The political influence on the United States was, however, very serious.

The civil war in South Vietnam acquired an international character and became the United States war against communist North Vietnam, led by Ho Chi Minh and his accomplices in the South. Massive bombings, in which three times more explosives were dropped on North and South Vietnam than in World War II (only 7.5 million tons), were to bring victory over the Communists. Hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed, the infrastructure and economy of the North were completely destroyed, but against the guerrilla tactics of the NFO and the legendary General W. Nguyen Ziap, as well as against the distrust of the rural population, the means of waging ordinary war failed.

Since 1966, the war has become the dominant theme of the American media. Day after day, television broadcast pictures of the horrific events in millions of American apartments. Its own losses were rising (more than 23,000 dead by 1969), and Johnson’s claim that the United States was marching down the streets sounded like a mockery. Confidence in the president’s optimistic statements was completely shattered in the spring of 1968. If shortly before that, Commander-in-Chief General William Westmoreland still commanded "light at the end of the tunnel" then the offensive in February 1968 proved the unshakable fighting force of the enemy.

For weeks, fierce fighting for previously held American and South Vietnamese troops in the city, and especially the fighting in the protected area of ​​the US Embassy in Saigon, shocked the American population. For the NFO, the offensive was a military failure – the expected uprising in the cities did not occur, the loss of manpower was enormous, and since then the war has been coordinated exclusively by North Vietnam. The political influence on the United States was, however, very serious. Apostrophe by Senator William Fulbright " Arrogance of power" undermined the United States ‘authority in the world, Americans’ confidence in their own strength, and thwarted Johnson’s desire to go down in history as a great president.

After Democratic opponent of the war and Johnson’s critic Eugene F. McCarthy suddenly won the previous election in Hampshire on March 12 and the promising Robert F. Kennedy entered the presidency four days later, on March 31, 1968, Johnson announced the cessation of bombing of the North.Vietnam and the refusal to run for president.

His hope, despite the war, is to move forward and finance "great society" turned out to be misleading and dangerous. In the eyes of many Americans, Johnson has become untrustworthy. For them, the struggle against poverty in their own country and the war against a poor country far from America were no longer coordinated. In the political atmosphere of 1968, the middle ground was no longer possible. Johnson was criticized from all sides. One saw him as a waste of public money, which would be better spent on overcoming poverty, for another his military policy in Vietnam was too indecisive and frivolous. As a failed president, he headed a government in danger of agony.

In foreign policy, the United States has found itself in a difficult position due to its international political responsibility – in Vietnam, the American government has encountered its borders. "Globalization" American foreign policy has severely limited the United States’ repression "Prague spring" troops of the Warsaw Pact (August 21, 1968). Domestically, 1968 was characterized by severe unrest.

After the assassination of Martin Luther King on April 4, 1968, there was severe racial unrest in 125 cities in the United States that shook the foundations of American society. The demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of Americans merged with the African-American protest movement and eventually culminated in a general critique of the younger generation of social disadvantages, social norms and "systems" as such.

Johnson sought to politically defend his legacy by supporting the nomination of his vice president, Hubert Humphrey, who, after the death of Robert Kennedy, wanted to win the election a policy of joy that comes down to a ridiculous campaign. " "… Five days before the buy a compare and contrast essay cheap October 30, 1968, presidential election, Johnson announced the start of peace talks with North Vietnam. He wanted to attract many voters to Humphrey, but that was not enough for the Democrats to win the election.

Johnson and his popular wife "lady bird" that in successful years "great society" also vigorously advocated for better living conditions for poor Americans, who returned in January 1969 to their ranch in Texas. Physically tired, without illusions and mentally broken, Johnson hardly appeared on the public stage until his death on January 22, 1973. In the last years of his life he took care of the children of his two daughters, wrote memoirs and built the library. Lyndon B. Johnson in Austin.

