The Anti-War Movement and the

Counter-CultureChanging opinions at home

Sections 20.3 and 21.1

Anger for the Escalation• 1965 – less than a

year after the start, Johnson issues a draft for 17,000-35,000 men per month

• Casualty lists broadcasted every night

• Congressional opposition begins to grow in the gov’t– Hawks vs. Doves

Causes of the Anger• The Draft– 1,500,000 men

• Deferments – College kids

exempt– Most draftees

are poor and working class

Minority Frustration with the System

• Because deferments, African Americans made up almost 10% of the army but had 20% of the casualties early in the war

• Less likely to be officers• More likely to be

posted in combat positions

MLK Jr. Speaks Against the War

• Vietnam was hurting the War on Poverty

• The Irony: as African Americans received gov’t aid on the one hand, they were injured by the gov’t on the other– Mohammad Ali

refused to fight

Oct. 1967: Stop the Draft Week

• Some draft-eligible men burn their draft cards

• 1969 – pressure building, draft boards switch to a lottery system

Colleges Come to Represent Resistance

• College enrollment rises from 2,000,000 to 8,000,000 from 1946-1970– Upper middle class,

white students now start to resist

– Pushed by liberal professors

– Students join protests

Anti-War Demonstrations

Students for a Democratic Society

• SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) founded at University of Michigan in 1960 to combat racism– Became anti-war leader– By 1964 – SDS organized

campus “teach-ins” to spread the movement

The Free Speech Movement

• UC Berkeley banned organizing off campus political activities while on campus

• 1964 – student arrested and FSM (Free Speech Movement) surrounds police car for 36 hour sit-in

The Weather Underground• Radically Anti-War– Thought SDS was

too weak and slow

– Bombed the Pentagon, US Capitol, and other gov’t buildings

– Got Marxist and urban war training

The Tet Offensive

• 30 January 1968• Truce called on Tet

(Vietnamese New Year)– VC pretend to bury dead

but carried guns in the coffins into cities

– All across South Vietnam – massive, coordinated attack

– Tet was put down but looked bad on TV

Results of Tet• US really wins Tet

– Media shows the carnage and it is taken as a loss by the citizens at home

– Turning point of Public Opinion for the war• Fuels anti-war movement

• US View – Vietnam is unwinnable

• VC View – the people would lead a popular uprising…nope– VC kills thousands, turning

Vietnamese opinion against them

The “Credibility Gap”• Many Americans

distrust the optimistic statements about the war from the politicians

• Pessimism and anti-war feelings grow

The March Against Death• 13 November 1969• 250,000 march on

Washington holding name cards of dead soldiers

• One of the leaders…Dr. Benjamin Spock

• Organization – New Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam (NMCEWV)

The US Invasion of Cambodia

• US tries to cut Ho Chi Minh Trail

• 4 May 1970 – Kent State Shootings– 4 killed by

National Guard as students riot

The Hard Hat Riot in NYC• 8 May 1970 • Pro and Anti-War

rallies clash in NYC

The Counter-Culture• The Beat Movement of

the 1950s combined with the 1960s politics = – Those who rejected

America’s mainstream values

– Different in dress, music, behavior

Values of the Counter-Culture

• Don’t trust anyone over 30

• Drugs lead to enlightenment

• Music = cultural revolution

• Personal freedom of expression

• Make Love, Not War

Hippies• Chinese opium

dens = bruises on hips = hippies

• Use of drugs to escape boundaries of society

• Free love and peace

The Sexual Revolution

• Wanted to separate sex from marriage

• Communes developed where everything was shared

Haight-Ashbury• “Capital” of hippy drug

culture in San Francisco• “Tune in” to hippie

culture, “turn on” to drugs, and “tune out” mainstream culture

Eastern Spirituality

• Interest in non-Western religions grew in Counter Culture (rejection of Western values and customs)– Buddhism and a return to

“primitivism” (living off the grid)• Does this lead to

environmentalism?

Woodstock

• 1969 – 3 day rock concert/festival

• Gathering for the whole hippy movement

• Seen as proof that people can live in harmony

Nixon’s Silent Majority Speech

• Nov 1969 – Nixon gave a speech to assure the “Silent Majority” that the vocal minority would not pull the nation apart

The Death of the 60s• Altamount – Rolling Stones

hire Hell’s Angels to provide security

• Charles Manson – his “family” brutally murder American “mainstream” movie star family

• Death of rockers by drug overdoses makes drugs less appealing (Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison)

The 1968 Election

The Signal to End the War?

The Winds of Change…• Clark Clifford takes over for

Secretary of Defense– McNamara had a “change of

heart” about the war• Westmoreland wants more

troops to fight the war– Clifford looks at Vietnam– Tells LBJ to pursue PEACE

over VICTORY

1968 Democratic Primary• Politically weakened, LBJ

challenged by Anti-War candidates Eugene McCarthy and Robert Kennedy

• March 1968 – LBJ announces he won’t run for reelection – “Hey, Hey LBJ! How many kids

did you kill today?”

Two More Deaths• MLK Jr. – April 1968 – Outspoken critic of the war

(killed by James Earl Ray)• Robert F. Kennedy – June

1968– Killed while campaigning in

California by Palestinian Sirhan Sirhan • Revenge for Israeli support)

The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago

• As convention starts, anti-war protests begin– Mayor Daly orders the

National Guard and police to the scene

• Democrats elect pro-war VP Hubert Humphrey over anti-war Eugene McCarthy– VIOLENCE!!

A Disunited Front• The chaos at the convention

strengthens Nixon’s (R) candidacy– Promises “Peace with

Honor” in Vietnam– Vowed to represent the

silent, peaceful majority in US

– Southern Strategy• Splits S. Democrats who want

peace and order• Gov. Wallace splits Democratic

vote (yes he is still a racist)