Transcript Doubt For the War Grows

Doubt Grows
• Congress now began to question what LBJ’s
administration was reporting
• Communities wanted their boys back
• Men began draft-protesting
• Quickly it will evolve into this:
1st Draft Card Burning: 10/16/65:
In a demonstration staged by the student-run National Coordinating Committee to End
the War in Vietnam, the first public burning of a draft card takes place.
100,000 people in 40 cities across the country arrived in New York, David Miller, a
young Catholic pacifist, became the first U.S. war protestor to burn his draft card in
direct violation of a recently passed law forbidding such acts. Agents from the Federal
Bureau of Investigation later arrested him; he was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to
two years imprisonment.
• Check out this old-timey 1967 “breaking news” bulletin (nat’l archives)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBZpENDHYxE
Teach-Ins: an extended meeting/class
held to discuss a social/political issue
What do we do when something happens to a student or community
member? What about lockdowns & shelter-in-place drills?
March 1965: University of Michigan- teachers & students abandon their
classes to talk about the war & why they oppose/support the idea of it.
By May, 122 colleges nationally begin to do the same thing.
Reasons for Opposing the War:
• Civil war the U.S. had no
place in
• S. Vietnam seen as a
corrupt dictatorship &
defending them in any
way was immoral
• Anger at the draft
– Sometimes, college
students could defer
serving until graduating
– This targeted poor men
who couldn’t afford
college
– Many minorities served &
died
“Somehow this madness must cease. We
must stop now. I speak as a child of God and
brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I
speak for those whose land is being laid
waste, whose homes are being destroyed,
whose culture is being subverted. I speak for
the poor of America who are paying the
double price of smashed hopes at home and
death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a
citizen of the world, for the world as it stands
aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as
an American to the leaders of my own nation.
The great initiative in this war is ours. The
initiative to stop it must be ours.” - MLK 1967
The War Begins to Escalate
• Draft calls now increased & all
men were at risk
• 50,000 men refused to go or
didn’t report
– 1965-68 = 3,000+ men
persecuted for refusing
• Prison was a welcomed
alternative
• Some moved to Canada or
Sweden
• Many publically burned draft
cards
1971: voting age is now
nationally set at 18
(vs. by state)
“So, I can kill a
man but I can’t
enjoy a beer or
properly leave
education behind?
If I’m old enough
to fight… then I’m
old enough to
vote”
One of the Most Famous Images in U.S. History:
An Unexpected Poll Result: 1967
Although antiwar protesting became HUGE, this didn’t represent majority opinion.
68% of respondents favored continuing the war
32% wanted to end it
Many criticized the 32% for a lack of patriotism
Questions YOU should be wondering: who took the poll & is this a lack of patriotism if
it’s not an attack on our country? What do you think?
• By 1968 the nation seems to be divided
• Doves: those who wanted the U.S. to withdraw
from Vietnam
• Hawks: those who insisted the U.S. stay & fight
• Which would YOU be? Why? Let’s take a tally!
The Turning Point: 1968
THE TET OFFENSIVE
• January 30, 1968
• Tet is taking place (Vietnamese New Year)
• Vietcong & the North Vietnamese (NVA) launch a MASSIVE
surprise attack
• Tet Offensive: guerrilla fighters attacked almost all U.S.
airbases in S. Vietnam & most of the South’s major
cities/capitals
Tet Offensive Cont’d…
• Bloodiest battle: Hue, S.
Vietnam’s 3rd largest city
• It took 4 weeks to drive out the
Communists
• U.S. troops found mass graves of
massacred:
–
–
–
–
–
political/religious leaders
Foreigners & visitors
Teachers & doctors
3,000 bodies found
Thousands more remained missing
“It seems more certain
than ever that the
bloody experience in
Vietnam is to end in a
stalemate” – Walter Cronkite
• People start to dislike LBJ (finally!)
• His approval rating drops to a 35%; war approval = 26%
• LBJ recognizes this & decides to NOT run for president in
the 1968 elections
Nixon(R) Wins the Presidency for 3
Main Reasons:
1. People associated turmoil with Democratic party (Riots at Dem.
Convention; (D) candidate Robert Kennedy assassinated by
Arab Nationalist Sirhan Sirhan!
2. Nixon promised to unify the nation & restore order
3. He said he had a plan to “end the war”
(with no details… but this provided hope to skeptics)