The Antiwar Movement: The Success Of The American Counterculture Revolution

The American Counterculture Revolution, which lasted between 1956 to 1974, completely transformed both politics and culture. Among many revolutionary movements, the Antiwar Movement consisted of strong protest and outrage towards the Vietnam War and America’s military actions abroad. A countless amount of writers, musicians and even athletes participated in the movement and contributed to its success. Many activists contributed to this movement, such as writer, Allen Ginsberg and government official, Daniel Ellsberg. The movement gained popularity due to the growing American disapproval towards the Vietnam War and The Draft. This movement has also contributed to peace organizations, congressional laws, and has produced antiwar scholarship.

In doing this, the Antiwar Movement successfully changed the entire public’s perception towards the government and war. Before the Vietnam War and The Draft, many Americans were uneducated and uninterested in the role of government and foreign policy. The Antiwar Movement forced Americans to acknowledge the major mistakes that the United States government was committing through The Draft and the Vietnam War. Through constant protest and public display of American mistakes, such as the Tet Offensive, the Antiwar Movement successfully changed the public opinion on government and influenced future decision making. After the Tet Offensive was publicly displayed, “American public opinion shifted dramatically with fully half the population opposed to escalation” (Barringer 10). While many Americans were dissatisfied with government actions and the Vietnam War, they had no voice to rally behind and remained silent. The Antiwar Movement gave the public the voice it needed and allowed American opinions to be

The Antiwar Movement gained significant support on the concept of opposition to The Draft and consistently fought it. Although The Draft was federal law, Antiwar activists found ways to undermine and cheat the system in protest. Their hope was to “undermine the draft and overwhelm the federal court system with draft cases in a way that would cause the administration to take steps to end the war” (Steigerwald). The goal of the Antiwar Movement regarding The Draft, was to create such a large amount of draft court cases that the federal government would grow uneasy and eliminate The Draft entirely. Although this was not immediately effective, the Antiwar Movement served as a catalyst in opposition to The Draft and gave Americans a movement to rally behind. The movement viewed The Draft as one of the major contributors to the war and sought to completely eradicate it in order to accelerate the road to peace. The Antiwar Movement continuously protested The Draft and publicly shamed it, which led to its ultimately inevitable removal in