What were Eugene McCarthy’s motives for going against the Vietnam War? From the early 1960s up until the year 1973, America was going through the Anti-War Movement. The movement had many leaders, supporters, and followers, including Martin Luther King Jr., Eugene McCarthy, and Robert F. Kennedy. The Anti-War Movement took place in order to demand the government put an end to U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia and to stop the escalation of the Vietnam War. On December 2 of 1967, Eugene McCarthy gave his “Denouncing the Vietnam War” speech in the state of Chicago, in front of the Democratic Party. He speaks out against the war in order to point out what an immoral and pointless battle that the United States were fighting. In Eugene …show more content…
The speech was meant to inspire the intended audience in order to for them to give their support to the antiwar movement by pointing out that the government’s efforts to handle the war was ineffective and unreliable. In Hall’s “The Vietnam Era Movement” from the Magazine of History, it is stated that the public opinion polls indicated an increase in the lack of confidence that the people had on the president’s handling of the war. Even before McCarthy gave this speech, the audience had already given lots of strong support for the Antiwar Movement. The government had promised over and over that the United States was winning and handling the war; as well as ending the war as soon as possible in order to bring the troops back home. “Antiwar activists were unimpressed with Nixon’s efforts, and after a brief interval escalated their protests. The idea of a Moratorium, a suspension of normal activities, appealed to the moderates by building local actions around a one-day protest, with actions expanding one additional day each month until the war ended” (Hall). After McCarthy clearly pointed out how unreliable the government’s efforts were, the audience and supporters of the Antiwar Movement began escalating their protests and demonstrations in order to put much more pressure. “What is the spirit of 1967? What is the mood of America and of the world toward America today? It is a joyless spirit – a mood
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.
The Vietnam War protests and antiwar movement first began in 1964, gained national prominence in 1965, peaked in 1968, and remained strong throughout the rest of the war. In the beginning, the antiwar movement started out with only a small minority of fervent college students, peace activists, hippies, liberals, and pacifist religious groups who tried to make their voices heard. This opposition originated from people who did not agree with the American government’s actions regarding involvement in the war. Americans were opposed to the Vietnam War because they young men resisted enlistment in the war, citizens argued
The public was on board the war train for the first few years of the war, until they found out what it was actually like in Vietnam. Public view of the war immediately changed negatively. When the news reached the soldiers in Vietnam, reactions were mixed. While they could understand why the people didn't like the prospect of war, they were still killing-even when they didn't want to-for their country. Some soldiers didn't know how to respond. One solder wrote to his mother and told her that for one second he felt as if he was on vacation because it was so beautiful in Vietnam. Another one told his mom “not to worry, there is nothing I can't handle”. While the soldiers could handle the physical horrors happening to them, it was the mental stuff that was breaking them down.
“Beyond Vietnam-A Time to Break Silence” is an article written by Martin Luther King Jr himself. King is effectively able to convey his point about his topic by using rhetorical devices such as logos, ethos, pathos.
College students were aware that over 38,000 American troops had been killed in Vietnam and if something wasn’t done on the streets of America, many more would die. With tensions running high all over America’s college campues, the unrest of the anti-war movent was just about to get worse. Nixon’s decision to engage more troops into a sensless War, sparked a new wave of protests that errupted into many violent standoffs. Unknown to the country, this unrest would take a fatal and trajic turn.
The Vietnam War made impacts on the movement back home. As in 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. even went against his own beliefs of not speaking out about the war he began preaching that it is truly sad to see African American people and the poor who can not make a living, being drafted (Doc C). Not only were they being drafted they were also dying at a much higher rate then just about every other group in society (Doc C). MLK also stated that these individuals were fighting to establish peace and rights over in Vietnam, while they did not even have these for themselves (Doc C). During the Vietnam years there still was some of the American population who supported the war, but would not speak out publicly about supporting the actions. This group was given the name the silent majority. Richard Nixon while in office spoke out about the group saying that the silent majority needs to speak out publicly as all the messages going around about the war are negative (Doc G). He also said in his speech that even though some people may not like the war everyone should help in the mind of creating peace in South Vietnam and that without everyone coming together in the nation that the US military could be defeated in the war (Doc
The era of the Vietnam War was not only a time of war abroad but also in our own country, a war against poverty and inequality. People of color were fighting for their rights to be seen as equals in the labor force, education, and in the military. One of the famous leaders of the civil rights movement was Martin Luther King Jr. who was backed by President Lyndon B, Johnson. President LBJ was interested in creating welfare programs that would benefit those in poverty and give them hope, he was all about creating a “level playing field” to create opportunities that would benefit society as a whole.
