Against Conscription Vietnam War

Secretary of State John Kerry once said “I saw courage both in the Vietnam War and in the struggle to stop it. I learned that patriotism includes protest, not just military service.” The Vietnam War was a conflict that lasted from 1956-1975 which the United States participated in along with the South Vietnamese who fought against the Communist North Vietnamese. Many Americans strongly disapproved of the war which caused many protests and riots. The war lasted 25 years killing many people and eventually the North Vietnamese won. The Vietnam War was important to Americans back home because it tested the citizen’s right to free speech, effected future foreign policy, and created many issues for returning veterans.

with the European countries and could connect to the events that happened, where as the public had little information about the country of Vietnam and what was happening. This view can be seen in a poll that was taken in 1964 that stated, “A Gallup poll in 1964 revealed that two-thirds of the American people had paid little or no attention to developments in South Vietnam…” Americans had a very hard time trying to figure out where this place called Vietnam was, the majority of the country could not point it out on a map. Even soldiers who were drafted for the Vietnam War had no idea where Vietnam was. I conducted interviews with two Vietnam Veterans, and they both said the things about when they were drafted, one stated, “I had no idea where Vietnam was. I was a farm boy from

There were many protest groups throughout Australia protesting about different issues in the Vietnam War, but mostly about conscripting young man over the age of 20 to serve 2 full years in military service, this was the first time Australia conscripted men to overseas. If men that had been conscripted had refused to go to war they would have to serve two years jail

The Vietnam War was undeniably huge loss for the United States. This is confirmed by the tens of thousands loss of American men, the excessive period of time it occurred, and it being seemingly unwarranted. The general public protested against the United States’ participation in the Vietnam War. A multitude of people, even those who had participated had frowned upon their involvement. People indicated their antiwar sentiments through different means of expression including music, art, writing. A particularly successful example of said antiwar sentiment includes the letter written by Sandy Kempner. Through the use of sarcasm, Kempner is able to effectively convey his particularly negative view of the war.

The Vietnam War started on November 1, 1955, and ended on April 30,1975. When the North Vietnamese Army(Vietcong) took Saigon, South Vietnam's capital, killing thousands of Americans and South Vietnamese soldiers in the process, the war came to disastrous conclusion. The war was sought out to be a victory, however, falling short with internal problems. The war was very unpopular and caused many disruptions with drafting, costing the United States billions of dollars and generating hate towards the veterans who served. Draft Evasion is an intentional decision not to comply with military action, regardless of the position they’re called for, and was one of many reasons for the deprivation of the war. Refusing to submit to the draft was considered

During the Vietnamese war, conscription sparked a fierce debate that lasted for years, and split the Australian public into two. When Australia agreed to help the South Vietnamese, at the hands of the communist Vietcong, very few Australians questioned the judgement of the Australian leaders. However, in November, 1964 - when the Australian Government brought conscription into the Vietnamese war, with plans to increase the Australian army to 37,500 within the next three years, in the form of ‘National Service’, the Australian population began to disagree with the Governments judgement. There are two sides to this debate, the people who were all for the conscription of men, and the people who were against conscription.

The two sides of the Anti-war movement in the U.S that had a major influence in bringing troops from Vietnam, were the civilian population and the G.I soldiers. Together, along with various movements such as the student movement, black movement, and working class movement mobilized to bring awareness of the truth happening in the Vietnam War abroad. The reason these groups lead social actions such as the student movement and the GI movement was due to the direct effects the war was bringing upon them. With so many soldiers coming home in coffins, the military was forced to open drafting to people as young as 19 years old. These teenagers were not even allowed to drink alcohol legally nor vote but yet were fighting a war abroad. Resentment and anti-war sentiments began to increase among students since education funds were being spent on funding the killings of many in Vietnam. They were a minority of students, artists and activists who did not sympathize with the killings, the drafting, or the values the American government was trying to impose. As a movement, they burned draft cards in college campuses, burned ROTC buildings, and organized walkouts, protests and distributed the truth through newspapers and media. In 1970, there was a height of protest on campus, they slowly realized that 41% of all drafted were black, 80% were high school dropouts and 37 % were being sent to direct combat due to their low

Max Smith Essay The Vietnam War was between 1954 and 1975. We did not have enough people in the military, so there was conscription which is most commonly called a draft. A draft is the mandatory enrollment of male individuals into the armed forces. The government maintains the ability to start a draft in case of a national emergency.

