Purchase Solution

Student Unrest and the Vietnam War

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Please help me so that I can complete the following assignment -

Write a word paper addressing the following points:

Describe the connection between student unrest and the Vietnam War, noting how each affected the other.

Explain the political and social outcomes of the end of the Vietnam War.

Use at least two resources to support your response; one related to the connection of student unrest and the war, and another related to the political and social outcomes of the war.

Format paper according to APA guidelines.

Purchase this Solution

Solution Summary

The political and social outcomes of the Vietnam War and the connection and relation of student unrest and the war.

Solution Preview

STUDENT UNREST:
The early 20th century also saw the rise of Ho Chi Min, a young student who prescribed to leftist doctrines and whose dream was to lead his people and Vietnam into independence. As eventual head of the Vietminh guerrilla movement, and with help from British, Chinese and American allies, he would succeed in 1945. But France wasn't willing to forget about Vietnam. Revolution would eventually divide the beleaguered country into North and South and initiate a decades-long and bloody conflict that would not only include France, China and Japan but the United States as well.

Seven presidents were involved with decisions that impacted America's presence in Vietnam: Truman, Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon and Ford. Harry Truman initially supported France's dispute with communist leader Ho Chi Min in the early 1950's. During the Eisenhower and Kennedy terms America's presence increased, politically, economically and militarily.The OSS, now the CIA, was also deeply involved with covert intelligence operations as early as 1944, not only in Vietnam but in neighboring countries.

By 1959 Vietnam was divided into North and South and in July of that same year 2 American soldiers died after a Viet Cong attack in Bien Hoa. Continued unrest within Vietnam escalated into revolts against the repressive regime and the highly publicised self-immolations of Buddhist monks, their deaths also protests against the strict regime . In November of 1963 a military coup toppled president Ngo Dinh Diem's government and the next day he and his brother were assassinated. Events were leading inexorably to full scale war and by August of 1964, after the North Vietnamese attacked an American destroyer, Congress gave Lyndon Johnson carte blanche authority to initiate troop movements into Vietnam.

It wasn't until Johnson began his massive bombing campaign against North Vietnam in 1965 that the Antiwar Movement actually found its roots and dug in. Words like "counter culture", "establishment", "nonviolence", "pacification", "draft-dodger", "free love", "Kent State", and "Woodstock" were added to the American vocabulary. It was the beginning of the hippie generation, the sexual revolution and the drug culture. The country's youth, the ones dying in the line fire, began demanding answers to America's high profile presence in Vietnam. They wanted to know why peace talks were organized and continually failed. They wanted to know what they were fighting for. Extensive media coverage brought the violent and bloody guerrilla war home each night to every American living room. People realized that the glowing reviews of the war effort their government had been releasing were "sanitized" and far from the truth. Even congressional senators began questioning Vietnam policies. Through it all the bombings continued and more and more of America's young GI's came home in body bags.

Once the draft was introduced young people on college and university campuses all around the country began to organize protests against the war. Teach-ins and student organizations like the SDS (Students for a Democratic Society) held rallies and marches, the first of which happened in Washington in April of 1965. Over the next 2 years the anti-war movement snow balled. Activists, celebrities and musicians like Abbie Hoffmann, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Jane Fonda, Jefferson Airplane, and countless others took up the Anti-war cause and waved Anti-war banners. Their speeches and their music reflected the anger and hopelessness that Americans felt over the Vietnam war. Even the GI's stationed overseas began supporting the Anti-war movement in whatever capacity they could, from wearing peace symbols to refusing to obey orders.

By 1967 America was mired in its own urban problems. As the bombings and body count in Vietnam continued to escalate so did civil unrest. 100,000 Anti-war protesters gathered in New York and thousands more in San Francisco. There were urban riots in Detroit. Johnson's support was falling drastically on all fronts. Anti-war rallies, speeches, demonstrations and concerts continued being organized all over the country. There was a backlash against all that was military. Soldiers returning home from the war were no longer regarded as heroes but as "baby killers". Young men sought to evade the draft by being conscientious objectors or leaving for Canada. North Vietnam's bloody TET Offensive of 1968 and the resultant horrendous casualties the Americans suffered eroded the situation at home even further.The assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy also sparked racial tension and unrest. Wisely Lyndon Johnson did not seek ...

Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
Native American Removal

This quiz covers the history surrounding the Indian Removal Act of 1830.

Atlantic Slave Trade

This quiz will test your knowledge on the Atlantic Slave Trade

The Slavery Question in the American Territories

This quiz will test your knowledge about various laws and policies on slavery in the U.S. during the 19th century.

US World History Test II

Major Events from 1452 to 1877

America After WWII

This quiz will access your knowledge of America after WWII and the new age that the country was entering into.