Impact Of Antiwar Protests Movements During The Vietnam War

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

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

Many Americans believed that the war ravaged country of Vietnam, had to be resurrected from grave. Beginning in 1964 and growing in later years, anti-war protests began forming. Outrage from civilians erupted when President Johnson issued the draft, as he felt the Americans needed to take a more aggressive action against North Vietnam. Young men refused to join the fight and protests emitted from college campuses and major cities such as Washington D.C. and New York. ((n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.texasgateway.org) and ((n.d.). Retrieved from http://avuth15.wix.com/thecoldwar are both primary sources illustrating anti-war protests, showing the outrage that America had towards the war. By 1968, the whole country had felt the war's impact. When the war finally ceased and the troops returned home, the protests, the actions by the government and the war itself, had taken a toll on the country. America's opinions were sharply turned against the war. The veterans who fought bravely in the war, returned to a nation that was bitter towards anything related to the war. Today, a Vietnam War memorial has been erected in Washington, to honor those who sacrificed their life for their country. As shown in ((n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.english.illinois.edu), the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was built to honor the U.S defence members who died in service in South-East Asia. As a result, the social

Interestingly enough, on the topic of being involved in such protests, Pat and Ray seemed to have similar, yet different answers. Pat grew around the time of the start of the war, in the 50s. She claims to not have remembered protests nor participated. “I didn’t remember many protests going on at the time, not like there is today.” Ray, unlike Pat, grew up in the 60s, when our society started to actively protest the war and voice its opinions. He did not participate in the protests, but often heard of them.”There was tons across all the nation. Because I wore the uniform, I didn’t think it was right. Because I wore the uniform of the United States Army.” Since the Vietnam War spans three different generations, we can see the reflections of our society as it changed, through Pat and Ray’s

How Did Protesting Grow During The Vietnam War? “Vietnam was lost in the living rooms of america -- not in the battlefields of vietnam,” -Marshall Mcluhan. The Vietnam war to many people should not have happened. Many people protested in spots like the white house, pentagon, and the capitol building. People burned draft cards and spent years in prison.

In order to validate the statement, “The years from 1952 to 1975 in U.S. history were marked by tremendous political and social turmoil that led to major changes in American society,” one would have to evaluate the role played by the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War in bringing about and contributing to those changes. The purpose of this essay is to evaluate whether or not the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement indeed contributed to the social and political turmoil during the time period of 1952-1975 that changes American society in a major way.

Despite the strong support for the war as it went on, there was an increasing resistance with the Australian public believing the war was not justified and Australia had no place in the Vietnam War. (TOPIC SENTENCE) Differing notions of Australia’s involvement in the War had divided families and communities leading them to express their opposition in mass anti-war rallies and marches. (POINT OF ARGUMENT) There were groups that opposed to Vietnam. Simon Townsend who was a well-known individual apart of Conscientious objectors took a stand against conscription and was jailed for his beliefs. An activist from the Vietnam War moratorium “I attended because I felt I had finally stand up and be counted, even though it meant so much of a personal

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 Vietnam War began in 1955, but it wasn’t until the 1960’s that the nation witnessed large protests against the war. A process called the draft sent many men over to fight against the communists in Vietnam. This “draft” meant that many men would not have a choice about whether or not they wanted to participate in the war. The U.S. government made that determination for them. Twenty years of combat, in some of the worst conditions possible, resulted in the loss of many American soldiers. There were many protests in the United States that helped open the nations eye towards protesting and how protests affect the war. The Kent State massacre was a big turning point for protests, it made many Americans see that the protests were not just hippies, and people of drug culture spreading peace, but a powerful movement to

Gallagher, B. (May, 2013). The Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Retrieved from http://www.americansc.org.uk/online/vietnam_civil_rights.htm

As historians we need to analyse each representation to how much they present the protests in America during the Vietnam conflict.. To

The antiwar movement became a mass crusade in which millions of Americans participated. It involved people of all ages, organized in hundreds of diverse local and national groups, including the National Mobilization to End the War in Vietnam, Clergy and Laymen Concerned about Vietnam, Women Strike for Peace, Resistance, American Friends Service Committee, and Business Executives Move for a Vietnam Peace. Among student groups, the SDS played a vital role. While antiwar activists came from all elements of American society, most were white, middle class, and well educated. Colleges and universities were among the most important sites of antiwar activism.

The Vietnam War certainly left a distaste in the lives of many who have been affected by the war; scholars have become increasingly interested in the interaction between war and public opinion. There have been many scholarly works published on the Vietnam War, but the issue that will be analyzed here is how public opinion changed the course of the war. The first article by Scott Gartner and Gary Segura is titled, “Race, Casualties, and Opinion in the Vietnam War,” it examined how the diverse races within America in combination with the atrocities in the war led to the formation of opinions that were similar in one race but were different in another race. The second article by Paul Burstein and William Freudenburg titled, “The Impact of

n the 1960s as the United States became involved in the war in Vietnam, American society would change dramatically. Not many Americans understood why the United States wanted to be so heavily involved in Vietnam. As many young men were drafted into the war and American witnessed the horrific bombings and killings in Vietnam War, American views toward the war became pessimistic. At the same time, Music became a new form of protest that accompanied the antiwar movement across the United States. This paper will discuss how U.S in involvement in Vietnam led to massive demonstrations and how music became a representation of the feelings of many protesters.