Example Of Unreported Resistance

Recently Ralph Nader spoke to an enthusiastic and supportive audience at Columbia College. Nader spoke about the very same issues he lectured about in 1968--corporate rule, environmental protections, military-industrial complex and unjust wars, equality and access to education, women's rights. It was an increased awareness that overtook the young people of the sixties counterculture movement. This awareness led to a social outcry against injustices in politics.

In the duration of one year, 1968, the American national mood shifted from general confidence and optimism to chaotic confusion. Certainly the most turbulent twelve months of the post-WWII period and arguably one of the most disturbing episodes the country has endured since the Civil War, 1968 offers the world a glimpse into the tumultuous workings of a revolution. Although the entire epoch of the 1960's remains significant in US history, 1968 stands alone as the pivotal year of the decade; it was the moment when all of the nation's urges toward violence, sublimity, diversity, and disorder peaked to produce a transformation great enough to blanket an entire society. While some may superficially disagree, the evidence found in the Tet

The Progress movement or as many refer to as the Progressive era, was a time frame where Americans joined in varying groups to advocate reform across the United States. To elaborate, Progressives believed in widespread change for child labor, industrialization, government, racial reform, and women’s rights. Countless stories of corruption in these areas were brought to light in the Progressive era mostly due to the published writings of Muckrakers. Muckrakers, were journalists who wrote for popular magazines that attempted to expose corrupt political activities from their investigative journalism. Furthermore, I will discuss and compare these groups and their attempts for changes in the rights of child labor, women, acknowledgment of corrupt government practices, racial relations, and industrialization reform.

The Red Scare. As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the U.S Intensified in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s, hysteria over the threat of communism in the U.S became known as “The Red Scare”. Communist’s were often referred to as “Red’s” because they pledged allegiance to the red Soviet Union flag. The “Red Scare” led to a range of actions that had a big effect on the U.S Government and society. These actions included, Federal employee’s being analysed to determine whether they were loyal to the U.S Government or not. This is exactly like Arthur Miller's “The Crucible”.

In this essay I am going to discuss the impact of the antiwar movement on the course of the Vietnam War and ultimately the role the movement had in ending the war. My argument is that the antiwar movement did influence some Vietnam policies; however it did not directly end the war. First I will discuss the impact of the antiwar movement during Lyndon Johnson’s time as President, I will then examine the impact of the movement throughout Richard Nixon’s presidency, and then I will discuss the overall impact on both presidents’ policies; I will then consider the general opinion Americans had towards the movement and finally I will evaluate the role that the movement had in ending the war.

The unexpected occurrences of the late 1960 's through the 1970’s led to a broad form of skepticism and distrust toward the countries ' leaders in a number of ways. The occurrences that impacted how Americans looked at the nation’s leader was complete disillusionment. They felt this way because of hidden secrets, corrupt scandals in the white house, continuous social and economic problems that seemed to never change and the ongoing Vietnam war which Americans were opposed too. Most Americans blamed the government for many of the issues the that were going on and that should have ended but instead funded, ignored, and made other things important on their agenda. Political leaders had proclaimed intentions on ending the cold war, racial discrimination, fixing social and economic problems and creating reforms that would begin to make a difference.Americans did not see a change of these significant issues through these years.They only saw the nation getting worse which made them unhappy, doubtful and even worried about a new civil war. Some of the events that contributed to Americans cynicism was the watergate scandal, the ongoing Vietnam war, social and economic catastrophes and inequality.

For many individuals in the United States, the late 1970s were a troubled and disturbing time. The Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War, ambiguity in the Middle East and the economic crisis in the Nation had weakened the confidence of Americans in their government and in their fellow residents as well. Many Americans supported a new conservatism in social, economic and political life during the 1980s, distinguished by policies of President Ronald Reagan. Politically, the United States experienced numerous changes during the 1970’s. There were liberal Democratic administrations for most of the 1960’s followed by a conservative

Tom Hayden, one of the leaders of Students for a Democratic Society offered a sweeping critique of American democracy. This Port Huron statement expressed the concerns of activists that American’s withdrawal from pubic life had weakened democratic institutions. The statement put the blame on large, impersonal bureaucracy that left workers and students feeling alienated and dissatisfied despite conditions of material abundance. It also blamed a foreign policy that had increasingly reflected the interests of those with economic and military investments in the cold war status quo. The first anti-war protest had 20,000 protesters and later in 1965 second protest had 100,000 protesters gathered from eighty cities and wide range of colleges and