During the Vietnam War (1955-75), was Canada taking a role of an Arms Merchant or a Peacekeeper? Factually, approximately 30 000 Canadians volunteered to fight in the war and also, there are evidences of Canada's involvement in secret, corrupt military missions with the U.S . To this day, it is still debatable whether or not Canada did the “right thing”; and despite the fact that Canada sided with the U.S. and created a bigger, unnecessary “fire” to the Vietnam War, the country managed to show their genuine side which was a peacekeeping, fair-minded nation. Notably, there were significant times when this country confidently committed actions that may be classified as just and responsible. This includes the ‘Draft Dodgers’ incident, how Canada accepted refugees from South Vietnam, and Canadian activisms against war.

This period of unpopular, draconian policies, widespread protest and the government’s voluntary manipulation and fearmongering of the Australian public formed the foremost historical factor in Vietnam War’s impact on Australian culture and society. The moratorium marches and widespread protesting lead to a general liberalisation of Australian government policy; the Vietnam era had directly helped shape a society in which the government’s actions could be questioned and try to change our nation’s international relations and

Australia was involved in the Vietnam War during 1965 and 1972. As Australia entered the war it generated numerous amount of support for the Australian troops to fight in the war. However, because of this support there were many groups who opposed of Australia’s involvement in the war. The supporters of the war included, Returned and Service League (RSL), the older generation and The Australian Democratic Party. The groups who opposed of the involvement of the war included The Trade Unions and The Protestant church. These points will be elaborated on through out this essay.

The draft that occurred during the Vietnam War had a big effect on all of the men involved. Some tried to run away from the fact that they were going to be drafted by running away to Canada, and others knew there was nothing they could do about it and hopped onto a plane to head to Vietnam. Even though many men were drafted, about two-thirds of troops volunteered (Bia, Vietnam War Draft). Those that volunteered did so to avoid the draft and so they could choose where they wanted to be placed when they fought (Dunnigan, Real Facts About Service in Vietnam). Some wanted to be put elsewhere, such as the Marines or the Navy. Overall, many young men we’re not thrilled about being drafted into the Vietnam War and some did all they could to get away

The anti-war protests of the 1960s was a response of resentment by minorities and young educated college students against the nation’s desire to participate in war against Communism in Vietnam and conduct a military draft. The protests, originally began with peaceful public demonstrations by activists, who were nonviolent; however, the peaceful demonstrators were frequently attacked and victimized by the police and other citizens, who did not share their same opinion. Throughout the peaceful protests the activists suffered many beatings in the hands of the police and as a result, many of the activists claimed the right of self-defense and turned to taking offensive actions against their oppressors including the police and other citizens. Later, the scene of violence and mayhem quickly shifted to college campuses, to which college students began protesting the draft (Gurr, 1989, pp. 183-185). At the time the average age of an American soldier serving in Vietnam was 19 and students quickly rebelled after realizing that young Americans were legally old enough to be drafted to fight and die, but were not yet legally allowed to vote or drink alcohol (UShistory, nd.).

The last study that will be analyzed however, does not frame their research in that manner, instead, “the purpose of this study is to assess the impact of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations in the U.S.A. on the changes in the American public’s views about the war.” There is general consensus among Verba, Brody and Schreiber that the polls did not serve as an adequate metric for determining whether the war was truly out of touch with many. Schreiber referred to the demonstrations, noting that “many members of the public simply do not mentally join together” This could lead to the formation of two conclusions according to Schreiber; one being that demonstrations had no effect in altering public opinion, and the other being that those demonstrations had great effect in communicating with the public. “The major point to be gleaned from this review is that there is no evidence that shows an effect of anti-Vietnam war demonstrations on reducing American public support for the war in Vietnam.” Schreiber then goes on to reiterate the point

The Vietnam War's controversy spurred a great many sources of protest, against our government's use of power, how far we could stretch the rights of free expression, and primarily against the violence of the war itself. "There were said to be three stages of the antiwar movements. "The first phase (1964-1965) was idealistic. The second phase (1966-1968) was more pragmatic, a period when young people characteristically protested not on principal, but out of a desire not to be drafted and killed. The third phase (1969-1972) coincided with the de-Americanization of the war"(Jeffreys-Jones, 43). The administration received disapproval in its acts. Soldiers returned home from battle not to be renowned as heroes, but as killers. Although, some soldiers abroad even took part in the anti war movement; "The antiwar movement spread directly among the combat troops in Vietnam, who began to wear peace symbols and flash peace signs and movement salutes. Some units even organized their own demonstrations to link up with the movement at home" (Schlight, 45). "Many college professors, businesspeople, parents of draft-age youth, religious leaders, doctors, lawyers, politicians and entertainers also voiced their objections to American involvement in the Vietnam War" (Jeffreys-Jones, 77).However the war turned out to be a failure and the moral of American society was low. We see a reflection of that now with the war in Iraq. The support of the war