For 15 points, create a set of Priestley style notes based upon 30-3 in the Americans text
The 60’s-80’s Identify
and discuss the development of a divided nation and culture during the 1960’s-70’ with an emphasis on the Vietnam War.
THE 60’S-80’S
IDENTIFY AND DISCUSS THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DIVIDED NATION AND CULTURE DURING THE 1960’S-70’ WITH AN EMPHASIS ON THE VIETNAM WAR.
Task:
Purpose read chapter 30-3 in the Americans text (948).
Watch segments of Letters Home
ANTI-DRAFT
THE NEW LEFT
THE NEW LEFT
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), headed by Tom Hayden called for “participatory democracy” in universities.
Students at U.C. Berkeley started sit-ins in 1964 to protest prohibition of political canvassing on campus.
Amendment 26 -18 year old voting rights.
PROTESTS: BE, SIT, AND TEACH-INS
COUNTERCULTURE
Felt alienated by bureaucracy, materialism, and the Vietnam War.
Turned away from politics in favor of an alternative society (Sex, Drugs, and Rock n’ Roll).
WOODSTOCK
THE “SILENT MAJORITY”
THE “SILENT MAJORITY”
November 3, Nixon televised his appeal to the great “silent majority,” who presumably supported the war.
Aimed largely at middle class Americans who sought law and order;
Symbolized the rise of a conservative backlash against liberalism
BALLAD OF THE GREEN BERETS BY BARRY SADLER
Fighting soldiers from the sky
Fearless men who jump and die
Men who mean just what they say
The brave men of the Green Beret
Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America’s best
One hundred men we’ll test today
But only three win the Green Beret
Trained to live, off nature’s land
Trained in combat, hand to hand
Men who fight by night and day
Courage deep, from the Green Beret
Silver wings upon their chest
These are men, America’s best
One hundred men we’ll test today
But only three win the Green Beret
Back at home a young wife waits
Her Green Beret has met his fate
He has died for those oppressed
Leaving her this last request
Put silver wings on my son’s chest
Make him one of America’s best
He’ll be a man they’ll test one day
Have him win the Green Beret
FORTUNATE SON, CCR-1969
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
ooh, they’re red, white and blue.
And when the band plays “Hail To The Chief”,
oh, they point the cannon at you, Lord,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no senator’s son,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no fortunate one, no,
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don’t they help themselves? oh.
But when the taxman come to the door,
Lord, the house look a like a rummage sale, yes,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no millionaire’s son, no, no.
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no fortunate one, no.
Yeh, some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
ooh, they send you down to war, Lord,
And when you ask them, how much should we give,
oh, they only answer, more, more, more, yoh,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no military son, SON, NO
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no fortunate one, NO NO
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no fortunate one, no no no,
It ain’t me, it ain’t me,
I ain’t no fortunate son, son son son
KENT STATE
OHIO, CSNY-1974
Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’.
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin’.
Four dead in Ohio.
Gotta get down to it.
Soldiers are gunning us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Na, na, na, na, na, na, na, na.
Gotta get down to it.
Soldiers are cutting us down.
Should have been done long ago.
What if you knew her and
Found her dead on the ground?
How can you run when you know?
Tin soldiers and Nixon’s comin’.
We’re finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin’.
Four dead in Ohio.
WOMEN’S MOVEMENT
GRISWOLD V CONNECTICUT & ROE V WADE
ERA
CHICANO MOVEMENT
AIM
STONEWALL RIOTS 1969
RESISTANCE AND BLACK POWER
MALCOLM X
BLACK PANTHER’S
BLACK PANTHERS
Revolutionary social movement to organize African American men in northern and western cities to fight for liberation.
— In effect, became a para-military organization to protect blacks from white violence (e.g. police brutality)
“LONG HOT SUMMERS”
Poverty, unemployment, & racial discrimination common in major inner-cities.
Empty promise of racial equality in the North ignited rage in many African American communities
“LONG HOT SUMMERS”
RIGHTS OF THE ACCUSED
1968
1972
REAGAN AND THE “NEW RIGHT” 1980
Received vigorous support from the including evangelical Christian groups like Jerry Falwell’s Moral Majority.