Many people felt that this was a war of money that the U.S. didn’t need to interfere in and was being fought by North and South Vietnam, therefore we had no business getting in the middle of it. The United States should've thought of themselves and done what was best for them as a country. When Dwight D. Eisenhower left office, a new President came in with the name John F. Kennedy. JFK warns the American public about “Military Industrial Complex”. This affected Americans because we didn’t want all of Vietnam to become communist. From the beginning, the United States was not aware of what they were getting themselves into. Furthermore, they didn’t understand the nature of the war on who and why they were fighting.
The Vietnam War was a conflict, which the United States involved itself in unnecessarily and ultimately lost. The basis of the conflict was simple enough: Communism vs. Capitalism, yet the conduct of the Vietnam War was complex and strategic, and brought repercussions which had never been seen before. The struggle between North and South had an almost inevitable outcome, yet the Americans entered the War optimistic that they could aid the falling South and sustain democracy. The American intentions for entering the Vietnam conflict were good, yet when the conflict went horribly wrong, and the resilient North Vietnamese forces, or Viet Cong' as they were known, refused to yield, the United States saw they were fighting a losing battle.
Joseph McCarthy was a senator who used a series of tactics fueled by manipulation, deceit, and scapegoating to achieve his end goal: to gain fame and popularity. This started an era which came to be known as McCarthyism, named after the man himself. He exploited a fear that many people held after World War II, the Red Scare, and out of it came instant fame. Here, in his speech at Wheeling, he earned millions of followers who would join him in the hopes of defeating Communism once and for all. Unfortunately, like all famous fibbers, McCarthy would eventually make a series of bad decisions that would make him unpopular. Beginning with the See it Now broadcasts and the Army-McCarthy hearings, McCarthy would lose the surge of popularity he
The goal was to stop North Vietnam from taking over south Vietnam and converting it to
In Dr. Martin Luther King’s speech “Beyond Vietnam—A Time to Break Silence” (1967), Dr. King asserts that the war in Vietnam is totally immoral and has far reaching negative implications not only for Vietnam, but for The United States and the rest of the World as well. Dr. King’s purpose is to make the church leaders he is speaking to aware that the time has come for them to speak out loudly in opposition of the war in Vietnam. He offers many practical reasons for the opposition, as well as spiritual and moral reasons. He then outlines the history of the war in Vietnam, showing that he is not simply preaching about religious ideals. He also makes an
has adapted to the jungle and the way of life in Vietnam, he would be
In a nation divided by war in 1969, Richard Nixon delivered a speech with the hope that it would bring Americans together. At this time the American people stood divided on their views on the war. Many people wanted to withdraw from the war and many people supported the war in the quest for peace. The Vietnam War had already been going on for quite some time when Nixon came into office. Nixon was the second youngest president; he came to office in 1969 as the 37th president of the United States. (Sheppard) The goal of his speech was to unite the nation as he pursued the war and to try to win peace. Americans were divided among going to war and ending the war for peace. The tone
President Kennedy saw the Vietnam situation as America’s fight to stop the spread of communism. Kennedy, who was young and well liked by the American people, did not really see much protest from the American people. He wanted equality in America, and supported open-mindedness in his country; at his assassination in 1963 only 15,000 troops were in Vietnam. His successor, Lyndon B. Johnson greatly increased the number of troops that went to Vietnam, reaching 500,000 in 1966. Television allowed the American public to see what these soldiers were facing and that this was a senseless war. Too many men were coming home in American flag draped coffins, causing many Americans to rebel and move to the new hippie counterculture.