Historical descriptions are now trying to fairly assess his personality and the cause of his life. As a social reformer, Lyndon B. Johnson, along with Abraham Lincoln and Franklin D. Roosevelt, is one of the great presidents of the United States. However, the man who for almost twenty years as a senator, vice president and president largely shaped the fate of his country, will forever remain an unloved figure. His name will remain inextricably linked to the American catastrophe in Vietnam.

Like the Vietnam War, Johnson was long pushed out of America’s collective memory, and even his merits were criticized in conservative America in the 1970s and 1980s.

17.09.2011

Statistician and demographer Mykhailo Vasyliovych Ptukha. Abstract

The abstract provides biographical information about Mikhail Ptukh. He developed problems of theoretical and applied demography, general theory of statistics, history of domestic and world statistics. His research on population statistics was of great importance

He was born in Oster in the Chernihiv region. He graduated from the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University (1910). Since 1913 he has been a private associate professor at St. Petersburg University. From 1916 to 1918 he taught political economy and statistics at Perm University. In 1918 he moved to Kyiv. In 1919-1938 he headed the Demographic Institute organized by him, and in 1940-1950 he headed the statistics department of the Institute of Economics of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. In 1919-1937 he also headed departments in several higher educational institutions in Kyiv.

He developed problems of theoretical and applied demography, general theory of statistics, history of domestic and world statistics. His research on population statistics was of great importance. He substantiated a number of new scientific positions in demography. He developed a scheme for studying demographic processes and proposed a method of its implementation. Conclusions MV Birds in the study of marriage and mortality have gained worldwide recognition. Of great importance are his methods of constructing summary mortality tables.

In his early work "Essays on the theory of population statistics and moral" (1916) MV Ptukha paid much attention to the development of a methodology for demographic phenomena, methods for studying mass processes occurring in the population.

For almost 20 years, MV Ptukh considered the Institute of Demography of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, which he founded, to be the main task of his life. According to his plans, the institute studied anthropological characteristics of the population, determined structural shifts in the population of Ukraine, calculated mortality tables, probable population losses due to the First World War, civil wars and revolutions, population distribution according to place of birth, education, marital and social status, nationality, profession.

Along with the applied activities of MV Ptukh, he paid great attention to the development of statistical theory: the creation of a methodology for calculating marriage indices, infant mortality rates, and the procedure for conducting population censuses.

In 1934, the Institute of Demography organized a department of sanitary statistics of the population, which studied the causes of temporary disability, formed a system of sanitary statistics, studied child morbidity and mortality, and so on.

During its existence (1919-1934), the Institute of Demography, which employed more than 30 employees, published 14 volumes of its works, a large number of monographs, articles, and reference books.

MV Ptukh attached the greatest importance to the problems of population mortality, both in their theoretical and practical aspects. According to his methods, the Demographic Institute calculated complete mortality tables for Ukraine based on the census of 1897 and deaths for 1897-1898. According to the proposed method of calculating total mortality tables, focused on application in some large regions, the Institute of Demography was built about 200 mortality tables. The results of the search for effective methods for constructing summary mortality tables were published by MV Ptukha in the 1920s in a series of works that were recognized abroad. In 1929 he was elected a full member of the International Statistical Institute, and he participated in its sessions.

MV Ptukha’s works on mortality became extremely important in the early 1930s. He published forecasts of population growth in Ukraine for the coming years and for the future. Due to the famine of 1933, which claimed the lives of millions, these predictions did not come true. From 1933 to 1945 MV Ptukha did not publish works on mortality and other demographic problems that were extremely important for the social life of the country in those years. He was forced to turn to the history of demography and statistics.

In 1938 he was arrested, the Institute of Demography ceased to exist. However, MV Ptukha did not suffer the tragic fate of other scientists repressed in the 1930s: in 1940 he was rehabilitated. However, an important scientific field that he headed was blocked.

The sphere of MV Ptukha’s scientific interests also included questions of general statistical theory, which was reflected in "Essays on the theory of population statistics and moral" (1916), in a monograph "Statistical science in the West" (1925) and so on.