The “Religious Right” denounced abortion, pornography, homosexuality, the ERA, and especially, affirmative action.
ii. Championed prayer in schools and tougher penalties for criminals.
c. Reagan denounced the activist govt and failed “social engineering” of the “Great Society” in the 1960s.
1980
VIETNAM AND THE DOMINO THEORY
TONKIN GULF RESOLUTION
NAPALM
NAPALM ATTACK, JUNE 8, 1972, NICK UT, ASSOCIATED PRESS, WINNER OF PULITZER PRIZE. KIM PHUC IS THE NAKED CHILD
MASSACRE AT HU: TET OFFENSIVE
PRESS AND MEDIA
Priestley reading/note taking organizer
Title/Purpose Points (3 Points)
Topics
Content/Vocabulary (6 Points)
Connection (3 Points)
Summary/Thesis(3 Points)
Priestley Assessment Rubric
Knowledge of evidence from
the lesson/topic: includes
facts/supporting details;
themes/issues; and
concepts/ideas
Analysis: Evaluation, application and synthesis of evidence.
Includes a thesis and demonstration of higher level analysis
Effort/Organization/Creativity : Demonstrates clear use of class time working on assessment with maximum effort
5
• Significant
facts/supporting details are
included and accurately
described
• Has little or no factual
inaccuracies
• Identifies and logically
organizes almost all relevant
evidence
4-5 Items of Content Present
•Complex Thesis is present and uses appropriate and
comprehensive critical
thinking skills and habits of
mind to analyze, evaluate, and
synthesize evidence
• Reaches informed
conclusions based on the
evidence
• Almost all ideas in the presentation are expressed in a way that provides evidence of the student’s
knowledge and reasoning processes
• The assessment is well focused with a well defined
Thesis or position
• Assessment shows substantial evidence of
Organization/effort
• Assessment shows attention to the details and great effort
Assessment demonstrates that time was used well on task and more than just the minimum was done for project
3
• Facts/supporting details
are included
• May have a major factual
inaccuracy, but most
information is correct
• Identifies and organizes
most of the relevant evidence
2-3 Items of Content Present
• Simple Thesis is present and
uses partial critical
thinking skills and habits of
mind to analyze, evaluate, and
synthesize evidence
• Reaches informed
conclusions based on the
evidence
• Most ideas in the presentation are expressed
in a way that provides evidence of the student’s
knowledge and reasoning processes
• The assessment demonstrates a focus and
thesis with several narrative gaps and minimal effort
• assessment demonstrates adequate evidence
of organization
Assessment demonstrates the adequate time was spent on task
1
• Some facts/supporting
details are included
• Has some correct and
some incorrect information
• Identifies some relevant
evidence and omits most of
the other evidence
1-0 Items Present
• No Thesis present and
uses unclear,
inappropriate, or incomplete
critical thinking skills and
habits of mind to analyze,
evaluate, and synthesize
evidence
• Reaches incomplete or
inaccurate conclusions based
on the evidence
• Some ideas in the presentation are expressed
in a way that provides evidence of the student’s
knowledge and reasoning processes
• Few or no facts/supporting
details are included and lack of effort
• Information is largely
inaccurate, absent or irrelevant
• Important evidence
relevant to the problem is not
identified
Assessment demonstrates the below average time was spent on task
Exceeds standard (total points 11 – 15)
Meets standard (total points 8 – 10)
Approaches standard (total points 5 -7)
Begins standard or absent (total points 1 -4)
Score
A Social Science Rubric
This model is an analytic rubric. It separates the skills a student possesses into three dimensions:
knowledge, reasoning, and communication. The three dimensions are interrelated. They overlap
to show what students know and what they can do. Each dimension of the rubric is divided into
four levels. Each level is defined by several criteria, which reflect a student’s abilities and skills.
Collectively, Levels 4 and 3 are designed to differentiate among students whose knowledge,
reasoning, and communication skills are developed. Collectively, Levels 2 and 1 represent a
student’s knowledge, reasoning, and communication skills that are still developing. Level 4
represents work of a student who exhibits the most developed skills; Level 1 represents the work
of a student with the lowest level of developing skills.
