Tom Hayden's The Port Huron Statement

an uncertain future prompted students to take action.

American students were motivated to act by a sense of urgency, to rectify political decisions that had in the past broken down the integrity of human cohesion within society. Having knowledge of the tensions associated with the cold war and the prominence of the atomic bomb, students of the time were sensitive to the fact that the bomb could be employed as a tool that could be utilised by western and eastern powers in the face of conflict. Furthermore, for young students the American idea of nationhood and the statement in the Declaration of Independence that ‘all men are created equal’, began to become harder to accept as a truth, particularly when one would consider that segregation

Among these issues, students were also concerned with the unequal distribution of wealth which motivated them to want to transition the current society into one that had a more ethical economic system; one that valued human creativity, innovation and essentially granted individual agency without having people be slaves to their salaries. Evolving from the Student League for Industrial Democracy, the Students for a Democratic Society wanted to create more of an appeal for students to become involved in understanding world events that were creating an unequal society. In the beginning, few members were involved in the movement, although Tom Hayden who was a key figure in the movement wrote a manifesto called The Port Huron Statement. It had outlined their societal and political vision that seemed to have an agenda that would counteract the damage that had been caused by American political leaders in the past. The news that the Johnson administration had declared

According to a public opinion poll in 1965, 64 percent of the American public approved of the war. On the contrary, in 1969 opinions had changed with 52 percent feeling that entering the war was a mistake contrasting to the 39 percent who said they still approved of the war (U.S opinion polls). It is from this perspective that there seemed to be a divide in society, perhaps due to a fear of the communist and capitalist dichotomy and the perception that communist ideology had already infiltrated young student’s minds. The SDS values were to have an open democracy, this involved including anyone who wanted to be a part of the movement which did not exclude communist members who wanted to participate (ref?). The SDS can be related to many Social Movement Theories. There were elements of the deprivation theory present in the movement, certain members were involved because they were forced to join the army with the draft lottery. Men’s choices to be conscientious objectors to the war were limited, it was narrowed to two choices; either submit to joining the war or be imprisoned. As mentioned previously, the men were deprived of their freedom of conscience. The most relatable to any of the social movement theories would be the Political Process Theory, the government displayed repressive behaviour