the homefront 11.9.3, 11.9.4 eq: how did the american war effort in vietnam lead to rising protests...
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Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) students at the U of Michigan organized against the war in ‘64 UC Berkeley students were forbidden to organize on campus started the Free Speech Movement 3TRANSCRIPT
The Homefront11.9.3, 11.9.4
EQ: How did the American war effort in Vietnam lead to rising protests and social divisions back home?
1
Selective Service• most of the 2.5 million who
served were poor working class
• disproportionate rate of AA casualties
• 15 million men received deferments
• college students and certain jobs• many left for Canada
• changed to lottery system in 1969
• widespread resistance to the draft
• draft cards burned2
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
• students at the U of Michigan organized against the war in ‘64
• UC Berkeley students were forbidden to organize on campus
• started the Free Speech Movement
3
Credibility Gap
• LBJ’s optimism did not match what people saw on TV
• people began to distrust the government
• Vietnam Veterans Against the War grew from 6 to 40,000 members
•Hey, hey LBJ, how many kids have you killed today?•Eighteen today, dead tomorrow!•Make love, not war!•Hell no, we won’t go!•Trust no one over thirty!
4
Tet Offensive, 1968 • 70,000 Vietcong caught
U.S. by surprise on Vietnamese New Year
• attacked all across S. Vietnam
• military win for US but publicity victory for Vietcong
• 2000 US dead• 50,000 Vietcong dead
• severe blow to US confidence in the war
5
Election of 1968
• LBJ refused to run for re-election
• RFK was killed• major riots broke out in
Chicago at the Democratic Convention
• Nixon promised “peace with honor”
• the “Silent Majority”
1968
R Richard M. Nixon 31,785,480 301D Hubert Humphrey 31,275,166 191AI George Wallace 9,906,473 46
6