This thematic standpoint in return provides ground for a second major theme; the 1960s was home to the birth of civil rights movements and forever changed the American idea of the status quo. To a large extent, it is agreeable that that the 1960s serves as the era that led to activism in the US. Anderson is able to confirm and strengthen his standpoint by the fact that it was during one of the greatest milestones of the 1960s, the Vietnam War, that for the first time in the history of the US, the government was subjected to criticism and attacks against their “ways”. This can be evidenced by the fact that Americans, which were majority college students, took to the streets to protest government action. At the time, the policies and actions put forth by the government were seen to be very secretive and wrong. Citizens were hastily informed about the need to stop the spread of communism at the expense of capitalism. Not only were government policies seen as corrupt, the government had kept the American society in the dark concerning the actual situation in Vietnam. There seemed to be no cost that was worth retreating from Vietnam. Draft calls were constantly increasing and the war itself began to result in federal expenditures, deficits, and inflationary pressures ( Anderson 90). For some Americans, the war not only damaging, but unfair. Mexican Americans were the poorest and

In his 1966 article, Richard M. Nixon bemoans the deterioration of the rule of law throughout the nation. Nixon claimed that the public’s ever-increasing disregard for the law had led to the unrest which he observed throughout the country. Chief among the offenders in Nixon’s mind were the draft card burners, those who instigate racial violence, and all other forms of civil disobedience masquerading as protest. Furthermore, Nixon acknowledges that these protesters have legitimate grievances, it is not here that he finds fault. Rather, Nixon argues that the means by which they pursued a redress to their grievances was broken, residing firmly outside the rule of law. Nixon ends his article by saying, “The way to make good laws is not to break bad laws, but to change bad laws through legitimate means of protest within the constitutional process” (p. 166). From this, it is clear that Nixon saw the need for change,

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.).

When one looks back on the frenetic 1960s, conservative sentiments aren’t usually the first thing to come to mind. Yet, while the New Left and the radical counterculture were reshaping cultural ideals, it was the New Right who emerged from the 1960s as a viable political force. The New Left can be categorized as a broad, largely youthful, movement with the goal to challenge various social norms and to institute a “participatory democracy”. Moreover, the New Left was “New” in a sense that they differed from the labor-centered liberal elites at the time; insisting on creating larger, more radical changes to society. On the other hand, the New Right was a largely grassroots movement aimed to restore traditionalist values from the “Eastern Establishment.” The New Right was “New” in a sense that it revitalized conservative hope at a time when those hopes looked mighty bleak. When analyzing the wildly different outcomes of the two movements, it becomes apparent that the New Right’s political-oriented manner to achieve their goals proved to be the decisive factor in maintaining long-term stability; something the confrontational New Left did not have the resources to achieve from the outset.

Since the United States of America established itself as its own self-governing country, one of the things that caused it to be salient and stand out from other countries is its relentless insistence on functioning as a democracy. Wars and protests have occurred so that every type of people, whether it was women or African Americans, may be granted the right to vote. Having a say in the American government is an honor and a privilege bestowed upon American citizens when they reach the age of eighteen. However, in recent years, statistics have shown that voter turnout and participation in recent elections has been rapidly and steadily declining, causing the United States to have the lowest voter participation in the world (“Is the System

The challenge to a variety of political and social issues distinctly characterizes the post World War II (WWII) era, from the mid 1940’s through the 1970’s, in the United States. These issues included African-American civil rights, women’s rights, the threat of Communism, and America’s continuous war effort by entering the Cold War immediately after the end to WWII. These debated issues led to the birth of multiple social movements, collectively referred to as the New Left, rooted in liberalism. In response to the New Left, a strong brand of conservatism, collectively referred to as the Right, arose to counteract these movements. Despite opposing ideology and convictions,

A example of covert Resistance that happened to me was when I was five years old, my mother told me to not eat too much sugar because it is unhealthy for my health, but I did not listen to her like every average little kid does to their parents. I hint all the candies in my bedroom, I ate them behind her back while watching television. Since today my mom has never find out.