Nick Katsavrias
Vietnam protestors ’67-‘69
With intentions to cut and prevent the spread of Communism, something that the United States were against and still are, we entered ourselves in the Vietnam
War. We fought with South Vietnam against North Vietnam who wanted Vietnam to become united under communist rule. The Vietnam War started somewhere near
1955, but United States did not join until the early 1960’s. The Viet Cong and the
Vietnam People’s Army fought against Allies. Viet Cong fought us in unconventional ways, in ways that we were heavily unready for. The Vietnam People’s Army fought us in ways of conventional war tactics, as the United States and South Vietnamese relied on air support, heavy firepower, and many forces. Fighting this war, from everything I have ever heard about it, was incredibly frustrating. This is because we fought in the jungle that was our enemies trap and maze. The Viet Cong set booby traps, hid in brush, traveled through underground tunnels, and ambushed. It was like fighting in someone else’s territory. Something that Lyndon B. Johnson and the armed forces didn’t expect to be faced against. But our traditional tactics turned out to have lots of flaws in a jungle against jungle-trained enemies. Over 1,000,000 soldiers died all together and 2,500,000 civilians with millions more injured
(Rosenburg p. 1).
The protests about the Vietnam War didn’t begin at the very start, but as the draft increased from 3,000 a month to 33,000 a month, young men were very rightfully starting to get angered. One of the first signs of protest was the people who tore up or burned their draft paper. Most famous person to do this was

Muhammad Ali, which had an effect on the American people. Vietnam War was expected to be painless, because we felt that a wealthy nation would have no problem stomping around a under developed country, which wasn’t at all the case.
As American deaths started to increase heavily in 1968, with 562 deaths in one week, massacres of allied civilians often were recorded about U.S. troops. Blanket bombing raids ordered by the U.S., killed innocent children of all parts of Vietnam.
At this time America was split 50% in voting for support of the war. The other half that were disgusted by the war either kept their disgust to themselves or protested and let themselves be heard (Trueman p. 1).
In ’66 50,000 protestors rallied in NYC while 100,000 protested in
Washington D.C. a year after. The young generation, the baby boomers, were hurt and effected in perhaps the most emotional way. This is mostly because there peers, their friends, and fellow generation were being drafted to fight against these deadly enemies. The hallmarks of these protesters were loud, powerful, and emotional, being heard by the government. These protestors that were in the United States practiced music, love, art, and unity. Their tools were picket fences with loud powerful messages written on them. Men and women accompanied picket fences with numbers and voice. Problems that faced the people protesting peace during
1967-1969 included prior civil rights conflicts (Treuman p. 1). Protests set those problems aside for a greater purpose. I wasn’t alive when this was going on, but if I was I can imagine what I would feel like. The safety of the youth was at jeopardy and the safety of many loved ones was tossed into a very controversial war. This brought out the love, creativity, spirit, morality, and the feel for peace. The people

that protested were confident to stand up, as young men got drafted and exposed to hell in Vietnam. As the brave men that went to Vietnam fought, the remaining youth that we generalize as the baby boomers brought some beautiful art to the world.

Works Cited
Rosenburg, Jennifer. "Vietnam War." About.com 20th Century History.
About.com, 2012. Web. 27 Sept. 2012. http://history1900s.about.com/od/vietnamwar/a/vietnamwar.htm
Trueman, Christopher. "My Lai Massacre." My Lai Massacre. History Learning
Site, 2012. Web. 27 Sept. 2012.
<http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/my_lai_massacre.htm>..