In the novel, Passing Time, Ehrhart experiences change. For instance, Ehrhart begins to realize

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

As the march was going on with the veterans, bricks were being thrown at the marchers and gas was used. Some were killed during their march which was not expected to happen. No matter

The Vietnam War raged on from 1954-1975, taking over three million lives with it. Conflicts rooted in the cold war resulted in the United States sending troops to defend South Vietnamese democracy. However as the war became more lengthy and expensive, many civilians began to protest the United States participating in the war, creating the Antiwar Movement. Though the movement had lasting effects on society, it did not immediately cause the United States to retreat from Vietnam. The antiwar movement of the 1960’s, which is deeply connected with the transcendentalist belief of Civil Disobedience, protested the involvement of the United States in the infamous Vietnam War, and has had numerous effects on the American Military and Government to this day. However, the movement that strived for peace did not completely accomplish its goal of ending the United States’ involvement in international armed conflict.

Wars are a difficult place to be. “THE VIETNAM WAR transformed a generation” (Roberts 1). With all that happened during the war such as exposure to

1)"Although the some Americans still supported their government policy in Vietnam in 1965, as the war went on, more and more Americans turned against it. The Vietnam War had been described to the US public as one where the richest and most powerful country would have a lot of problems defeating one of the smallest and poorest countries in the world. The protests against the war started

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.

On March 5, 1770, two regiments of British soldiers that were stationed in Boston opened fire on a mob of bystanders that wanted the British out of Boston. This protest was for the ending of the quartering of soldiers in people’s homes. On May 4, 1970, the National Guardsmen fired upon the unarmed students of Kent State University who were protesting against fighting in the Vietnam War. The result of this was a change in the policies of the National Guard and to use rubber bullets. These two shootings in American history are examples of Military Representatives actively firing on unarmed citizens. Also, examples of the civilians provoking the Military Representatives for them to shoot. We can use these examples for today’s society to further the developments in non-lethal actions against protesters. But before the lessons learned with these two shootings are highlighted, the history and significance of these events need to be understood.

At this point in time, the Vietnam War was in progress; young people were getting drafted left and right, and the troops overseas were getting absolutely slaughtered. There was a multitudinous amount of protest surrounding the war, and when tensions started running too high, protests became dangerous and violent. After extreme aggression through assault on police officers, bonfires, and looting was shown during a student protest at Kent State on May 1, 1970, the Kent mayor was forced to declare a state of emergency the very next day. The National Guard started to arrive on May 2 to keep the peace, but when they got to the scene, they found the Kent State ROTC building on fire. No one knows who started the fire, but there were many protesters around the building cheering. When first responders arrived, they were yelled at, and some people even destroyed their water hoses. The National Guard was forced to use tear gas to disperse the

The cops usually wins the fight and get a great out come but the cops didn't they just caught two guys who they thought who would throw a bomb in the middle of all the officer because they wasn't from Chicago they went to jail for a few years and got out. The two bomber was probably one of the workers but they didn't know until they found out after the riot. Two guys just can't show up at a riot at the right time and at the right moment to throw a bomb.He could have already had in his possession already walking around with the bomb in his hand ready to bomb the officers or he went home first

The Kent State shooting played a major role in Nixon’s resignation from presidency and the public’s opinion of the Vietnam War. The students that were protesting started when Nixon announced intervention into Cambodia. Outraged students met on campus the very next day to show that they didn’t agree with the presidents decision. During the shooting students threw containers of tear gas back at the guardsmen. Some students threw rocks as the soldiers left. Protestors would shout “Pigs Off Campus!” (Axelrod et al. 256) Many of the soldiers sent to settle the frustrated protestors were weekend warriors who chose the guard to avoid ending up in Vietnam. Mandy soldiers lacked training for combat and crowds. Most soldiers were confused by the actions of the students and weren’t sure how to react. The student protestors refused the guards orders to disperse which resulted in the guardsmen throwing tear gas toward the rioting protestors. The protestors consisted of upper class and middle class residents.

“From the Great Railroad Strike of 1877, to the Pullman Strike of 1894, the Lawrence textile strike of 1912, the Ludlow massacre of 1914, the Steel strike of 1919, and the Hanapepe massacre of 1924, the police would brutally beat striking laborers.” (History 1) But ever since the civil rights movement of the mid- 1900s, the police have diverted their attention to African Americans. During the civil rights movement, the police used appalling tactics on the protesters. March 7, 1965 was a day famously known as “Bloody Sunday”. Protesters marched from Selma to Montgomery as a response to the killing of Jimmy Lee Jackson, a protester who was fatally shot by the police on February 17. He was shot in the stomach by Trooper James Fowler during a protest. Six hundred marchers, led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee(SNCC), came together on March 7. They were to cross over the Edmund Pettus bridge, over the Alabama river, but they fell short of that plan. “Just short of the bridge, they found their way blocked by Alabama State troopers and local police who ordered them to turn around. When the protesters refused, the officers shot teargas and waded into the crowd, beating the nonviolent protesters with billy clubs and ultimately hospitalizing over fifty people. “ (Selma 3)“Protesters were rushed by K-9 German Shepherds and had high pressure water hoses used on them”(History). In some cases,

As a human being and a scholar, Ehrhart has a right to attend college and live a normal life as he intended to do. The fact that Ehrhart had to really stress over his celebrity is ridiculous. The war played a huge part of Ehrhart’s wanting to remain anonymous during his time in school because he just wanted to erase the past and focus on the present. In fact, Ehrhart mentions some of the trauma that he went through and in his newspaper article it says that nothing else seems as hard as the war. Ehrhart read his section in the paper which stated, “Because

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.).

They blocked traffic to the Brooklyn Bridge, shouting racial slurs at the public and the mayor at the time, joined in. In an incident right after the City Hall protest, as police were leaving, several off-duty officers, all in civilian clothes, assaulted a man on the subway who had stepped on one of the officer's feet. The man claimed that he apologized but that the officer attempted to punch the man. The man cut the officer with a razor blade and the other officers, six of them, beat him viciously. (Police Brutality).

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