1. The Anti-War Movement and the Counter-Culture
Changing opinions at home
Sections 20.3 and 21.1

2. 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
“We do not want an expanding struggle with consequences no one can foresee…Nor will we bluster, bully, or flaunt our power. But we will not surrender, nor will we retreat.” - LBJ

3. Causes of the Anger The Draft Deferments 1,500,000 men
College kids exempt
Most draftees are poor and working class

4. 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

5. 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

6. Oct. 1967: Stop the Draft Week
Some draft-eligible men burn their draft cards
1969 – pressure building, draft boards switch to a lottery system

7. Colleges Come to Represent Resistance
College enrollment rises from 2,000,000 to 8,000,000 from
Upper middle class, white students now start to resist
Pushed by liberal professors
Students join protests

8. Anti-War Demonstrations

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. Results of Tet US really wins Tet US View – Vietnam is unwinnable
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

14. The “Credibility Gap”
Many Americans distrust the optimistic statements about the war from the politicians
Pessimism and anti-war feelings grow

15. 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)

16. 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

17. The Hard Hat Riot in NYC 8 May 1970
Pro and Anti-War rallies clash in NYC

18. 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

19. 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

20. Hippies Chinese opium dens = bruises on hips = hippies
Use of drugs to escape boundaries of society
Free love and peace

21. The Sexual Revolution Wanted to separate sex from marriage
Communes developed where everything was shared

22. Haight-Ashbury “Capital” of hippy drug culture in San Francisco
“Tune in” to hippie culture, “turn on” to drugs, and “tune out” mainstream culture

23. 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?

24. Woodstock 1969 – 3 day rock concert/festival
Gathering for the whole hippy movement
Seen as proof that people can live in harmony

26. 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

27. 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)

28. The Signal to End the War?
The 1968 Election
The Signal to End the War?

29. 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

30. 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?”

31. Two More Deaths MLK Jr. – April 1968 Robert F. Kennedy – June 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)

32. 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!!

33. 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)