THE PEACE MOVEMENT IN THE THE PEACE MOVEMENT IN THE USAUSA

Lobj: to consider why the Peace movement gain popularity in

America

THE PEACE MOVEMENT IN THE USATHE PEACE MOVEMENT IN THE USA

• For a war on such a scale the US needed the support of the American public.

• Vietnam = A Media War – ‘living room’ war

• thousands of TV, radio, newspaper reporters and photographers sent back to the USA pictures of the fighting.

• No censorship!

MEDIAMEDIA• The media showed crying children burned by napalm –

is this why 90,000 young Americans had been drafted?

• Symbol of defeat and confusion (not the crusade against communism)

• Media coverage had a decisive effect on public opinion.

• My Lai destroyed any idea the US was ‘morally right’

• TV reporting also began increasingly hostile to the War

STUDENT OPPOSITIONSTUDENT OPPOSITION• First protests against the war were by students in 1964

• 1965 – Vietnam Day Committee – organised a 36 hour ‘teach-in’ against the war at the University of California

• 1966 – burned draft cards

• 1967 – Christian groups joined – 100,000 marched in Washington

Norman MorrisonNorman Morrison

• 31 year old, set himself on fire

KENT STATE UNIVERSITYKENT STATE UNIVERSITY• Hundreds of demonstrations in universities across

USA – infamous demo at Kent State Uni – the national guard killed 4 students (2nd + 4th May 1970)

• Public horrified – War seemed to be making the USA unstable – images broadcast on TV

• Worldwide protests

• Made President Nixon realise the War could nevernever be won!

“Have we come to such a state in this country that a young girl has to be shot because she disagrees

with the actions of a government?”

• John Filo's iconic Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Mary Ann Vecchio, a fourteen-year-old runaway, kneeling over the body of Jeffrey Miller after he was shot dead by the Ohio National Guard.

SOLDIERS

• Start of war many soldiers believed in what they were fighting for – by 1968 (Tet) no one cared.

• Army was divided - “an army divided is an army defeated”

• Handicapped by the public

SOLDIERS2

• Conscripting Feb 1965 – 3,000 men called a month.

• Oct 1965 – called 33,000

• Great opposition – dodge the draft – further education, phoney certificates from doctors etc

• 600,000 Dodged in total – inc Bill Clinton & George W Bush

EXPERIENCE OF BLACK SOLDIERS• Treated like dirt

• Lived in ghettos – poverty

• Govt did little to help them

• Now being asked to fight for a country that didn’t recognise their rights

• Often led to prison – Muhammad Ali – “I ain't got no quarrel with them Viet Cong... They never called me nigger”

EXPERIENCE OF BLACK SOLDIERS

• Martin Luther King also against the war – “it costs half a million dollars to kill a Vietcong soldier; we were are only spending $53 on every poor black American”

• Not every dodger could be imprisoned!!

• This action led to growth in protests – then increased media attention

• Hippie movement – long hair, bandanas, burned draft papers, dress code!!

Woodstock• Dairy farm in the rural town of Bethel, New York

from August 15th to August 18th ,1969.

• was a festival where nearly 500,000 "hippies" came together to celebrate under the slogan of “three days of peace and music”.

• Artist who played inc: Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, Jefferson Airplane, The Who, Janis Joplin

Woodstock2

• Country Joe McDonald- I FEEL LIKE I'M FIXIN' TO DIE –

• What are we fighting for ?

• Uncle Sam needs your help again. He's got himself in a terrible

jam

• Whoopee! we're all gonna die.

IMPACT OF PROTESTS

• “be the first on your block to have your boy come home in a box”

RETURNING SOLDIERS.

• Turned to drugs, drink – many suffered break downs.

• Due to what they had seen and DONE in the War. (psychologically devastated)

• Sim. to shell shock – post traumatic stress disorder

Celebrity Protests• John Lennon – “Make Love not War” – stayed

in bed for a week , which were their non-violent ways of protesting wars and promoting peace

• Bob Dylan, The Rolling stones, The Beatles

Artists & SongsArtists & Songs

• Jefferson Airplane – Volunteers

• Country Joe McDonald- I FEEL LIKE I'M FIXIN' TO DIE

• John lennon – Imagine / give peace a chance

• Bob Dylan – blowin’ in the wind

OTHER VOICESOTHER VOICES• 1968 – Democratic Presidential candidate Eugene

McCarthy campaigned on an anti war platform

• Secretary of Defence, Robert McNamara admitted Operation rolling thunder was not working

• April – May 1971, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee held 22 hearings (called the Fulbright Hearings)

FULBRIGHT HEARINGSFULBRIGHT HEARINGS• Chairman = William Fulbright.

• He openly opposed the War

• Others inc. A returning war hero, John Kerry – said they were meant to be fighting Communism, but were actually fighting people who just wanted freedom from America

COSTS.

• The Vietnam War ended up costing the US around $518bn (9.4 per cent of GDP).

• The real cost of Vietnam? For 58,000 Americans it cost them everything.

• 350,000 US casualties• between one and two million Vietnamese

deaths

WORLD OPINION

• Soviets / Chinese support Ho Chi Minh

• British stayed out of the war

• New Zealand/ Australia involved – massively controversial; widespread demos.

SummarySummaryWhy did some Americans oppose the Why did some Americans oppose the

War?War?1. Saw it on TV – saw its atrocities & failures2. Hippies wanted to make love not war3. Draft dodgers did not want to fight4. Waste of money 5. Civil rights issues – black men died

disproportionately 6. Conscientious objectors7. Vietnamese veterans against the war – ashamed8. Marchers were attacked – made them more

determined9. National loss of confidence in America’s right to

impose democracy

You tube clips

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4xD8j8ye9k• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-NRriHlLUk• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQYDvQ1HH-

E&feature=related

KENT STATE UNIVERSITY - TASKSKENT STATE UNIVERSITY - TASKS

1. Reading the sources – who do you think was responsible for the deaths at the uni – the governor, the students or the guardsmen?

• Explain your answer.

2. Four students died at Kent State. Nearly 50,000 young Americans had died in Vietnam already. Why was so much made about these four deaths?