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Research Question
To what extent did the incident increase the domestic opposition to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. -
The Start Of the Vietnam War
Vietnam split into two different parts, North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Once the elections took place there were two leaders that were chosen to rule, North Vietnam was a communist republic led by Ho Chi Minh and South Vietnam was a capitalist republic led by Ngo Dinh Diem. Vietnam wanted to unite the country under communist leader Ho Chi Minh as many people from the South disliked Diem. So, because of this war broke out between North and South Vietnam. -
First United States Protest
The war resisters league which was founded by men and woman in 1923 who had opposed World War 1 organized the first United States protest against the Vietnam War. This is significant because it is a start of the anti-vietnam movement. -
The May 2nd Movement
More than hundreds of students gathered in New York's Times Square and from there they all went to the United Nations. 700 people marched in San Francisco. There were also smaller protests that took place in Boston, Madison, Wisconsin and Seattle. These protests were mainly organized by the Progressive Labor Party, but the Young Socialist Alliance also helped to organize. -
The first act of War Resistance
Twelve young men in New York burned their draft cards protesting to the Vietnam War. This was the first act of war resistance done in the United States. This is significant because in a protest to end the Vietnam War American citizens burned their draft cards to stand out and show that they want to make a change. -
The Protest Formed Against President Johnson.
Both White and black people gathered near Philadelphia for the memorial service of three civil rights workers. One of the speakers spoke out against president Lyndon B. Johnson's use of force in Vietnam, and compared it to the violence that was used against blacks in Mississippi. This shows how their were people that spoke bad against their own president to stand out in the public and be heard by millions of people. -
The First Nationwide Protest
The First organized nationwide protests against the Vietnam War took place in many cities like New York City which was sponsored by many groups like the War Resisters League, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Committee for Nonviolent Action, the Socialist Party of America, and the Student Peace Union. Over 1500 people attended in New York, and in San Francisco over 1000 people attended, and there were also protests in cities such as, Miami, Sacramento, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, and Boston. -
Largest Anti-War Protest
The Students for a Democratic Society organized a march against the Vietnam War onto Washington D.C, and was the biggest ani-war protest in the United States with around 15,000 to 20,000 people. This was very significant because it was the largest anti-war protest against Vietnam and it showed how much people cared about ending the war. -
War Protest
In front of the Pentagon in Washington, as thousands of employees were leaving the building in the late afternoon, Norman Morrison, a thirty two year old, father of three, stood below the third floor windows which was the floor of Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, and he set himself on fire, giving up his life in protest against the Vietnam war. This shows how there were people that would risk their own lives to end the war that was happening in Vietnam. -
Tinker v. Des Moines
High school students in Des Moines, Iowa, were suspended because they wore black armbands to mourn the people that died on both sides of the Vietnam War and in support of Robert Kennedy's call for a Christmas truce. The students sued the Des Moines School District, resulting in the 1969 U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of the students, Tinker v. Des Moines. This was significant because it showed how the Americans also cared for the people that were being brutally killed in Vietnam. -
Unites States v. O'Brien
David Paul O'Brien and three companions burned their draft cards on the steps of the South Boston Courthouse in a protests to end the Vietnam War. The case was tried by the Supreme Court as United States v. O'Brien. This is significant because in a protest to end the Vietnam War American citizens burned their draft cards to stand out and show that they want to make a change. -
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali refused to go to war, famously stating that he had "no quarrel with the Viet Cong" and that "no Viet Cong ever called me nigger." Ali also stated he would not go "10,000 miles to help murder, kill, and burn other people to simply help continue the domination of white slave masters over dark people." In 1967 he was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but was released on appeal by the United States Supreme Court. This showed how he refused to go to Vietnam to murder innocent people. -
Eartha Kitt
Singer Eartha Kitt, while at a luncheon at the White House, spoke out against the war and its effects on the youth, exclaiming, "you send the best of this country off to be shot," to her fellow guests. "They rebel in the street. They will take pot and they will get high. They don't want to go to school because they're going to be snatched off from their mothers to be shot in Vietnam." This shows how even famous people like her would stand out by saying something to the public to end the war. -
