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The Vietnam Anti-War Movement Analysis

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The Vietnam anti-war movement is arguably the largest and most effective to date. It began with students on university campuses, but soon expanded to include minority groups, like civil rights activists. It divided the country for a time, but united it after certain events during the war. These included the Kent State shootings and war crimes in Vietnam. The protestors of the war had a massive impact on society at the time; they brought different races, genders, and classes all across the country together to protest the government and its choices. The protestors, which began as a small group of university students and grew to include a vast number of groups and people, led to a unification the likes of which the country had never seen, and …show more content…

It was birthed at the University of California, Berkeley, and advocated for students to bring about change. The FSM and its leader attempted to publicize the connection between academia and militarization. From these two root groups came a frenzy of similar organizations all over the country. In 1964, “teach-ins” began at the University of Michigan. These were a series of speeches and seminars on the Vietnam War. They were meant to educate and involve university students, and they soon spread to other colleges around the country. This ended up being a massive recruiting tool for protest …show more content…

This group consisted of three young men, Private First Class James Johnson, Private David Samas, and Private Dennis Mora, who were stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. When they found out they were set to be deployed to Vietnam, they banded together and refused to go. The men prepared a statement that was to be delivered in June of 1966, in front of over 40 reporters and cameramen. However, Dennis Mora was left to deliver this statement alone: Johnson and Samas had already been arrested. This public statement asserted, “We have made our decision. We will not be a part of this unjust, immoral, and illegal war. We want no part of a war of extermination. We oppose the criminal waste of American lives and resources. We refuse to go to Vietnam!!!!!!!”. The Fort Hood Three were court martialed later that year, and their sole defense stated that the Vietnam War was illegal. However, the courts did not rule in favor of them, and they were convicted of insubordination.They were sentenced to three to five years in jail, and were dishonorably discharged. However, they became symbols of the resistance; people saw them as icons for anti-war beliefs and admired them heavily. These were some of the first young men who openly disavowed the Vietnam War. They were soldiers; this only added to the protesters’ fire that was rapidly

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The students of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College (A&T), embarked on a new journey on February 1st, 1960. In the city of Greensboro, the college students decided they would go to a lunch counter (segregated for only Whites) and ask for service. This act of Civil Rights Movement, following after the Brown v. Board of Education case, was the start of something new for African Americans. The college students inspired others to form their own sit-ins and they inspired the start of new organizations such as Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). In general, the students of the Greensboro sit-in both continued and started their own form of a Civil Rights Movement.

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According to a United States Supreme Court ruling, public schools have the ability to restrict students’ First Amendment rights. This became true in the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District Supreme Court case when Mary Beth Tinker, John Tinker, and Christopher Eckhart wore black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War. In order to understand Tinker v. Des Moines Supreme Court case one must establish the history, examine the case, and explain the impacts. During time of war in the 1960’s a case from a small town, Des Moines, Iowa, made its way to the highest court of the land, the Supreme Court.

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As David Farber illustrates in The Age of Great Dreams: America in the 1960s, “Between the summer of 1964, when the Johnson administration achieved passage of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, and the April 1965 antiwar rally, the American combat role in Vietnam had escalated greatly” (141).   In the mid 1960s, a bloody and violent war was in full swing overseas between Vietnamese and American soldiers. On the American home front though, citizens of the US began to question whether it was wise to remain in the war or pull American troops back home. Two major groups began to spring up: advocates for the war and those against it.

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Malcolm Gladwell opens up the article by talking about the 1960 sit-in, at the North Carolina Woolworth’s a crucial moment in the 1960s civil right movement. The author discussed that 4 college students decided to sit at the counter in Woolworth’s that was for whites only, despite being pressured by the employees the students did not move. This sit-in caught a lot of attention the next day and more college students decided to join in on the sit in. This protest became a big phenomena and each day more and more students decided to join in on the sit in. Eventually, people from other towns decided to do their own sit-ins.

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