blog




  • Essay / The Vietnam War and the effectiveness of peace movements

    This article is about a journalist who wrote about the Vietnam War and the effectiveness of peace movements. Tom Hayden explains how his involvement in spreading anti-war information caused his family to disown him and how differently he was treated across America. Nonetheless, he continued to spread the word about the horror of war and how America was finally realizing what a mistake it was to go to war. He talks about how the government was spreading lies and propaganda to the American people about the reality of the war. The June 13, 1971 article described the Pentagon Papers as a "leaked collection of government memos written by government officials that tell the story of American policy." (Hayden) “This characterization was at best banal and, at worst, overlooked the most significant thing about this whole affair, which breached government secrecy by revealing the deliberate and long-standing practice of the White House and of the Pentagon aimed at confusing and misleading the government. the American people about the war. (Hayden) Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay This article source explains how the anti-Vietnam War movement is deeply connected to both world wars. The war movement is linked to World Wars I and II because the generation of parents from that era 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 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 contributed to the anti-war protests of the 1960s. Baby boomers became the first generation to face nuclear annihilation and experienced the threat of nuclear war daily. This led to an anti-war revolt as baby boomers grew tired of the threat of war hanging over their heads. This article explains to me the type of people involved in the protests in Vietnam. The type of people were characterized as non-authoritarian, politically effective, self-defined theologically liberal activists, self-defined politically liberal, and civil rights activists. Non-authoritarian types may relate to the governmental political system, principles, and practices by which they agree that a person's individuality is considered completely subordinate to the authority of the government. Political efficacy types are citizens who place faith and trust in government, believing that it can understand and influence political affairs. Self-defined theologically liberals are a group who form thoughts due to religious influence rather than the defining norm or authority of tradition. The main trait of this group is their desire to free themselves from external influence and to question their inner motivations. Self-defined political liberals are a category of people who have established 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 maintainingdifferent state governments close enough to each other to avoid conflict and protect the constitutional rights of all. The last is civil rights activists, they are the leaders of political movements dedicated to ensuring equal opportunities for members of minority groups. On May 8, 1970, a group of young students from New York staged a protest against the Vietnam War on Wall Street. . This protest would eventually become known as the "Hard Hat Riots" as the young students were brutally attacked by construction workers and businessmen, but especially by construction workers. These workers were primarily from the American working class and they were angry because they thought these students were privileged and they dared to protest against the American government and its traditional ideals. These students displayed what they believed to be the "new notions of manhood" which consisted of opposing the war by not joining it and letting their hair grow. 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 afros and wearing African-inspired clothing. This African-style political trend was considered unisex, with no clear distinction between men and women. 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. The first stage was protests led by two groups: left-wing activists. and students. Left-wing activists opposed the Cold War and American intervention abroad. Students were raised during the Southern civil rights movement knowing how the government can turn a blind eye to injustice. The two goals of these groups were to give activists knowledge about Vietnam to help them attract support from others to the cause and to normalize the notion of protecting against America because one was afraid of opposing one's own. country. The main goals of the second stage were to unite differentiated anti-war oppositions to unite against conscription and force 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 out of control with the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, the police fighting racial rebellion, and the election of Richard Nixon: all of which proved that our political system was insufficient . All these events led to the third stage of the protest, the main objective of which was to create as much chaos and instability in the country. Loyalties shifted from American soldiers to the Vietcong. What was most remarkable about this stage was the return of the veterans. One in six war veterans were addicted to heroin, refused to engage in war, and even killed some of their commanders if ordered 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 stage was more of a political war than actual guerrilla tactics and violence. The release of the Pentagon Papers showed that public opposition was strong. This was seen as a victory, but instead it allowed seasoned activists.