Antiwar Movement in the US (1964-1973)

The Antiwar Movement in the US (1964-1973) was organised by Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) to promote nonviolence and seek an end to military action in Vietnam. The movement started with nonviolent rallies and escalated to violent acts such as blowing up ROTC sites and burning draft cards. The protests played a vital role in compelling the US government to end their involvement in the Vietnam War. However, some critics argue that the protests failed to shorten the war's duration.

Research Table
a. Name, date (or time period) and location/s of protest or protest movement.
Name: Antiwar movement
Time Period: 1964–1973
Location: United States (US)
b. Organiser/s or instigator/s of the protest: (Who started the protest or protest movement? If it was started by a group of people, name the
group/organisation or groups.)
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)
c. Reason for the protest or protest movement: (Why did the protest start? What event or situation instigated or catalysed the protest?)
When the bombing of Northern Vietnam became more intense, student demonstrations erupted. In 1965, on college campuses, protests against the war's
legitimacy arose, with teachers and students staging ‘teach-ins’, in which antiwar seminars took the place of regular classes (History.com, 2018). The
conflict's devastation and violence outraged the students. Some rejected the struggle because it lacked defined goals and appeared incapable of being won,
while some contended that it was a war opposing self-determination of the Vietnamese or amounted to meddling in a foreign civil conflict.
d. Description of what happened during the protest: (How was the protest carried out? What did the protesters do? What did the authorities (law
enforcement/government, etc.) do in response? Was there violence involved? If so, who carried out the violent acts? Etc.)
Most individuals believe that the US launched an unjustified war that caused the deaths of many unfortunate people. Even though the goal may have been
to restrain communism, the US invested far too much time and effort, with a dismal result. One of the most intense student rallies of the 1970s was the
antiwar campaign. The nonviolent riots that began in 1964 swiftly evolved into the blowing up of ROTC sites, the burning of draft cards, and the removal
of antiwar music albums (Israel, 2021). These violent acts were carried out by students to push the government to end the conflict in Vietnam.
e. Original, general or intended aim/s of protest: (What did the protesters hope to achieve through their actions? What was/is their main goal/s?)

The objective of the antiwar movement was to promote nonviolence and seek an end to military action in Vietnam. SDS members opposed military
conscription and refused to be drafted into the military. The military draft resulted in compulsory military service in the US Army (History.com, 2010). In
essence, antiwar activists used protests and other grassroots tactics to try to persuade the US government to end the Vietnam War.
f. Public or political reaction/s to the protest: (How did the public/government/authorities respond to the protest or protest movement, at the time
of the protest and since the protest ended? If the protest is on-going, how are the public and/or authorities continuing to react/respond?)
Although some Americans remained sympathetic, public perception started to evolve against US intervention as citizen reports from the ground became
more readily accessible. Others believed that their authorities had misled them by failing to be forthright about the fight. As a result, popular pressure
mounted on the government to end the fighting (Moyn, 2020).
g. Actual or perceived outcomes/successes/failures of the protest at the time and/or since: (What happened as a result of the protest or protest
movement? Was it considered a success or failure? Were any laws changed or legislations introduced as a result? Has the protest or protest
movement raised public awareness of the issues? If so, in what way/s and how widely?)
Antiwar demonstrators employed a range of strategies throughout the course of the movement to affect public perception and, eventually, government
ministers' behaviour. According to a Gallop poll taken in August 1968, 53% of Americans believed that sending troops to Vietnam was a mistake.
Furthermore, the antiwar movement in Vietnam was effective, as it compelled the US administration to negotiate a peace settlement, remove its loyalist
troops, and end enlistment in early 1973 (Engler, 2018).
h. Paraphrased summary of research in criticism of protest: (Find two sources that CRITICISE protest; these sources can discuss this specific
protest or protest movement, or the act of protest more generally.)
Source 1: In his book entitled Rethinking the American Anti-War Effort, Simon Hall (2012) presents a complete lesson on the history of the American
campaign to end the Vietnam War. It provides the audience with a concise account of the important personalities and situations that shaped the campaign
to end the American war in Vietnam. Throughout his book, Hall (2012) condemns the antiwar campaign for failing to shorten the war's duration.
Although the protests that occurred during the invasion of Cambodia did not have an impact on President Richard Nixon's White House, this does not rule
out the possibility that protest played a role in the conclusion of the Vietnam War. The author contends that it is probable that the populace was simply fed
up with the war's length and horrific cost to human life. As a result, according to Hall (2012), the protests were an indicator, never a cause, of a deeper
shift in public sentiment about the war in Vietnam. As the public's endurance was being seriously challenged by the war's injustices, the White House only
paid attention to the antiwar campaign (Hall, 2012).

