Street Fighting Years: The 1960s British Student Protests

The Vietnam War's contraversiality 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. These changes in the behavior of society have

He traces the baby-boom generation's involvement with the civil-rights, Vietnam War, and countercultural movements in stunning detail and evidence. Anderson entails insight of how the murders of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy, where driving forces and very nearly launched a civil war. The author skewers a system that sent so many impoverished minority youngsters and white American males to Southeast Asia while condemning a national ethos of the communism. Clearly, for him the '60s are very much alive, and his passionate remembrance galvanizes the book. However, it does suffer from some

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

In the late sixties and early seventies, the anti-war moment peaked during the Nixon administration. In October of 1969, the Weatherman, an ultra-left splinter group of SDS (which had become a revolutionary organization), held its infamous ‘Days of Rage" demonstrations in Chicago. Many young protesters attempted to fight police in the streets. The same month witnessed an outpouring of dissent unprecedented in U.S. history. More than two million people joined in Vietnam Moratorium activities around the country. Many were protesting against the war for the first time. For the first time, the press sympathized with the antiwar protesters. The following month more than 500,000 people demonstrated in Washington, 150,000 protested in San Francisco,

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

These movements absolutely have some actions what we cannot accept, but it is not violence. Drug abuse, sex, abortion and other revolt actions, you can say they are criminal, but they do not use force to attack someone. Another side, there are many wars and movements were occurred every decade or couple in the United States, so “violence is American as cherry pie” is not a good description for 1960s. From the middle 1960s to the beginning of 1970s, America waged the Vietnam War which was the longest and the most consumed in the history of America.

making him less human. Even though Jurgis makes money from his work, it is not enough to

And the anti-Vietnam war movement was right there with the rest of the 1960s protests and demonstrations (trying to end a senseless war). With the protests against the war building (burning flags and draft cards), “The Baltimore Four” event acted as a catalyst that resulted in more events like it and further added to the resistance of the war and time period.

The Vietnam War was a controversial subject on its own, however on May 4th, 1970, the tense relationship between young adults and governmental authority would reach a peak frequency, when the National Guard opened fire on college students in Ohio. Some of the students were protesting, even to a violent point, by throwing rocks and yelling at the Guardsmen. Others were simply carrying on with their lives, at a time where the war was expanding, not only across Asia, but across American classrooms and schools.

1. Text 1 “Experts Cite Underlying Causes for UK Riots” is a news report by Al Pessin published on Voice of America website the 10th of August 2011. The report consists of people giving an estimate of the causes for the UK riots. The inhabitants of London believe at first sight the riots are a response in reaction to lack of jobs and cuts in government services following a

The Hayward Fault stretching beneath a few major cities in California has not shifted too far in the last 150 years, a shift that used to be evident on a street corner of Rose and Prospect Streets. A no longer aligned curb was a perfect reminder of the forces working beneath the citizens of Hayward (although the city decided to realign it once more), and the forces that could soon act again. This fault was found to produce a large earthquake roughly every 160 years, give or take 80 years. Any earthquake, especially of the magnitude predicted to occur (7.0), would be devastating as this fault runs through major urban areas. Unlike the last time it shifted, geologists predict that the next earthquake will stretch for 52 miles

Hopkins, A. (2012). Protest and Rock n' Roll During the Vietnam War. Student Pulse, 4(11).

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.).

Some people are born with natural god given skills and ability while others who are not that lucky and have to work twice as hard just to get the same result. And then there are those rare individual who even though they are born with the talent, they still work just as hard and sometimes even harder to keep improving. It is called determination and that is a trait that all the great athletes share and it is what separates the great ones from the just good ones. This is perfect way to describe Peyton Williams Manning, who is considered to be one of the most prolific passers in NFL history.

The Vietnam War was not only a war abroad but also a war at home since many people within the United States believed that we should not be evolved in this war, especially since it was a civil war in Vietnam. One of the main reasons for the unrest at home was due to the draft of young men who did not want to fight for a war that they did not believe in. Many young men age 18 and over were drafted but some of the young men who could afford a higher education were able to go to college and avoid the draft but once they graduated they would be in danger of being drafted so many of the college students were protesting to end the war that they did not believe in or want to go and fight in. (The Sixties, n.d.) As the war crept along the college students protested more and even burnt their draft cards to show their disapproval of the war. The war at home took a bad turn on May 4, 1970 when a group of college students at Kent State started protesting. The governor ordered 750 members of the National Guard to stop the demonstrators. The National Guard troops ordered the protestors to break up and when some of the protestors refused and started throwing rocks the troops fired into the crowed killing four students and injuring nine other students. (Davidson et al., 2005) According to Wells, (1999), “The