REASONS FOR THE GROWTH OF OPPOSITION
1. Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
• 1960s student movement:
• a. Influenced by 1950s youth culture: Rebel Without a Cause, Catcher in the Rye.
• b. Protest music (eg BOB DYLAN).
• c. Uni education → wider horizons & exposure to left-wing ideas.
• d. Atomic bomb fears → anti-nuclear activism merged with Hippy ideals (‘make love not war’).
• e. Kennedy’s 1963 assassination → distrust of political system (‘the Man’).
• 1962: SDS issued PORT HURON Statement, criticizing racism, war, & capitalism.
• 1965: SDS joined violent anti-Vietnam protests.
2. The Draft
• Increase in troops to Vietnam = more young men drafted, which many saw as a death sentence.
• Wealthier youth evaded draft: college DEFERMENTS, National Guard, fleeing to Canada.
• ∴ 80% of enlisted (2.5m) were poor/working-class → seen as unfair by Black community.
• 1964: Johnson’s peace campaign → outrage in 1965 when he promised to reduce, but then increased, the number of draftees.
• 1969: Nixon’s draft LOTTERY system → more opposition.
3. Domestic Impact
• 1967: War cost $20b/yr → ended Great Society programs.
• Aug 1967: Poll: 46% anti-war vs 44% pro-war.
• MLK opposed war (cost/ impact on welfare spending) & advised Black men to refuse draft.
• Nation of Islam: questioned why Black men should die for a racist nation; MUHAMMAD ALI refused draft (Apr 1967).
• Mar 1968: Johnson announced he wouldn’t seek re-election.
4. TV & Media
• Early support for war; The Green Berets (1968) showed US soldiers as humane heroes.
• Jan 1968: TET Offensive → US Embassy in Saigon captured → Walter Cronkite: “What the hell is going on?”
• Execution of Vietcong prisoner on TV shocked viewers → doubts about South Vietnam govt.
• ‘Credibility gap’ as more and more govt lies (eg denying civilian bombings) exposed.
5. My Lai
• Mar 1968: Lt. CALLEY’s patrol killed 347 at My Lai (men, women, children, babies). Women raped, babies killed.
• Only helicopter pilot Hugh Thompson tried to stop killings.
• Nov 1969: journalist SEYMOUR HERSH revealed massacre → US public horrified.
• Lt. Calley sentenced to life but Nixon reduced to 3˝ yrs house arrest.
• ‘Silent majority’ sympathized with Calley; but students/veterans thought it removed the US’s moral right to stay in Vietnam.
VIETNAM PROTESTS – EVENTS
• 1965: VIETNAM DAY COMMITTEE held ‘teach-in’; students burned draft cards.
• 1967: 100k marched to Lincoln Memorial; 647 arrests.
• 1969: WEATHER UNDERGROUND bombed banks/govt buildings; ‘Days of Rage’ riots in Chicago.
• May 1970: KENT STATE University protests:
• 1 May: Peaceful demo → night riots.
• 2 May: Reserve Officer Training Corps building burned → National Guard deployed.
• 3 May: Demo dispersed with tear gas/ students forced back to dorms at bayonet-point.
• 4 May: Crowd of 2,000; National Guard fired 67 rounds, killing 4, wounding 9.
• 9 May: 100k protested in Washington; violence → President fled to Camp David.
• Aug 1970: Weathermen bombed Univ of Wisconsin + Capitol ($300k damage, Mar 1971).
• 1971: War veterans marched, threw medals away.
• Apr-May 1971: FULBRIGHT HEARINGS → Senate opposed war; Nixon began troop withdrawal → only 30k remained by 1972.
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