Protesters and the Draft During the Vietnam War Mariah Sullivan Mindy Smith Paul Bailey John Workman

The Beginning When the Vietnam War first started there were very few people who opposed the war. Some that did oppose the war believed the best way to stop the seemingly continues spread of communism is not to

The Draft During the draft, the baby boomers were at the center. People believed that the draft was unfair because the rich could escape the draft. Many people left to go to Canada. The United States arrested people who avoided the draft.

What is a Draft Dodger? “Draft evasion” is a failure to comply with the draft policies of one's country. Some things that do not break the law or are based on “conciencious objection” are sometimes referred to as "draft avoidance." Refusing to submit to the draft is considered a criminal offence in most countries.

Canada Bound Research shows 209,517 cases of accused draft offenders and 100,000 discharges for absence offenses. In the early 1970s, the U.S. made great use of measures to reduce the embarrassing numbers.

The March On Washington 250,000 had paraded on Pennsylvania Avenue and had attended an antiwar rally at the Washington Monument. Other city officials said aerial photographs would later show that the crowd had exceeded 300,000. At dusk, after the mass demonstration had ended, a small segment of the crowd, members of radical splinter groups, moved across Constitution Avenue to the Labor and Justice Department buildings, where they burned United States flags, threw paint bombs and other missiles and were repelled by tear gas released by the police.

VIETNAM WAR PROTESTS Opposition to the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s grew into the most extensive antiwar movement in American history. Public protests against the war began slowly in the early 1960s with a handful of demonstrations in large cities and on college campuses and grew rapidly after 1964 as the American military presence in Vietnam increased to over five hundred thousand American combat troops.

By the late 1960s Vietnam War protests attracted several hundred thousand participants at locations throughout the nation. Although antiwar demonstrations were somewhat limited in Oklahoma prior to 1970, the Sooner State was the focus of one federal government effort to minimize the influence of radical student groups and dissident activities. In response to the emergence of the Students for a Democratic Society and other radical groups on college campuses, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover authorized a number of countermeasures in an attempt to "disrupt" and discredit dissident activity.

In 1968 the FBI fabricated and distributed a letter to Oklahoma newspapers that was supposedly written by the parent of an Oklahoma State University (OSU) student. The letter complained about the "immoral character" and criminal activities of members of the Students for a Democratic Society at OSU and the University of Oklahoma (OU).

The Existent of the Protests November 1965, Norman Morrison, followed the example of Buddhist monks and burned himself to death to protest the war. Later on two other pacifists followed his lead to protest the war.

Others Opposed Many black communities in the south opposed the war this was because they where still not able to vote in their states, intern many of the black citizens did not want to fight for something they don’t have themselves. Muhammad Ali was one of many distinguished black men to protest the war.

Sources /entries/v/vi005.html test.htm 10/03/11/vietnam-draft-dodgers/