The Chicago Seven Trial Essay

The Vietnam War was the longest and most controversial war that involved the United States and it greatly impacted the United States. Some even compare this war to that of the United States’ involvement in Afghanistan. The Vietnam War lasted from November 1, 1955 until April 30, 1975. It was a cold war that took place in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Lao. North Vietnam backed by the Soviet Union was on one side against the opposing side of South Vietnam backed by the US, Philippines, and other non-communist countries. Between 1960 and 1973, many antiwar movements in the United States arose which consisted of many people who were united in the common cause to resist the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. They strongly believed that a war in Vietnam was clearly unjust and led to the United States’ decision to eventually withdrawn its troops from the war.

Topics of Inquiry: The Chicago bombing during the Haymarket Riot caused uproar throughout the crowd. It was supposed to be a peaceful protest, but turned out to be an unplanned event. Many argue that the bombing itself did not help the cause, but I will be arguing that the bombing helped the eight hour movement.

Such coverage, along with the vivid images that emerge on T.V. led to a serious rise in anti-war protest that was merely strengthened by the events of 1968. The Tet Offensive of 1968 marked the greatest conflict in beliefs of the United Stated government and the media. In January, North Vietnamese troops attacked the North cities of South Vietnam and the U.S. embassy in Saigon. The media and the television, however, portrayed the attack as a brutal defeat for the U.S, totally altering the outcome of the war at the very moment when government officials were publicly stating that victory in Vietnam was "just around the corner" (Wyatt 167)[8]. The media covered all the events that immediately followed the Tet Offensive and the American public began wondering whether this war could be won. Don Oberdorfer a Washington reporter said that “there’s no doubt Tet was one of the biggest events in contemporary American history, within two months the, American body politically turned around on the war. And they were significantly

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 Vietnam War began in 1954 with an expected amount critics but these opponents eventually became the basis for the movement. Protests and demonstrations over time gained momentum, creating a community of civilians working to bring troops home from Asia. While the war did end in 1975, it took the antiwar movement alongside the government almost 20 years to do so. The movement also did not prevent the United States from entering other international armed conflict, one of their main goals. In the years to come the United States found itself in other conflicts such as the Persian Gulf War and the Iraq

The Vietnam War is still a very controversial subject to this day. Whether or not we won is still being debated, but during 1968 there were many significant events that took place involving the Vietnam War. The most significant would probably be the “Tet Offense”. On January

The Vietnam War, lasting for approximately 20 years, was the longest and one of the most controversial wars in American history. Not only did the war take a heavy toll on the American troops fighting abroad, but it also led to riots and tension amongst Americans on the homefront. Two presidents devoted to winning the war against the spread of Communism in Vietnam as quickly and effectively as possible were Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon. Although Johnson was a Democrat and Nixon was a Republican, their foreign policies in Vietnam were similar because they both kept secrets about the war from Congress and because both of their foreign policies were disliked by the American public. However, they differed because Johnson escalated the United

As stated earlier, hippies were huge on protesting. One of the major events they chose to protest: the Vietnam War. The Vietnam War lasted from 1959 until 1975; it involved Communist North Vietnam announcing war against its Southern half, Democratic Vietnam. The United States became heavily

A mass meeting was to be held on May 4, to protest what was seen as cruelty by the police. The meeting was to be held at Haymarket Square in Chicago, an open area used for open markets. That day, over 1,500 people people came to listen to radical

March 16 saw a demonstration in Montgomery, Alabama in which 580 demonstrators planned to march “from the Jackson Street Baptist Church to the Montgomery County Courthouse” (Reed 26). These protestors included a large number of northern college students. They met a police line a few blocks from the Courthouse and were forbidden from proceeding because “they did not have a parade permit” (Reed 26). Across the street came 40 or so students who planned on joining the group en route to the Courthouse. Eventually a few of the demonstrators dared to cross the street, led by James Forman who had organized the march. When it seemed the whole group would cross, police took action, with mounted officers and volunteers arriving at 1:12 pm. Riding into the small group of protestors, they forced most to withdraw, but a few stood fast around a utility pole where horsemen began to beat them. “A posseman