The gap between Level 3 and Level 2 is wider than the gap between any of the other levels because it
differentiates between a student whose skills are still developing and a student whose skills are
developed.
An analytic rubric is especially appropriate and useful for assessment in the social sciences. Teachers know that
their students may perform at a more or less developed level in one dimension than in another. For example, a
student may perform at Level 4 in knowledge, at Level 3 in reasoning, and at Level 2 in communication. An analytic
rubric allows teachers to take these differences into account when assessing their students.
RATIONALE FOR
A SOCIAL SCIENCE RUBRIC
KNOWLEDGE – REASONING – COMMUNICATION
Dimension 1: Knowledge
Knowledge of evidence from the social sciences: facts/supporting details; themes/issues; and
concepts/ideas
Knowledge of evidence is basic to the social sciences. Students who have developed knowledge — Levels
4 and 3– are able to demonstrate their ability to identify, define, and describe key concepts, themes,
issues, and ideas; they show their awareness of the connection between key facts and supporting details;
and they are accurate in their use of facts and details. The levels are differentiated by the degree to which
students can demonstrate their knowledge, that is, by being thorough, inclusive, and accurate.
Similarly, students who are developing knowledge — Levels 2 and 1 — are unable to demonstrate their
ability to identify, define, and describe key concepts, themes, issues, and ideas; they show an inadequate
awareness of the connection between key facts and supporting details; and they are largely inaccurate in
their use of facts and details.
Dimension 2: Reasoning
Analysis, evaluation, and synthesis of evidence.
While facts are the essential starting point for demonstrating ability in the social sciences, a student must
also be able to demonstrate the ability to reason. Reasoning makes facts, issues, and concepts meaningful.
When reasoning occurs, a student is engaged in the content and develops a deeper understanding of the
subject. Reasoning involves translation, interpretation, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation of
information. These reasoning processes require students to discover relationships among facts and
generalizations, values and opinions. Reasoning abilities and skills also include accessing, classifying,
and applying information to provide a solution to a problem, to make a judgment, or reach a logical
conclusion.
A student with developed reasoning ability must be able to organize evidence and select and apply an
appropriate method for analysis, evaluation, and synthesis. To analyze and evaluate evidence effectively,
whether that evidence is presented in a printed document, a song, poem, picture, or statistical table, a
student must ask relevant questions.
These questions encompass the traditional five questions: who, what, where, when, and why.
A student with developed reasoning abilities also uses critical thinking skills and habits of mind to
evaluate evidence. These thinking skills and habits of mind include comparing and contrasting,
identifying causes and effects, developing and recognizing alternative solutions, showing relationships
among concepts, recognizing bias, separating fact from opinion, identifying inconsistencies in logic,
avoiding present-mindedness, and maintaining an empathetic attitude toward the people under study.
These habits of mind and thinking skills demonstrate not only what students know; they also reveal
aspects of the student’s intellectual character. Students who possess habits of mind display self-discipline
as a thinker. They help students acquire the habit of inquiring into social science content and engaging in
discourse about their inquiry. Students with well developed thinking skills and habits of mind create
projects with care and thoroughness.
While all developed students must be able to reach an informed conclusion, there are several ways to
differentiate between students’ reasoning skills at Levels 4 and 3. Differentiation among these higher
levels is a matter of the degree to which a student can identify and logically organize evidence and then
select and apply an appropriate method for analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing evidence. Students can
also be differentiated by their ability to incorporate critical thinking skills and habits of mind in their
process of reasoning. For example, a student at Level 4 will analyze and evaluate the evidence from a
variety of perspectives; a student at Level 3 will use only one perspective, but one that is still sufficient to
evaluate the evidence.
Students who are developing their ability in reasoning show important deficiencies. They fail to organize
information for proper analysis and may omit evidence. A developing student may also select an
inappropriate method for analyzing, evaluating, and synthesizing evidence. Students who are in the
process of developing reasoning skills have difficulty thinking critically. For example, they may accept
evidence at face value without subjecting it to any critical analysis or evaluation. Finally, the inability to
reach a reasonable, informed conclusion is indicative of a student who is still in the developing stage.
