the protest movement
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The Protest Movement. As it relates to the Vietnam War. An Era of Protest. The idea of civil disobedience as a form of protest emerges as successful tactic of African American Civil Rights Movement - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Protest Movement
As it relates to the Vietnam War
An Era of Protest The idea of civil
disobedience as a form of protest emerges as successful tactic of African American Civil Rights Movement
Mario Savio leads the first college sit-in at UC Berkeley 12/64 protesting campus policies – 800 demonstrators were arrested
Vietnam War mobilizes youth-Draft 1965: 5000 a month -> 1967:
50,000 a month -deferments: college students -conscientious objectors -draft dodgers: burning draft
cards
Drafts & Deferments The Draft made all
18+ males eligible Men could defer
based on education or profession
This led to the working-class, poor, and minorities to be more heavily drafted
Ineligible classifications 1-A –O Conscientious objector for
noncombatant service only 2-S Service deferred – enrolled in college 2-A Service deferred – civilian occupation 3-A Service deferred – has children 4-A Exempt – completed military duty 4-F Disqualified – physical or mental reasons
RESISTANCESome became conscientious objectorsSome refused to register for the draftProtesters harassed campus ROTC
recruitersAs draft went from 5000/mo to
50,000/mo, the draft resisters swelled
SDS: Students for a Democratic SocietyApril 1965: 20,000 protests in DCTeachers start protest at Univ. of Mich.1967: 100s of thousands protest in NYC + San Fran. (Doves) April 1968: Columbia Univ. students seize 5 buildings
Who are the protesters? An amalgam University students
Free speech movement at Berkeley and other schools
Rooted in Civil Rights Movement
60’s Youth Reject parents’ culture Leave it to Beaver-culture is
viewed as: sexist, racist, conformist, restrictive
Poor Draft rules call up
disproportionate numbers of black, Latino, poor white and Native American boys – high school dropouts by far the most likely to serve and die in Vietnam
Vietnam Veterans
-70% of American believe protests are “acts of disloyalty”
-Jan 1968: Hawks: 62%, Doves: 22%
-March 1968: Hawks: 41%, Doves: 42%
Democratic Convention - 1968A series of
battles between protestors and Chicago police
598 arrests, 119 police injured, 100 police injured
1970 -- protests erupt at Kent State: Burn down ROTC building
Governor calls in National Guard, students ordered to disperse
Protestors throw stones, sticks at soldiersSoldiers open fire -- 4 students killed
Kent State
Their parents: WWII, Great Depression, trust in govt., New Deal
Them: nuclear war, Vietnam, affluence, comfortable, rock music, energetic
Generation gap
-Hippies: rejection of conservative values-drug use (LSD)-chaste v. free love, hardworking v. unemployedmaterialistic v. inward looking, sober v. drugs, homes v. crash pads, sedate v. vibrant
Media’s impact on attitudes Media becomes
increasingly critical after Tet Offensive
Cronkite in ’68: “not closer to victory”
June 1968: Life publishes photos of 242 Americans killed in Vietnam in one week
Implications? Increased uneasiness in the U.S. Greater division between “Hawks” and
“Doves” Increasing numbers consider themselves
“Doves” Also fueled growing Conservatism as a
reaction to the New Left Greater political pressure to get out of
Vietnam