During the sixties, American people saw the rise of the counterculture. Counterculture was a group of movements focused on achieving personal and cultural liberation, mainly embraced by the decade’s young adults. Because many Americans were members of the different movements in the counterculture, the counterculture influenced American society as a whole. As a result of the achievements the counterculture movements had made, the United States in the 1960s became a more open, more tolerant, and a more freer country. In 1969, close to half a million self-described hippies,peace makers, and Aquarians made an expedition from mainly San Francisco to Woodstock in upstate New York. The Woodstock Music and Arts Festival was called an Aquarian Exposition and hailed as three days of peace and music, over 400,000 people attended; it was peaceful. However, life outside of the woodstock festival was not. America seemed to be dividing as a country. The war in Vietnam went on for roughly another 15 years. American boys were still being sent to Southeast Asia by the newly elected President, Nixon. The increasingly unpopular war intensified a campus protest movement. Burning draft cards and peace marches became daily fare on the evening news. And not all of the demonstrations were peaceful. The summer after Martin Luther King was assassinated, riots broke out in 125 cities including, Chicago, Baltimore, NYC, Kansas City, and Cincinnati. Meanwhile, at the Democratic convention in Chicago, the anti-war movement tore the Democratic Party in two. Both critics and fans agree that Woodstock has become part of the mythology of the 1960s, even if the actual event didn't necessarily represent the musical or political taste of most of the young Americans adults at this time. Some say it symbolized the freedom and idealism of the 1960s. Some argue that Woodstock represented much of everything that was wrong with the sixties: a glorification of drugs, a loosening of sexual morality and a socially corrosive disrespect for authority.

In 1967 Martin Luther King Jr. went public on his resistance on the war about morals, which boosted people to go antiwar. In 1971 members of the Vietnam Veterans organization where against the War, many of these men threw their medals away to protest against the war. A good majority of these men were in wheelchairs and crutches, this was shown on tv which won many of the people over to join the antiwar movement.

the 75 out-of-town demonstrators--the

The popularity of sit-ins can be reflected in the involvement of the N.A.A.C.P. (The National Association of the Advancement of Colored People). An article published by the New York Times talks about planned demonstrations that will occur in New York City which will be headed by the N.A.A.C.P (Robinson 54). This example shows how large the movement had become by summer 1961 because a nationally recognized organization was already actively involved in demonstrating. Another article, printed in late 1961, reports that the national director of the Congress of Racial Equality would begin planned sit-ins nation wide, with a focus in the South and the Midwest (“Negroes to Broaden” 18). This again proves how effective sit-ins were because a nationally recognized organization was taking the movement and organizing a nation wide effort to end discrimination.

In 1958, Communist-led guerrillas, eventually known as the Viet Cong, began to battle the government of the South Vietnamese. The United States then sent 2,000 military advisors t support South Vietnam’s government. This number grew to 16,3000 by 1963. The military force slowly deteriorated. By 1963 the fertile Mekong Delta was lost to the overpowering Viet Cong. The war rose in 1965, when President Johnson issued commencing air strikes on North Vietnam and ground forces, which had risen to 536,000 by 1968. The Tet Offensive by North Vietnam turned many Americans against the waging war. President Nixon, following Johnson, promoted Vietnamization, the withdrawing of American troops and handing over the great responsibility of the war to South Vietnam. Protesting of the war dramatically increased, especially after Nixon’s attempt to slow North Vietnam forces and supplies into the South by sending American forces to destroy supply bases in Cambodia in 1970, which violated Cambodian neutrality. This provoked antiwar protests on many of the United Stats’ college campuses. In 1968 through 1973 attempts were made to end the ongoing conflict through diplomacy. Then in January 1973, an agreement was reached. U.S. forces withdrew from Vietnam and the U.S. POWs were released. In April 1975, South Vietnam surrendered to the North and Vietnam was once again united. The Vietnam War ended, but it took the lives of 58,000