Dimension 3: Communication
Demonstrate knowledge and reasoning through oral, written, visual, dramatic, or mixed media
presentations
To be useful, a student’s knowledge and reasoning must be communicated to a wider audience. Effective
communication requires focus and organization. For example, in history, a student must have a clearly
defined thesis and an organized narrative that tells what happened in an interesting and informed way. In
the other social sciences, a student must be able to identify issues and concepts clearly, explain the
various parts of a problem, and present possible resolutions.
The most important aspect of communication is the student’s ability to express clearly his or her ideas.
Clarity depends upon organization. A well-organized presentation includes a focus statement, supplies
relevant examples to support main ideas, and offers conclusions based on evidence. Furthermore, an
effective presentation, regardless of its type, provides evidence of a student’s knowledge and reasoning
processes.
The teacher, sometimes in conjunction with the student, establishes the context, or audience, for a
student’s presentation: an oral report presented to his or her classmates, a letter written to the newspaper,
or an exhibit or model placed on display at a local business or historical society.
A student can select a variety of techniques to communicate his or her knowledge and reasoning skills.
Each communication technique has its own conventions which teachers should take into account. For
example, assessing an oral report may include such conventions as effective use of voice, gestures, eye
contact, and use of visual aids. Assessing a student-made exhibit might include such conventions as the
use of color, neatness, captions, and the selection of appropriate pictures, photographs, maps, and other
materials.
A student who has developed ability in communication demonstrates knowledge and reasoning skills in a
clear and organized fashion. The presentation will also take into account the appropriate conventions for
the selected activity. A higher assessment, Levels 4 and 3 is determined by the degree of clarity and
organization, the quality of illustrations and supporting examples, and the power of the conclusion. That
is, the main ideas and reasoning processes are focused, well developed, and clearly articulated in the
student’s presentation. Finally, a presentation at the highest level of development meets all the convention
standards for the type of activity the teacher assigns or the student selects.
A student who is developing his or her communication skills lacks the ability to present knowledge and
reasoning clearly and effectively in an organized presentation. That is, a student who is still developing
cannot successfully provide a thesis or a focus statement, or convey information through examples that
support and elaborate a main idea, or present an informed conclusion. Lastly, a developing student
neglects the details of the performance convention that he or she has selected as a means to communicate
knowledge and reasoning. The difference between students performing at Levels 2, or 1 is a matter of
degree in each of the criteria.
Critical Thinking Skills
• Identifying central issues
• Making comparisons
• Determining relevant information
• Formulating appropriate questions
• Expressing problems
• Distinguishing fact from opinion
• Recognizing bias
• Distinguishing false from accurate images.
• Analyzing cause and effect
• Drawing conclusions
• Identifying alternatives
• Testing conclusions
• Predicting consequences
• Demonstrating reasoned judgment
Habits Of Mind For Knowledge, Reasoning, And Communication
• Understand the significance of the past and the present to their own lives and to the lives of others
• Distinguish between the important and the inconsequential
• Perceive events and issues as they were experienced by people at the time
• Understand how human intentions matter
• Comprehend the interplay of change and continuity
• Realize that all problems may not have solutions
• Appreciate the often tentative nature of judgments
• Recognize the importance of individuals who have made a difference
• Appreciate the force of the non-rational, the irrational, and the accidental in human efforts
• Understand the relationship between people, time, and place as the context for events
• Recognize the difference between fact and conjecture
• Use evidence to frame useful questions
Adapted from Alternative Assessment in the Social Sciences:
AUTHORS
Lawrence W. McBride
Frederick D. Drake
Marcel Lewinski
Illinois State University
John C. Craig
Illinois State Board of Education
Terms & NamesTerms & NamesMAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA
One American’s Story
A Nation Divided
WHY IT MATTERS NOWWHY IT MATTERS NOW
In 1969, Stephan Gubar was told to report for possible military service in
Vietnam. Gubar, 22, a participant in the civil rights movement, had filed
as a conscientious objector (CO), or someone who opposed war on the
basis of religious or moral beliefs. He was granted 1-A-O status, which
meant that while he would not be forced to carry a weapon, he still qual-
ified for noncombatant military duty. That year, Gubar was drafted—
called for military service.
