USA: Students, Women, Anti-Vietnam Flashcards
Reasons for the development of other protests movements:
*NOTE: other factors and specific factors
- Impact of the Civil Rights protests
- Disappointment (WW2)
- The emergence of teenagers
- Publicity
- The increasing role of the Federal govt.
Overview of the student protests
- why?
- issues?
- views?
- “Baby boom” … increasingly concerned with major social issues
- Civil protests, gay rights, women, environment, US foreign policies, nuclear disarmament, and poverty.
- Worked with existing org. + their own org.
- Rejected the views of older people
- Left-wing and right-wing views
- Critics of the movement claimed…
What did the Port Huron Statement highlight?
Explained that the aims of the SDS were to campaign against “racial injustice, war, and violation of human rights”
What was the first focus of the SDS as an organization?
- Campaigning for better student rights
- Give students more say in the policies and practices of uni
- Protested against the rules that allowed uni officials to set strict rules
Overview of the Free Speech Movement:
1964 - Protested on uni grounds against racial discrimination
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Protesting banned by uni
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Students created the FSM in order to protest and negotiate until they won their right to hold protests and speak about anything on uni grounds
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Produced 1000s of leaflets and held many meetings and rallies to gain support
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Suspended students charged with breaking uni rules
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FSM organized a rally and sit-in of the administration of the building
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Uni staff voted in favor of there being no limits on protests allowed. There were strict guidelines about how, when and where these protests could be carried out.
Achievements of the student movement:
- FSM lost support from moderate students as it became more confrontational
- It never had support among the local community, they were seen as troublemakers
- Achieved some of their aims with regards to student’s rights but few of their other aims were really met
Protestors objected to many aspects of the war, including:
*6
- The huge cost of US intervention with little success
- The rising no. of deaths and injuries to US troops
- USA supported the corrupt South Vietnam govt.
- The USA seemed to be acting like an imperial power
- US tactics like mass bombings and using Agent Orange killed and injured many Vietnamese civilians
- Unfair draft system
Methods of protests used by anti-war campaigners:
- Mass rallies
- Sit-ins and/or teach-ins: public buildings, army recruitment centres, and even railway tracks transporting troops
- Burning draft cards and helping those who were drafted as well as giving advice on how to avoid it
Statistics for anti-war demonstrations:
- Anti-war demonstrations peaked between 1968 and 1970.
- 100 anti-war demonstrations in the first 6 months of 1968
- The largest protest was a march on Washington in Nov 1969
- Some anti-war demonstrations turned violent and there were frequent fights with police.
- Kent State Uni in Ohio in 1970 where national guardsmen used tear gas and shot into the crowd to break up protests which killed 4 students and injured 11.
- At Jackson State Uni, 2 black students were shot and killed by police trying to break up protests
The impact of the anti-Vietnam war demonstrations:
- Raised awareness of anti-war beliefs
- Potential reason for Nixon’s Vietnamization policy
- Lack of trust in supporters:
- Some anti-war protestors openly declared their support for North Vietnam and communism, the burned US flags
- South Americans and some students were strongly pro-war and held pro-war rallies and demonstrations
What was the HIPPY culture?
Hippies were those who did not work or attend college and lived in communes while others traveled
They created a counter-culture to American tradition and adopted moral codes that promoted peace, love, and happiness
Rock music was central to hippies’ lives
“Flower children”
They were not passive: they protested for civil rights, gender equality, anti-war, and even environmental issues
Impact of the hippy movement:
- They were thought of as wasters who were corrupting and harming the American society
- Many young Americans adopted different aspects of the hippy movement
- Hippy ideas of equality, individuality, and tolerance of everyone regardless of race, gender, and sexuality helped these things to become more acceptable in the US society
Contributions of Eleanor Roosevelt to the women’s movement:
- Influential campaigner from 1933-62
- Held press conferences and only allowed women to attend it
- She also put pressure on her husband and future presidents to employ more women
- Made broadcasts and wrote many articles
- Influential with the Democratic Party
Findings of the President’s Committee on the Status of Women:
- Women were employed in overwhelmingly low-paid jobs
- 4% of doctor and 7% of lawyers were women
- Women earned between 50 to 60% of what a man earned for doing the same job as men and had very few opportunities for progression in their careers
- Resulted in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 which made it illegal to pay people different rates for the same job
- Followed by the Civil Rights Act of 1964
Factors for change for women along with the women’s movement:
- Gadgets and appliances
- Contraceptive pill from 1960 (1965: Griswold vs Connecticut that all married women should be allowed to use birth control, 1972: extended the ruling to all women regardless of their marital status)
- Influence of other protest movements
