Need to know Dates
- 1959: Students for a Democratic Society is founded
- 1965: First draft riots occur on college campuses
- 1966: Fulbright publishes The Arrogance of Power
- 1967: Johnson authorizes CIA to investigate antiwar activists 35,000protesters demonstrate outside the - Pentagon
- 1968: Protest outside Democratic National Convention turns violent
- 1970: National Guard kills four protesters at Kent State University
- 1965: First draft riots occur on college campuses
- 1966: Fulbright publishes The Arrogance of Power
- 1967: Johnson authorizes CIA to investigate antiwar activists 35,000protesters demonstrate outside the - Pentagon
- 1968: Protest outside Democratic National Convention turns violent
- 1970: National Guard kills four protesters at Kent State University
People you should know
Lyndon B. Johnson - 36th U.S. president; used the FBI to track and detain antiwar protesters
Richard M. Nixon - 37th U.S. president; claimed existence of “silent majority” of Americans who supported the war
J. William Fulbright - Arkansas senator who criticized Johnson and U.S. war strategy in Senate hearings in 1966
The Student Movement-By the time of the Tet Offensive, the antiwar movement in the United States had been in full swing for quite some time. The 1960s in the United States were already a quasi-revolutionary period: the civil rights movement had flourished under Martin Luther King Jr. and other black leaders, and the post–World War II “baby boom” had produced an especially large youth generation, who thanks to postwar prosperity were attending college in large numbers. Not surprisingly, a large student protest movement emerged as U.S. involvement in Vietnam grew.
Hippies and the Counterculture- In many respects, the student antiwar movement reflected growing disillusionment among young Americans about politics and society as a whole. Influenced by the writers of the rebellious Beat Generation of the 1950s, young people in the United States expressed frustration about racism, gender issues, consumerism, and authority in general. Many voices in this emergent counterculture of the mid- to late 1960s challenged conventional social norms by embracing sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll music.
Antiwar Sentiment- In the PublicAlthough the student and hippie movements were the most visible antiwar efforts, concern about Vietnam was certainly not limited to college campuses. As early as 1965, a Gallup Poll showed the war to be the number-one national issue among the American public in general. Prominent Arkansas senator J. William Fulbright added fuel to the fire when he published his antiwar and anti-Johnson book The Arrogance of Power in 1966. He also chaired a series of nationally televised hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1966, even calling in George F. Kennan, who originated the concept of containment, to voice opposition to the war.
The CIA and COINTELPRO: In 1967, in an attempt to stem the growing protest movements, President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized the CIA to investigate prominent antiwar activists, even though the CIA could legally spy only on foreigners. In addition, Johnson ordered the FBI to use its counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO, to monitor activists as well. Loyal FBI agents assigned to COINTELPRO arrested many protesters without legal cause or on phony conspiracy charges. Johnson’s illegal use of these government security agencies against U.S. citizens angered many and only worsened public discontentment about the war.
Richard M. Nixon - 37th U.S. president; claimed existence of “silent majority” of Americans who supported the war
J. William Fulbright - Arkansas senator who criticized Johnson and U.S. war strategy in Senate hearings in 1966
The Student Movement-By the time of the Tet Offensive, the antiwar movement in the United States had been in full swing for quite some time. The 1960s in the United States were already a quasi-revolutionary period: the civil rights movement had flourished under Martin Luther King Jr. and other black leaders, and the post–World War II “baby boom” had produced an especially large youth generation, who thanks to postwar prosperity were attending college in large numbers. Not surprisingly, a large student protest movement emerged as U.S. involvement in Vietnam grew.
Hippies and the Counterculture- In many respects, the student antiwar movement reflected growing disillusionment among young Americans about politics and society as a whole. Influenced by the writers of the rebellious Beat Generation of the 1950s, young people in the United States expressed frustration about racism, gender issues, consumerism, and authority in general. Many voices in this emergent counterculture of the mid- to late 1960s challenged conventional social norms by embracing sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll music.
Antiwar Sentiment- In the PublicAlthough the student and hippie movements were the most visible antiwar efforts, concern about Vietnam was certainly not limited to college campuses. As early as 1965, a Gallup Poll showed the war to be the number-one national issue among the American public in general. Prominent Arkansas senator J. William Fulbright added fuel to the fire when he published his antiwar and anti-Johnson book The Arrogance of Power in 1966. He also chaired a series of nationally televised hearings in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in 1966, even calling in George F. Kennan, who originated the concept of containment, to voice opposition to the war.
The CIA and COINTELPRO: In 1967, in an attempt to stem the growing protest movements, President Lyndon B. Johnson authorized the CIA to investigate prominent antiwar activists, even though the CIA could legally spy only on foreigners. In addition, Johnson ordered the FBI to use its counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO, to monitor activists as well. Loyal FBI agents assigned to COINTELPRO arrested many protesters without legal cause or on phony conspiracy charges. Johnson’s illegal use of these government security agencies against U.S. citizens angered many and only worsened public discontentment about the war.