Anti War Movement Research Paper

Anti-War Movement in the United States During the late 60s and early 70s, anti-war movement was steadily progressing in the United States. The peace movement was directed to stop all forms of war. As the sixties wore on many anti-war groups began to form in the United States to protest for peace. These included the Black Panthers, the SDS, Woodstock, music and flower power, and the Hippy Movement.

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 time that the War Resisters League was created, its stance has been against war on an international and civil level. However, it was a one-stance organization when it was first created. This changed at the start of World War II, as several of the members declared themselves conscientious objectors and spent the war years either in Civilian Public Service camps or in prison. The experiences in the Civilian Public Service camps and prison prompted the members to achieve fair working conditions, meaningful work in terms of national interest, and racial integration. As a result, the War Resisters League’s agenda changed from one to several issues. Since then, the issues that the War Resisters league have worked on are World War II, prison life and segregation in prison, Cold War and civil defense drills, Watergate scandal, fight against racism and equality including working closely with Martin Luther King Jr. during the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Great March for Jobs and Freedom, Vietnam War, nuclear warfare and chemical weaponry, women’s rights, poverty and race including the poverty draft into the military, and ending corporate profit from war.

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

People who were over the age of 30+ were for the war. On May 4th 1970 Richard Nixon gave a speech explaining on how he was going to send more troops in to Vietnam to help the war effort, so this caused riot and chaos in Kent State University, 4 students were gunned down by State troops and 9 students

The Kent State shootings was a tragic event that had a profound effect on the outcome of the Vietnam War and Richard Nixon's presidency. This tragic indecent provoked enormous display in campus protests. A national student strike shut down over 500 colleges and universities. The protests were overwhelmingly peaceful, though violent demonstrations, including the burning of Reserve Officer's Training Crops (ROTC) buildings, erupted on many campuses. Wells, 119.

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.

Kent State was like any other university in America in the 70s. Students were there to expand their knowledge while they explored all the other abundant things college had to offer them. Along with several other universities at the time, Kent State began seeing a rise in student protests. Many students around the U.S. began speaking out against the controversial Vietnam War, showing their anti-war views in hopes of being heard. “In late April of 1970 . . . the United States invaded Cambodia and widened the Vietnam War,” causing even more widespread outrage and anger, especially among youth (Lewis, Hensley, “The May 4 Shootings at Kent State Univeristy: the Search for Historical Accuracy”). As the days went on after this declaration was made, the

A veteran is “a person who has served in the armed forces.” This is the dictionaries definition of a veteran. An unknown author wrote “a veteran is someone who, at one point in his/her life, wrote a blank check payable to ‘The United States of America,’ for an amount of ‘up to and including my life,’” but not everyone has the same definition for a veteran, so what is yours? Veterans have not been treated the best after they have come back home from the military. They could come back home with mental illnesses or disabilities or, for others, they could come home to financial problems. Some veterans end up homeless because they have no money when they get home. Others could end up in depression. Veterans do not just come home and go back to their normal lives like some people think they do. So, for the good of American war veterans and other American citizens, these veterans need improved therapy and treatment than what they are receiving currently.

Anti-war Movement A. There were few pros to the war. The vast majority of opinions during this movement were against the war. The United States sided with Northern Vietnam but stated that though we could help with equipment and strategy, they must be the ones to win, or loose the war. The US did not inform citizens of what was truly going on, nor why we were being dragged into this ware. We in many ways fueled this war and should have been held responsible for the devastation that would ensue.

On May 4, 1970, Kent State went into history as one of the most powerful single events and images that America would ever witness during the Vietnam era. It would be reminisant of a battle field engagement, as gunfire would fill the Midwest college campus and bring the front lines of America's war over Vietnam. In 13 chaotic seconds, the Ohio National Guard fired their weapons at antiwar demonstrators, killing four and wounding nine. The shootings solidified the antiwar movement not only in America, but worldwide as well. By the next day photographs of the slain students, and the horror that was depicted over every possilbe news media, immortilized the name Kent State and cut through the nation's conscience.

The Vietnam War was well on its way by the time the Democratic Convention of 1968 rolled around, and so were the anti-war protests. After the Tet Offensive in the spring of 1968 and the famous Broadcast of Walter Cronkite

In the 1960s, America found itself divided among various social matters. Conformity, civil rights, and the Vietnam war. While the older generations viewed fighting in the war as a civic duty and a true testament to what it meant to be an “American”, the counterculture did not share this belief. Regardless of how anyone felt about the war, it had escalated to epic proportions and as one citizen put it, “It was on our mind every single hour of the day” (PBS CITE). Vietnam was the first war ever to be televised, and with that came constant coverage and a growing concern from young Americans. In addition, the military draft made matters worse by forced the youth America to fight. “By 1968, the war in Vietnam had claimed over 15,000 American lives”(CITE PBS). Between the draft and the growing American casualties, greater tension in the US was created. Young Americans had to ask themselves if the war was worth fighting.

Beginning in the mid 1960’s, student protesters on college campuses were very common. In November 1968, Richard M. Nixon was elected president, largely due to his promise to eject the United States from the Vietnam war. However, Nixon did not take immediate action to pull the U.S troops out of Vietnam. Because of Nixon’s failure to pull out from Vietnam, many student protesters were angered. On May 4th, 1970, The Ohio National Guard killed four students and injured nine, one of which

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