Vietnam War Protests

hard for them to understand those who were so passionate against the war. “Young protesters were often dismissed by many older Americans for being part of the counterculture that rejected traditional American values and embraced experimentation with sex and drugs. Yet the protests represented a genuine, and growing, resistance in the United States to the country's role in the Vietnam conflict.” (Doswell). Because the protesters, had a hard time connecting to the older parental generation, the nation was even more tense and divided. While there were plenty of people protesting against the war, there was also plenty of people that were against the protest. For example, many police officers disagreed with the protesters. They were often just as

As for the one-third of the troops, that were sent to Vietnam to fight, as a result of the draft, it was very hard. These men did not want to be in Vietnam fighting, for what seemed like nothing. Their spirits plummeted, and they started protesting in their own sort of way. “Some soldiers began to paint peace signs and anti-war slogans on their uniforms. Officers often had to argue with men who refused to obey orders during combat. Drug use increased to the point where it became commonplace.” (Dowswell 47). The men felt they could not win the war, nor believe in it any longer, which made their time in Vietnam even worse. Some of them stopped wearing their helmets as a way of protesting the war. The soldiers were so against the war, that they risked their lives even more than they already were for peace. However, the soldiers were not the only ones who expressed their opposition towards the

The one thing that really started the anti-war movement were teach-ins. Teach- ins were held to educate and inform the students about the war. They were inspired by the sit- ins that took place during the Civil Rights Movement. “The campus anti-war movement first received national attention when almost 50 professors decided to hold a "teach-in" at the university of Michigan.” (Kallen 22-23). The teach- ins were what really started the anti-war movement. After teach- ins became more occurrent, it became more common for anti-war marches to take place. Now was when the push for peace became more