As did many other conscientious objectors, Gubar received special
training as a medic. He described the memorable day his training ended.
A PERSONAL VOICE STEPHAN GUBAR
“ The thing that stands out most was . . . being really scared, being in for-
mation and listening to the names and assignments being called. The major-
ity of COs I knew had orders cut for Vietnam. And even though I could hear
that happening, even though I could hear that every time a CO’s name came
up, the orders were cut for Vietnam, I still thought there was a possibility I
might not go. Then, when they called my name and said ‘Vietnam,’. . .
I went to a phone and I called my wife. It was a tremendous shock.”
—quoted in Days of Decision
While many young Americans proudly went off to war, some
found ways to avoid the draft, and others simply refused to go. The
growing protest movement sharply divided the country between
supporters and opponents of the government’s policy in Vietnam.
The Working Class Goes to War
The idea of fighting a war in a faraway place for what they believed was a ques-
tionable cause prompted a number of young Americans to resist going to Vietnam.
A “MANIPULATABLE” DRAFT Most soldiers who fought in Vietnam were called
into combat under the country’s Selective Service System, or draft, which had
been established during World War I. Under this system, all males had to register
with their local draft boards when they turned 18. All registrants were screened,
and unless they were excluded—such as for medical reasons—in the event of war,
men between the ages of 18 and 26 would be called into military service.
•draft
•New Left
•Students for a
Democratic
Society (SDS)
•Free Speech
Movement
•dove
•hawk
The painful process of healing a
divided nation continues today.
An antiwar movement in the
U.S. pitted supporters of the
government’s war policy
against those who opposed it.
MATTERS OF
CONSCIENCE
Stephan Gubar
and the Vietnam
War
948 CHAPTER 30
A
As Americans’ doubts about the war grew, thousands of men
attempted to find ways around the draft, which one man characterized
as a “very manipulatable system.” Some men sought out sympathetic
doctors to grant medical exemptions, while others changed residences
in order to stand before a more lenient draft board. Some Americans
even joined the National Guard or Coast Guard, which often secured a
deferment from service in Vietnam.
One of the most common ways to avoid the draft was to receive a
college deferment, by which a young man enrolled in a university could
put off his military service. Because university students during the 1960s
tended to be white and financially well-off, many of the men who fought
in Vietnam were lower-class whites or minorities who were less privi-
leged economically. With almost 80 percent of American soldiers com-
ing from lower economic levels, Vietnam was a working-class war.
AFRICAN AMERICANS IN VIETNAM African Americans served in dispropor-
tionate numbers as ground combat troops. During the first several years of the war,
blacks accounted for more than 20 percent of American combat deaths despite rep-
resenting only about 10 percent of the U.S. population. The Defense Department
took steps to correct that imbalance by instituting a draft lottery system in 1969.
Martin Luther King, Jr., had refrained from speaking out against the war for
fear that it would divert attention from the civil rights movement. But he could
not maintain that stance for long. In 1967 he lashed out against what he called
the “cruel irony” of American blacks dying for a country that still treated them as
second-class citizens.
A PERSONAL VOICE DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
“ We were taking the young black men who had been crippled by our society and
sending them eight thousand miles away to guarantee liberties in Southeast Asia
which they had not found in Southwest Georgia and East Harlem. . . . We have
been repeatedly faced with the cruel irony of watching Negro and white boys on
TV screens as they kill and die together for a nation that has been unable to seat
them together in the same schools.”
—quoted in America’s Vietnam War: A Narrative History
Racial tension ran high in many platoons, and in some cases, the hostility led
to violence. The racism that gripped many military units was yet another factor
that led to low troop morale in Vietnam.
▼
A Life magazine
cover shows new
draft inductees
arriving for
training at Fort
Knox, Kentucky.
Vocabulary
deferment: the act
or instance of
delaying
MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA
A
Synthesizing
Why did King
call African
Americans’ fighting
in Vietnam an
“irony”?
Despite racial tensions, black and
white soldiers fought side by side
in Vietnam.
