Antiwar Poster
Chapter 29, Section 3
“The Vietnam War Ends”
A Growing Antiwar Movement
• as the war escalated in
the mid-1960’s antiwar
feelings grew
• college students made
up a large and vocal
group that opposed
the war
• middle and upper class
youths avoided the
draft by going to
college or getting
released for medical or
religious beliefs
270 walked out of graduation
ceremonies at New York University
(NYU) to protest the presentation
of an honorary degree to Robert
McNamara, then the Secretary of
Defense and responsible for U.S.
forces waging war in Vietnam.
Student Protesters
• Students for a Democratic
Society – the largest and most
influential radical student
organization of the 1960s that
grew with the escalation of
the Vietnam War
• Hippies – as they became
frustrated when the war
lingered on, these young
people chose to drop out of
mainstream society and build
a counterculture based on
individual freedom, nonviolence, and communal
sharing
University of Wisconsin Protests
Protests were not uncommon on the UW-Madison campus well
before the first violent one in October of 1967. Here, a May 1966
rally drew 6,000 students to Bascom Hall to hear the university
chancellor promise a review of the university's cooperation with
the Selective Service draft. The Selective Service had announced
that draft deferments would be based on academic performance.
Anti-war demonstrators jam a corridor in Bascom Hall at
UW-Madison in February 1967, the first protest against
Dow Chemical Co.'s recruiting efforts.
When UW-Madison students
tried to prevent Dow Chemical,
manufacturer of napalm, from
recruiting on campus in October
of 1967 the Madison police
were called in. They used tear
gas and billy clubs to break up
the protests.
Bascom Hall, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1968,
with crosses placed on the hill by students protesting
the Vietnam war, and a sign saying:
"BASCOM MEMORIAL CEMETERY, CLASS OF 1968"
In 1970, radicals
bombed Sterling Hall
on the Madison
campus, which
housed the Army
Math Research
Center, killing a
student and, as a
result, hastening an
end to anti-war
protests on campus.
A Growing Antiwar Movement
• an disproportionately high
numbers of African
Americans fought in the war
• antiwar movement linked to
the civil rights movement
(leaders like Martin Luther
King, Jr. spoke out against the
war)
• doves – those who opposed
the war
• hawks – those who were in
favor of the war
Nation's top Negro athletes gather to hear Muhammad Ali (formerly
Cassius Clay) give his reasons for rejecting the draft, June 4, 1967
(Bill Russell, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar)
"No, I am not going 10,000 miles to help murder, kill, and burn
other people to simply help continue the domination of white
slave-masters over dark people the world over. This is the day
and age when such evil injustice must come to an end."
—Muhammad Ali
The “Television War”
When news anchor Walter
Cronkite came out against the
war President Johnson said “If
I’ve lost Cronkite, I have lost
middle America.” (1968)
• The Vietnam War was the first
U.S. war that was televised.
• Americans could watch events
in Vietnam, and they were
shocked by what they saw.
• The coverage of the Tet
Offensive in particular turned
many against the war, as they
saw it as un-winnable.
Presidential
Election of 1968
• Eugene McCarthy ran against
President Lyndon Johnson for the
Democratic Party’s nomination for
President and nearly won the first
primary (New Hampshire) running
an anti-war campaign
• Lyndon Johnson announced he
would not seek re-election
• Robert Kennedy, the favorite to be
the Democratic Party candidate for
president, was assassinated after
winning the California primary
election
• Hubert Humphrey (Johnson’s VicePresident) won the Democratic
nomination for President while war
protesters outside the convention
hall in Chicago were clubbed by
police
Richard
Nixon on the
campaign
trail in 1968
Richard Nixon –
• He vowed to end
the chaos here in
the U.S. and the
war in Vietnam
• He won the
Republican
nomination for
president
• He then won the
1968 Presidential
Election over
Humphrey by a
large margin
Nixon’s Vietnam Strategy
• Vietnamization –
Nixon’s strategy in 1969
calling for gradual
withdrawal of U.S.
troops and turning the
fighting over to the
South Vietnamese
• Nixon expanded the
war into Cambodia to
stop N. Vietnam from
moving troops and
supplies on the Ho Chi President Nixon explains to the nation why
Minh Trail there
we need to expand the war into Cambodia
Kent State
Kent State shootings – on
May 1-4, 1970 at Kent State
University in Ohio antiwar
demonstrations were held
(the first was held in response
to Nixon’s widening the war
into Cambodia)
The Ohio Governor called in
National Guard troops, who
used tear gas on the crowds
and on May 4th they opened
fire on students killing 4
(1) On Friday, May 1st an antiwar protest began in response to
Pres. Nixon’s bombing of Cambodia, and that night there were
several incidents involving violence and the police
(2) On May 2nd another antiwar protest led to the burning
down of the ROTC building on campus (which was very old
and scheduled to be demolished anyway)
(3) On Sunday, May 3, approximately 1,000 National Guard
soldiers were on campus. Some students helped clean up
damage from the previous night's activities, but other
students continued to hold protests. The soldiers continued
to break up these demonstrations, including threatening
students with bayonets.
(4) On Monday, May 4th classes resumed and
another antiwar protest was scheduled for
noon; National Guardsmen above prepare to
march on campus toward the protest
(5) the soldiers move in toward students
(6) Tear gas is used on the students, and some of the
protestors threw the tear gas canisters, along with
rocks back at the soldiers
(7) Students run for cover as the National Guardsmen
start firing, and four students are killed
• Pentagon Papers –
documents released in 1971 to
the New York Times that
showed that presidents prior to
Nixon were not honest about
U.S. involvement and goals in
Vietnam, which made
Americans question their govt.
and leaders even more
• Democratic candidate for
President in 1972, George
McGovern, was a outspoken
opponent of the Vietnam War
• Nixon needed to make good
on his promise to end the war
fast to win re-election
Withdrawal from Vietnam
• promising peace was at hand
right before the election,
Nixon won re-election in 1972
in a landslide
• U.S. and S. Vietnam signed a
peace agreement with N.
Vietnam and the Viet Cong
that ended the war in
January, 1973
• civil war between Vietcong
and South Vietnam’s govt.
continued shortly after US
troops left
• in 1975 N. Vietnam invaded
and conquered S. Vietnam
unifying the nation under
communism
U.S. National Security Advisor,
Henry Kissinger (right) shaking
hands with North Vietnam’s Le
Duc Tho in Paris after their
agreement on the cease-fire
terms of the Vietnam War, 1973.
• the war destroyed Vietnam’s
landscape and economy, and
over 1.2 million Vietnamese
soldiers died (2 mill. civilians)
• after Vietnam was reunited
under communism many
Vietnamese from the south
fled to the U.S.
• 58,000 U.S. soldiers died;
over 300,000 were wounded
• returning soldiers often
suffered from post-traumatic
Most soldiers who returned
stress disorder which had
from the war were not
symptoms like recurring
welcomed home like soldiers
nightmares, depression,
from previous wars, and many
fatigue, and flashbacks
Legacy of the
Vietnam War
took part in antiwar protests
• 26th Amendment – lowered the
voting age from 21 to 18
• govt. ended the draft in 1973 as
so many people were opposed
to it
• War Powers Act – limits the
president’s war-making powers
– President must report to
Congress in 48 hours if
troops are used
– President needs Congress’
approval to use troops for
more than 90 days
• war made many Americans
mistrust their govt.
Vietnam
Veterans
Memorial
unveiled in
Washington
DC in 1982