first-murder

• Access Date

  December 29, 2015

• Publisher

  A+E Networks