U.S. Military Personnel in Vietnam*
Source: Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1985; Encyclopedia Americana
Tr
oo
ps
(
in
th
ou
sa
nd
s)
*Year-end figures
60
0
500
400
300
200
100
0
536,000
1963 19721964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971
SKILLBUILDER Interpreting Graphs
What years signaled a rapid increase in the deployment of U.S. troops?
▼
WOMEN JOIN THE RANKS While the U.S. military in the 1960s did not allow
females to serve in combat, 10,000 women served in Vietnam—most of them as
military nurses. Thousands more volunteered their services in Vietnam to the
American Red Cross and the United Services Organization (USO), which delivered
hospitality and entertainment to the troops.
As the military marched off to Vietnam to fight against communist guerrillas,
some of the men at home, as well as many women, waged a battle of their own.
Tensions flared across the country as many of the nation’s youths began to voice
their opposition to the war.
The Roots of Opposition
Even before 1965, students were becoming more active socially and politically.
Some participated in the civil rights struggle, while others pursued public service.
As America became more involved in the war in Vietnam, college students across
the country became a powerful and vocal group of protesters.
THE NEW LEFT The growing youth movement of the 1960s became known as
the New Left. The movement was “new” in relation to the “old left” of the
1930s, which had generally tried to move the nation toward socialism, and, in
some cases, communism. While the New Left movement did not preach social-
ism, its followers demanded sweeping changes in American society.
Voicing these demands was one of the better-known New Left organizations,
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), founded in 1960 by Tom Hayden
and Al Haber. The group charged that corporations and large government insti-
tutions had taken over America. The SDS called for a restoration of “participato-
ry democracy” and greater individual freedom.
In 1964, the Free Speech Movement (FSM) gained prominence at the
University of California at Berkeley. The FSM grew out of a clash between students
and administrators over free speech on campus. Led by Mario Savio, a philosophy
student, the FSM focused its criticism on what it called the American “machine,”
the nation’s faceless and powerful business and government institutions.
CAMPUS ACTIVISM Across the country the ideas of the FSM and SDS quickly
spread to college campuses. Students addressed mostly campus issues, such as
dress codes, curfews, dormitory regulations, and mandatory Reserved Officer
950 CHAPTER 30
▼Two U.S. nurses
rest at Cam Ranh
Bay, the major
entry point in
South Vietnam for
American supplies
and troops.
B
MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA
B
Making
Inferences
What concerns
about American
democratic society
did the New Left
voice?
The Vietnam War Years 951
Training Corps (ROTC) programs. At Fairleigh Dickinson University in New
Jersey, students marched merely as “an expression of general student discontent.”
With the onset of the Vietnam War, students across the country found a gal-
vanizing issue and joined together in protest. By the mid-sixties, many youths
believed the nation to be in need of fundamental change.
The Protest Movement Emerges
Throughout the spring of 1965, groups at a number of colleges began to host
“teach-ins” to protest the war. At the University of Michigan, where only a year
before President Johnson had announced his sweeping Great Society Program,
teachers and students now assailed his war policy. “This is no longer a casual form
of campus spring fever,” journalist James Reston noted about the growing demon-
strations. As the war continued, the protests grew and divided the country.
THE MOVEMENT GROWS In April of 1965, SDS helped organize a march on
Washington, D.C., by some 20,000 protesters. By November of that year, a protest
rally in Washington drew more than 30,000. Then, in February of 1966, the
Johnson administration changed deferments for college students, requiring stu-
dents to be in good academic standing in order to be granted a deferment.
Campuses around the country erupted in protest. SDS called for civil disobedience
at Selective Service Centers and openly counseled students to flee to Canada or
Sweden. By the end of 1969, SDS had chapters on nearly 400 campuses.
Youths opposing the war did so for several reasons. The most common was
the belief that the conflict in Vietnam was basically a civil war and that the U.S.
military had no business there. Some said that the oppressive South Vietnamese
regime was no better than the Communist regime it was fighting. Others argued
that the United States could not police the entire globe and that war was drain-
ing American strength in other important parts of the world. Still others saw war
simply as morally unjust.
