This article is about a journalist who wrote about the Vietnam War and the effectiveness of peace movements. Tom Hayden talks about how his involvement in spreading anti-war news led his family to disown him and how he was treated differently across America. Nonetheless he continued to spread the word about how horrible war is and how America was finally realizing what a mistake it was to go to war. It's about how the government spread lies and propaganda to the American people about what war is really like. A June 13, 1971 article described the Pentagon Papers as a “leaked collection of government memos written by government officials that tell the story of U.S. politics. (Hayden) “The characterization was at best banal, and at worst overlooked what was most significant about the entire affair, which broke government secrecy by exposing the White House and Pentagon's long-standing and deliberate practice of confuse and mislead the public. American people on the war." (Hayden) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The source for this article explains how the anti-Vietnam War movement is deeply tied to World War I and World War II. The war movement is linked to the First and Second World Wars and the fact that the generation of parents of that time gave birth to the generation known as "baby boomers". These baby boomers made up the vast majority of the future anti-war movement. The article states that these baby boomers felt they had inherited the problems of the previous generation. “Every generation inherits from the problems of the past.” (Harrison) This led baby boomers to reevaluate American values and the majority to refuse to conform to traditional American values. Hiroshima and the nuclear bomb help produce the anti-war protests of the 1960s. Baby boomers became the first generation ever to face nuclear annihilation and experienced the threat of nuclear war on a daily basis. This led to an anti-war revolt as baby boomers felt tired of the threat of war hanging over their heads. This article explains to me the kind of people involved in the Vietnam protests. The type of people were labeled as non-authoritarian, politically effective, self-defined theologically liberal, self-defined politically liberal, and civil rights activists. Non-authoritarian types may relate to the governmental political system, principles and practice with which they agree that a person's individuality is considered completely subordinate to the authority of the government. The political efficacy type is citizens placing their trust in the government in the belief that the government can understand and influence political affairs. Self-described theological liberals are a group who form thoughts due to religious influence rather than the norm or authority that defines tradition. The main characteristic of this group is the desire to free itself from external influences and to stimulate internal motivations. Self-described political liberals are a category of people who have fixed beliefs that emphasize specific social beliefs. Beliefs such as government programs that aim to improve the quality and equality of life such as health care and welfare, the strength of the federal government in keeping different state governments close enough to avoid conflict, and the protection of the constitutional rights of all people. Thelast are the civil rights activists, they are the leaders of political movements dedicated to guaranteeing equal opportunities for members of minority groups. On May 8, 1970, a group of young New York college students held an anti-Vietnam War protest on Wall Street. . This demonstration would come to be known as the “hard hat riot” because the young students were brutally attacked by construction workers and businessmen, but especially by construction workers. These workers mainly belonged to the American working class and were angry because they believed that these college students were privileged and dared to demonstrate protest against the American government and its traditional ideals. These students displayed what they believed were “new notions of manhood” which consisted of opposing the war by not joining it and growing their hair. Social movement activists imbued these styles with new political meanings, linking their self-presentation to their political activism. For example, black power activists represented their political ideals by adopting Afro hair and wearing African-inspired clothing. This African-style political trend was considered unisex, which did not have a clear distinction between male and female. The "unisex" trend was built on New Left and hippie counterculture activists as a way to promote their political ideals against the image of militaristic masculinity formed by the Vietnam War. In the first phase the protests were led by two groups: left-wing activists and university students. Left-wing activists opposed the Cold War and American intervention abroad. College students grew up during the Southern civil rights movement with the influence of knowing how the government can turn a blind eye to injustice. The two goals of these groups were to provide activists with knowledge of Vietnam to help attract support from others to the cause and to normalize the idea of protection against America as there was a fear of opposing one's country. The main objectives of the second phase were to unite the different pacifist oppositions to unite against the draft and impose a political end to the war. In April 1967, 500,000 people demonstrated against the war in New York. In 1968 the nation and the war seemed to be out of control with the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the racial rebellion fighting the police and the election of Richard Nixon providing evidence that our political system was insufficient . All these events led to the third phase of the protest, and the main goal of this phase was to create as much chaos and instability at home. Loyalties shifted from American soldiers to the Viet Cong. What was most notable at this stage were the returning war veterans. One in six of these war veterans were addicted to heroin, refused to engage in war, and even killed some of their commanding officers if they ordered them to fight. Other examples of these anti-war veterans include publishing anti-war newsletters and throwing their combat medals over a fence surrounding the capital. The fourth phase was more of a political war than actual guerrilla tactics and violence. The publication of the Pentagon Papers demonstrated that public opposition was high. This was supposed to be a victory, but instead it forced veteran activists to move on with their lives and complete other professional and academic goals. The remaining activists felt as if they could not unite due to the military tactics demonstrated by these protesters as most.
tags