Source 2: Oussema Othmeni (2021) argues in his article “ the 60s Antiwar Movement in the US” where he demonstrated that in the 1960s the USA
witnessed a rise of culture that disapproved and opposed conventional standard. This war was unpredictable by the Americans and a popular
opposition of the Vietnam was unexampled. He stated that during this war, the US has changed their focus of the foreign policy and pauses the
spread of the communism and it is known as the containment strategy. This movement has been generated from the student moment or SDS. The
students were able to stay the vocal and active group who is rejecting and disapproving the notion of American military. This moments agenda was
to resolved around the promoting philosophy and demanding the end to military engagement in Vietnam. Thus, this war was occurred during the
1960s by the students or SDS.
i. Paraphrased summary of research in support of protest: (Find two sources that SUPPORT protest; these sources can discuss this specific protest
or protest movement, or the act of protest more generally.)
Source 1: In an article published on Khan Academy, Michelle Getchell (2017) states that the student movements that started in 1964 initially challenged
the limitations on freedom of speech imposed by the University of California. According to Getchell (2017), as US involvement in the Vietnam War
started increasing under Lyndon Johnson's presidency in 1965, the student movements shifted their focus and started emphasising antiwar sentiments. The
massive spending on the war led to a declining US economy that further triggered the students' political activism (Getchell, 2017). Moreover, Getchell
(2017) claims that the student movements restricted Johnson from further intensifying the US involvement in the Vietnam war. In 1968, when Richard
Nixon came into office, he also reduced the number of troops in Vietnam to address the social upheaval in the US. Similarly, the war draft was eliminated,
and a system to recruit volunteers for the Vietnam War was introduced, which were the major milestones achieved by the student protests (Getchell,
2017). Therefore, Getchell (2017) concludes that the students' antiwar protests played a vital role in compelling the US government to end their
involvement in the Vietnam War.
Source 2: In his online article published in the New York Times, Bill Zimmerman (2017) states that the antiwar movement in Vietnam, famous for its
raucous demonstrations, deserves credit for much more. According to Zimmerman (2017), the student protestors were part of America's first big antiwar
movement, and many people only know large marches and societal destruction. Zimmerman (2017) contends that perhaps the 10-year campaign in which
they participated was a complex phenomenon with shifting strategies as situations changed. As a result, the movement can be broken down into four
steps. Zimmerman (2017) asserts that university students who were born and raised in the civil rights movement in the South witnessed the ease with
which the authorities could turn a blind eye to the violence that they perpetrated. This was also the case for left-wing protesters who formed peaceful
groups in opposition to American foreign policy and even the Cold War. In the third stage, antiwar material was provided at military facilities to entice
antiwar troops, coffee shops were founded nearby, and G.I.s were aided in creating antiwar periodicals. Finally, fresh protestor organisations exposed
President Nixon's bombing raids, named the companies benefiting from that, denounced the treatment of political dissidents in Southern Vietnam's ‘tiger
cell’ jails, encouraged researchers to call for a stop to war studies, and condemned the use of toxic herbicides like Agent Orange in the last stages of the

conflict (Zimmerman, 2017). As a result, Zimmerman (2017) concludes that the protestors' various efforts bore fruit, and the campaign achieved its goal
of ending the war.
j. Reference List
Engler, M. (2018, December 16). Anti-war movements, from Vietnam to today | Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility.
Morningsidecenter.org. https://www.morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/anti-war-movements-vietnam-today
Getchell, M. (2017). The student movement and the antiwar movement. Khan Academy.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/us-history/postwarera/1960s-america/a/the-student-movement-and-the-antiwar-movement
Hall, S. (2012). Rethinking the American anti-war movement. Routledge. https://www.proquest.com/docview/1018174500
History.com. (2010, February 22). Vietnam War protests. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests
History.com. (2018, August 21). History of student protests. https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/history-of-student-protests
Israel, M. (2021). The beginnings of the Vietnam War and the antiwar movement. In Kill for peace (pp. 12–22). University of Texas Press.
Moyn, S. (2020). From antiwar politics to antitorture politics. In Law and war (pp. 154–197). Stanford University Press.
Schreiber, E. M. (1976). Anti-war demonstrations and American public opinion on the war in Vietnam. The British Journal of Sociology, 27(2), 225.
https://doi.org/10.2307/590029
Zimmerman, B. (2017, October 24). The four stages of the antiwar movement. The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/24/opinion/vietnam-antiwar-movement.html