The antiwar movement grew beyond college campuses.
Small numbers of returning veterans began to protest the war,
and folk singers such as the trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, and
Joan Baez used music as a popular protest vehicle. The num-
ber one song in September 1965 was “Eve of Destruction,” in
which singer Barry McGuire stressed the ironic fact that in
the 1960s an American male could be drafted at age 18 but
had to be 21 to vote:
The Eastern world, it is explodin’,
Violence flaring, bullets loadin’,
You’re old enough to kill, but not for votin’,
You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’?
FROM PROTEST TO RESISTANCE By 1967, the antiwar
movement had intensified, with no sign of slowing down.
“We were having no effect on U.S. policy,” recalled one
protest leader, “so we thought we had to up the ante.” In
the spring of 1967, nearly half a million protesters of all
ages gathered in New York’s Central Park. Shouting “Burn
cards, not people!” and “Hell, no, we won’t go!” hundreds
tossed their draft cards into a bonfire. A woman from New
Jersey told a reporter, “So many of us are frustrated. We
want to criticize this war because we think it’s wrong, but
we want to do it in the framework of loyalty.”
C
MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA
C
Summarizing
For what
reasons did the
protesters oppose
the Vietnam War?
SPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHT
HISTORICALHISTORICAL
“THE BALLAD OF THE
GREEN BERETS”
Not every Vietnam-era pop song
about war was an antiwar song.
At the top of the charts for five
weeks in 1966 was “The Ballad
of the Green Berets” by Staff
Sergeant Barry Sadler of the U.S.
Army Special Forces, known as
the Green Berets:
Fighting soldiers from the sky,
Fearless men who jump and die,
Men who mean just what they
say,
The brave men of the Green
Beret.
The recording sold over a mil-
lion copies in its first two weeks
of release and was Billboard
magazine’s song of the year.
Others were more radical in their view. David Harris,
who would spend 20 months in jail for refusing to serve in
Vietnam, explained his motives.
A PERSONAL VOICE DAVID HARRIS
“ Theoretically, I can accept the notion that there are circum-
stances in which you have to kill people. I could not accept
the notion that Vietnam was one of those circumstances. And
to me that left the option of either sitting by and watching
what was an enormous injustice . . . or [finding] some way to
commit myself against it. And the position that I felt comfort-
able with in committing myself against it was total noncoop-
eration—I was not going to be part of the machine.”
—quoted in The War Within
Draft resistance continued from 1967 until President
Nixon phased out the draft in the early 1970s. During these
years, the U.S. government accused more than 200,000 men
of draft offenses and imprisoned nearly 4,000 draft resisters.
(Although some were imprisoned for four or five years, most
won parole after 6 to 12 months.) Throughout these years,
about 10,000 Americans fled, many to Canada.
In October of 1967, a demonstration at Washington’s
Lincoln Memorial drew about 75,000 protesters. After lis-
tening to speeches, approximately 30,000 demonstrators
locked arms for a march on the Pentagon in order “to dis-
rupt the center of the American war machine,” as one orga-
nizer explained. As hundreds of protesters broke past the
military police and mounted the Pentagon steps, they were
met by tear gas and clubs. About 1,500 demonstrators were
injured and at least 700 arrested.
WAR DIVIDES THE NATION By 1967, Americans increas-
ingly found themselves divided into two camps regarding
the war. Those who strongly opposed the war and believed the United States
should withdraw were known as doves. Feeling just as strongly that America
should unleash much of its greater military force to win the war were the hawks.
Despite the visibility of the antiwar protesters, a majority of American
citizens in 1967 still remained committed to the war. Others, while less cer-
tain about the proper U.S. role in Vietnam, were shocked to see protesters
publicly criticize a war in which their fellow Americans were fighting
and dying. A poll taken in December of 1967 showed that 70 percent
of Americans believed the war protests were “acts of disloyalty.” A fire-
fighter who lost his son in Vietnam articulated the bitter feelings a
number of Americans felt toward the antiwar movement.
