Vietnam War protests

Student Protests

Campus unrest is one of the most-remembered aspects of the Vietnam War era, as students became increasingly involved in a number of social and political movements. While college students were not the only ones to protest, student activism played a key role in bringing antiwar ideas to the broader public.

By the end of 1960, college enrollment had reached 25 million and so colleges and universities in America had more students than ever before. These institutions attempted to put restrictions into place to try and maintain order on their campuses. In an effort to combat these restrictions, many college students became active in social causes that promoted free speech, student input in the curriculum, and an end to outdated social restrictions.

Many of the students that became involved in the antiwar or peace movements were morally opposed to all war, while other participants in the protests simply did not want to fight in a foreign civil war that they believed did not involve them or their country and its resources and forces and disliked that it was diverting funds and attentions away from issues within the US.

In October of 1965 the monthly draft numbers were increased dramatically from 3 000 per month to 33 000 a month and this brought about the first protests. Some lucky men had the necessary ‘pull’ to be able to ‘draft-dodge’ but that wasn’t a luxury the average working class men had available to them. Tearing up or burning your draft paper then became a common occurrence and it was seen to be the first protest against the Vietnam War.

Protests against the war began to increase when more and more body bags started returning to America. The war that had been sold to the American public as a sure victory wa...

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...ippies. Opposition grew with participation by the African-American civil rights, women's liberation, and Chicano movements, and sectors of organized labor. Additional involvement came from many other groups, including educators, journalists, lawyers, and military veterans. Opposition consisted mainly of peaceful, non-violent events, and very few events were deliberately provocative and violent.

Bibliography :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_United_States_involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_symbols#The_peace_sign

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/protests_vietnam_war.htm

http://www.ushistory.org/us/55d.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposition_to_United_States_involvement_in_the_Vietnam_War http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/protests_vietnam_war.htm http://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests