Responses to the Vietnam War

The Draft ► Selective Service System or “draft”  Started during WW1  All males register at age 18 with local draft board  Unless excluded for medical reasons, men 18–26 could be called into military service

The Draft ► Some tried to avoid or manipulate the draft system:  Sympathetic doctors to grant medical exceptions  change residence to be in zone with a lenient draft board  join the National Guard or Coast Guard to stay in US  enrolled in college to get a deferment (put off military service) ► Most college students tended to be white, affluent males; so 80% of U.S. soldiers come from lower economic levels ► Draft resistance  200,000 accused of draft offenses  Some men burn draft cards, some refuse to serve  Up to 10,000 fled to Canada  Some were willing to go to jail (from months to years)  4,000 imprisoned  Nixon didn’t phase out the draft until the 1970s.

Working Class Draft ► “I’m bitter.... It’s people like us who give up our sons for the country.... The college types, the professors, they go to Washington and tell the government what to do.... But their sons, they don’t end up in the swamps over there in Vietnam. No sir. They’re deferred, because they’re in school. Or they get sent to safe places... firefighter quoted in Working-Class War

► African Americans serve in disproportionate numbers in ground combat (most deadly form)  20% of American combat deaths despite the fact that they were only 10% of the U.S. population  MLK Jr. calls it “cruel irony” that so many African Americans dying for a country that was still discriminating against them.  Defense Dept. corrects problem by instituting draft lottery in 1969 ► Racial tensions high in many platoons Women ► Could not serve in combat ► 10,000 women serve, mostly as military nurses ► Thousands volunteer for the Red Cross, United Services Organization African Americans

Troop Morale ► Morale: the condition of the feelings of a person or group ► The morale of troops steadily sinks as war wears on:  Many had been drafted, not volunteered  Guerrilla warfare is stressful  Jungle conditions are harsh  Lack of progress / accomplishment  Many soldiers turn to alcohol, drugs – major heroin problem  U.S. government negotiates a withdrawal while soldiers are told to keep fighting  Increasing number of POWs / MIAs – held for years and tortured ► Another problem: the extensive government corruption and instability in South Vietnam - Creates a civil war within a civil war – South Vietnam fighting its own people and fighting communist North Vietnam

Economic Impact ► As war grew more costly, the economy begins to suffer = inflation rate rising from 2% to 5.5% ► LBJ asks for tax increase to pay for war ► Has to accept $6 billion funding cut for Great Society social programs

Why protest?  Vietnam seen as a civil war that the U.S. had no business being involved in  South Vietnam (repressive, undemocratic) seen as just as bad as North Vietnam  Criticize the U.S. for trying to be the world’s police while draining the country of money / resources  Some saw the war as morally unjust  Credibility gap – what the government said wasn’t always true  Increasing death toll and the draft

The “Living-Room” War ► Americans know more about the war because of media ► First war to be documented through TV ► Combat footage on TV news shows reality of war / contradicted the government’s optimistic stance (Westmoreland continued to report that a Vietcong surrender was imminent – there was a “light at the end of the tunnel”) = credibility gap  Show body bags (between 1961 – ,000 had died) ► By the time of the Tet offensive in 1968, the country is split in support for the war and main stream media had started to criticize.

War Divides the Nation ► Doves strongly oppose war, believe U.S. should withdraw ► Hawks favor sending greater forces to win the war

The Roots of Opposition ► Some returning veterans begin to protest ► Singers like Peter, Paul and Mary perform protest songs (many were folk singers)  (Other singers like Barry McGuire) Most popular song in September of 1965 was “Eve of Destruction” ► Students had become more politically active during the Civil Rights Movement / more aware of political decisions that affected their life ► “New Left” - youth movement of 1960s, demand sweeping changes to American society  Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) 1960 – called for a restoration of “participatory democracy” and fought against the influence of corporations  Free Speech Movement (FSM) ► criticize big business, government; want greater individual freedom ► Campus Activism  “New Left” ideas spread across colleges  Students protest campus issues; become focused on Vietnam

Protest Movements ► 1965:  Protests on campuses – teachers and students have “teach ins” (like a sit in)  Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) organizes 20,000 person march on Washington in April; by November a protest drew 30,000 ► 1966:  student deferment is changed to require good academic standing in order not to be drafted  SDS calls for civil disobedience (protests at Selective Service Centers); counsels students to flee to Canada

Demonstrators in Berkeley, California march against the war in Vietnam in December of (AP Photo) ##

► 1967:  500,000 protest in NYC … “hell no, we won’t go” burn draft cards  75,000 at demonstration at the Lincoln Memorial in DC ► 30,000 march to the Pentagon; broke past police line and got tear-gassed and beaten. 1,500 injured and 700 arrested ► BUT majority of Americans support war, consider protesters disloyal / unpatriotic – even call it an act of “disloyalty”  “America, love it or leave it.”

Anti-war protesters gather by the Reflecting Pool with the Washington Monument in the background, in Washington D.C. on Oct. 21, (AP Photo)

1968 – year of turmoil ► April: MLK Jr. assassination  Riots in over 100 cities ► June: Robert Kennedy assassinated  Hotel kitchen; by Sirhan Sirhan who said he was angry about Kennedy’s support of Isreal ► Major anti-war demonstrations on over 100 college campuses ► 40,000 + students and 200 protests ► August: Protestors at Democratic National Convention in Chicago – ► Want the Democrats to adopt an anti-war position ► ends in a bloody riot between police and protestors; police use mace and clubs; captured on video

1969 ► October 15: 1 st Moratorium  Protest march in DC with 250,000 people  first time brought out America's middle class and middle-aged voters, in large numbers. Oct 17, 1969

November 15, 1969 the 2 nd Moratorium ► march on D.C. which attracted over 500,000 demonstrators against the war, including many performers and activists on stage at a rally across from the White House ► Over 40,000 people walked past the White House where protestors walked single file all evening, each calling out the name of a dead soldier as he or she reached the sidewalk directly in front of the White House.

Violence on Campus ► Kent State Protest  In protest of the Invasion of Cambodia, a massive student protest at Kent State led to the burning of the ROTC building  In response, the mayor called in the National Guard  On May, 4, 1970, the Guards fired live ammunition into a crowd of campus protesters who were throwing rocks at them ► Wounded nine people and killed four, including two who had not even participated in the rally  Surveys show the division in America ► Some reported that they sided with the National Guard saying that the students “got what they were asking for”

Demonstrators tend to fallen student John Cleary after he was shot and wounded by the Ohio National Guard on the campus of Kent State University May He survived. Four students were killed and nine wounded during a demonstration.

Violence on Campus ► Jackson State University, Mississippi ► May 14-15, 1970 ► A group of student protesters were confronted by the police and National Guardsmen.  The police opened fire killing two students and injuring twelve.

Pro-government demonstrations ► In the weeks after Kent State, "hard hats" (slang for workers in construction and the building trades) staged a series of demonstrations in support of Nixon. ► In one New York city demonstration, the "hardhats" attacked a group of antiwar demonstrators.