A PERSONAL VOICE
“ I’m bitter. . . . It’s people like us who give up our sons for the coun-
try. . . . The college types, the professors, they go to Washington and
tell the government what to do. . . . But their sons, they don’t end up
in the swamps over there, in Vietnam. No sir. They’re deferred, because
they’re in school. Or they get sent to safe places. . . . What bothers me
about the peace crowd is that you can tell from their attitude, the way
they look and what they say, that they don’t really love this country.”
—a firefighter quoted in Working-Class War
This sign reflects
the view of many
Americans that
the antiwar
protests
undermined the
war effort in
Vietnam.
952
D
▼
DIFFICULTDIFFICULT
DECISIONSDECISIONS
RESIST THE DRAFT OR
SERVE YOUR COUNTRY?
As the fighting in Vietnam intensi-
fied, young men of draft age who
opposed the war found themselves
considering one of two options:
register with the draft board and
risk heading off to war, or find a
way to avoid military service. Ways
to avoid ser vice included medical
and educational deferments. But
a great many men did not qualify
for these. The choices that
remained, such as fleeing the
countr y, going to jail, or giving in
and joining the ranks, came with
a high price. Once a decision was
made, there was no turning back.
1. Imagine you oppose the war
and are called to ser ve in
Vietnam. What decision would
you make? Would you feel
guilty if you avoided the draft?
If you chose to ser ve, how
would you view those who
did not ser ve your countr y?
2. Do you think more young
men would have been willing
to ser ve had this been a dif-
ferent war? Explain.
MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA
D
Evaluating
Do you think
it was right for the
government to
imprison draft
resisters? Explain.
The Vietnam War Years 953
•Students for a
Democratic Society (SDS)
•Free Speech Movement
•dove
•hawk
•draft
•New Left
1. TERMS & NAMES For each of the following, write a sentence
explaining its significance.
MAIN IDEA
2. TAKING NOTES
Re-create the tree diagram below
on your paper. Then fill it in with
examples of student organizations,
issues, and demonstrations of the
New Left.
CRITICAL THINKING
3. DEVELOPING
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIV
E
Imagine it is 1967. Do you think you
would ally yourself with the hawks or
the doves? Give reasons that
support your position.
4. EVALUATING
Do you agree that antiwar protests
were “acts of disloyalty”? Why or
why not?
5. ANALYZING VISUAL SOURCES
This antiwar poster is a parody of
the World War I Uncle Sam poster
(shown on page 588), which states,
“I want you for the U.S. Army.” Why
might the artist have chosen this
American character to express the
antiwar message?
Responding to antiwar posters, Americans who supported the government’s
Vietnam policy developed their own slogans: “Support our men in Vietnam” and
“America—love it or leave it.”
JOHNSON REMAINS DETERMINED Throughout the turmoil and division that
engulfed the country during the early years of the war, President Johnson
remained firm. Attacked by doves for not withdrawing and by hawks for not
increasing military power rapidly enough, Johnson was dismissive of both groups
and their motives. He continued his policy of slow escalation.
A PERSONAL VOICE LYNDON B. JOHNSON
“ There has always been confusion, frustration, and difference of opinion in this
country when there is a war going on. . . . You know what President Roosevelt
went through, and President Wilson in World War I. He had some senators from
certain areas . . . that gave him serious problems until victory was assured. . . .
We are going to have these differences. No one likes war. All people love peace.
But you can’t have freedom without defending it.”
—quoted in No Hail, No Farewell
However, by the end of 1967, Johnson’s policy—and the continuing stale-
mate—had begun to create turmoil within his own administration. In November,
Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, a key architect of U.S. escalation in Vietnam,
quietly announced he was resigning to become head of the World Bank. “It didn’t
add up,” McNamara recalled later. “What I was trying to find out was how . . . the
war went on year after year when we stopped the infiltration [from North
Vietnam] or shrunk it and when we had a very high body count and so on. It just
didn’t make sense.”
As it happened, McNamara’s resignation came on the
threshold of the most tumultuous year of the sixties. In 1968
the war—and Johnson’s presidency—would take a drastic
turn for the worse.
E
The New Left
Student
Organizations
examples examples examples
Issues Demonstrations
MAIN IDEAMAIN IDEA
E
Evaluating
What were the
key issues that
divided America?
