US protests against the Vietnam War

Reason behind war questioned:

- US Govt. said 'To protect democracy/freedom from Comm.'

--> Public disagreed:

- 1971, Pentagon Papers published (showed Govt.'s confusion & how they had lied to & misled public repeatedly)

-US had backed Diem, an undemocratic, unpopular and corrupt leader

--> Residents unsure why they had to fight for something they couldn't really control

- Especially with the knowledge that the Govt. was unsure why they were fighting too

Walter Cronkite

"Most trusted man in America"  ////  'If we lose Cronkite we lose the American people' - LBJ

News reporter on CBS with 11mil.+ views

--> Public believed what he said, influenced morale

TV's

V War = 1st colour-televised war

50mil.+ homes owned TV's  --> Viewers had more insight into war: tactics, blood, gore, damage

Journalists

--> Able to take more pictures and videos of the war than before & publish due to little censorship

--> Showed brutality, influenced opinions

Govt. appeared to think human life in Asia = expendable

--> My Lai //// Search & Destroy, Zippo Raids //// Carpet bombing = brutal, random & unnecessary

Public didn't want to support this

--> Chemical warfare

-Threat to civilians   -Threat to jungle

--> Resulted in high casualties

--> Veterens returned saying it wasn't worth it

CIA method of torture to seek out and kill VC members

--> Meant to be secret but public were aware of it - felt lied to (again)

Aim: To identify and arrest 3,000 VC / month --> Total suspects arrested = 28,000. (Many VC, many not)

Torture

Brutal & inhumane - public disliked info. extraction methods

-6" wood tapped through ear to brain until dead

-Imprisoned

-Starved

-Electrocuted

New form of protest

--> Showed public's disapproval

-Anti-war lyrics 

Hendrix made war-like sounds with his guitar

Event posters

--> 'Peace' written in white  --> War scenes

Had experienced war first hand - if they were protesting showed public were on the right side

-Threw away medals

-Joined marches against the war

-Started foundations that stressed the war wasn't worth it

-Burnt draft cards

-Fled to Canada to escape the draft

Students would be drafted as soon as they finished their course

-Made sure no student failed to stop them being drafted earlier

Students rallied outside to protest 

-War

-Draft

-Extension of war to Cambodia

May 4th, 1970

Guards opened fire at close proximity

Said had rubber bullets at first then ran out

4 dead, 9 wounded

All black school

Police & state highway patrol men fired automatic weapons into a dormitory

--> Without warning

May 14th, 1970

2 dead, 12 wounded

Media

Kent State majorly represented in media, Jackson State not so much

--> Many black people felt the killing of white students was taken more seriously

Kent & Jackson killings showed Govt. had turned against own children - public on the right side

-Ethnic minorities more likely to be drafted than whites

-Black people were fighting for freedom in Asia --> something they didn't have themselves in US

-Black people suffered from poverty more than most groups --> poor most likely to be drafted

--> LBJ raised income taxes & cut back on poverty-dealing programme as war cost $66mil. / day

MLK

--> Supporters followed his anti-war (pacifist) beliefs

Muhammed Ali

--> Didn't go to war, evaded draft - lost World Title, banned from boxing for 3yrs, sent to prison, fined $10,000